Chris Morris on distracted driving: "Pedestrians have the right-of-way, and don’t block crosswalks with your vehicles."

True story.

Those of us not cocooned in our cars understand quite well what it is.

Bullying, or the routine aggression that characterizes bad driving behavior.

We’ve all been there. You’re crossing the street, thinking you have a clear path, when the driver waiting at the light starts lurching into the crosswalk, itching for the green signal. Before you know it, you and everyone else crossing has to squeeze around this bully.

Inspired by a recent Jonathan McLeod post (headline: “Stop fucking driving your car at people”), I set out to catalogue a few of the most obnoxious behaviors people routinely engage in behind the wheel of a car.

Intersection bullying — when motorists occupy a chunk of crosswalk real estate that belongs to pedestrians with the right of way — is just one example of the many nasty, antisocial, and downright dangerous things drivers do when they’re interacting with people outside their car.

There’s a ton of bad driving behavior that should be socially unacceptable, but for some reason, granted the anonymity of a car, people engage in it anyway. This routine aggression needs to be called out for what it is — bullying.

Chris Morris nails this one.

MORRIS: Dealing with distracted drivers (Raycom Meets Tom May)

One of the reasons given for New Albany’s street conversion last year was to slow traffic, making it safer to not only drive in the city, but to walk, jog and ride a bike without the fear of being hit by a speeding car.

But city government can’t legislate distracted driving or those motorists who ignore traffic signals and crosswalks. Unless the police see it, not much can be done. So, a year later, are the streets safer?

Let’s say things have improved.

As a regular walker and jogger I see people every day ignore basic principles of driving on a downtown street. The main ones being pedestrians have the right-of-way, and don’t block crosswalks with your vehicles.

Here is what I see regularly at crosswalks: A motorist will pull up to the stop, ignore both me and the crosswalk, and wait for an opening before pulling out into traffic. Even though I was there first, and already had a step in the crosswalk, they just go on as if I were invisible. This one drives me crazy. Crosswalks are there for a reason, to allow walkers a safe path to cross a street.

This happens regularly in the morning as I cross Eighth Street. I usually have to jog behind or between cars because the crosswalk is covered up by a vehicle. It’s like I am invisible as they prepare to pull out onto Spring Street ...

Bullying, or the routine aggression that characterizes bad driving behavior.

We begin with the basics.

This means you: "STOP FUCKING DRIVING YOUR CAR AT PEOPLE."

My favorite paragraph from the following is this:

See someone crossing the road ahead? Slow down and be prepared to stop. If braking at the sight of human beings in the path of your car feels like an unbearable imposition, you might be a garbage person.

Yep.

How to Not Be a Bully Behind the Wheel, by Angie Schmitt (Streetsblog)

We’ve all been there. You’re crossing the street, thinking you have a clear path, when the driver waiting at the light starts lurching into the crosswalk, itching for the green signal. Before you know it, you and everyone else crossing has to squeeze around this bully.

Inspired by a recent Jonathan McLeod post (headline: “Stop fucking driving your car at people”), I set out to catalogue a few of the most obnoxious behaviors people routinely engage in behind the wheel of a car.

Intersection bullying — when motorists occupy a chunk of crosswalk real estate that belongs to pedestrians with the right of way — is just one example of the many nasty, antisocial, and downright dangerous things drivers do when they’re interacting with people outside their car.

There’s a ton of bad driving behavior that should be socially unacceptable, but for some reason, granted the anonymity of a car, people engage in it anyway. This routine aggression needs to be called out for what it is — bullying. To start things off, I’ve compiled this short list of things that people should never do behind the wheel ...

"Congratulations, Honolulu, for battling a surge in pedestrian deaths by punishing prospective victims."

The following words summarize the scandal-plagued Gahan administration's approach (more accurately, its absence) in using Jeff Speck's street study as a blueprint for "grid modernization," or, the project that dare not mention "two-way streets" publicly.

If it bikes, blame it.
If it walks, marginalize it.
If it drives, subsidize it.
-- Attributed to Dan Kostelec

In Honolulu's case, walkers have graduated from marginalization to blame, though not unexpectedly, research doesn't support the notion that pedestrian cellphones are the problem.

Rather, it's just another way of cosseting subsidized drivers.

The Problem With Honolulu's New Ban on Texting in Crosswalks, by Laura Bliss (CityLab)

Elderly pedestrians die at a higher rate in Honolulu than anywhere else. Their cellphones aren’t the issue.

 ... Pedestrians can obviously insert themselves into dangerous situations by ignoring signals and walking into traffic—and they share responsibility in plenty of crashes. Using a cell phone while crossing the street can be a hazard, sure. Inherently dangerous to others, however, it is not.

Driving is. So are many of the streets designed to support it. And using a phone in the driver’s seat dramatically increases the chance of a crash. As the economy recovers, more cars are on the road, driving more miles—which translates to that many more people texting and chatting while navigating their two-ton steel boxes. The recent rash of pedestrian fatalities is not all that surprising.

And:

The city’s overall rate of pedestrian deaths is on par with the national average; so is the state’s. Elderly folks also have a harder time recovering from traumatic injuries, and Hawaii’s 65-plus-set are considerably more active than their mainland counterparts. Older Honolulans die on the streets at a high rate not because they’re consumed by their cell phones, but, largely, because there are more of them navigating car-centric roads.

Our sad New Albanian reality; driver destroys sidewalk infrastructure in first recorded instance of anti-two-way street grid terrorism.

File under: "Cry for Help."

Hit and run.

It was around 11:20 p.m. on Saturday.

To the east on Spring, I heard the screech of brakes and the familiar sort of automotive skidding sound that often ends with a "crunch," and in fact, even though the whole sensation lasts only a couple of seconds, you're already waiting to hear the finale, which arrived right on cue, but it was more of a thud than a crinkling of plastic parts.

Then there was a pause, with spinning tires and a subsequent roar, and something went past the house at a high rate of speed. Apparently the driver met the street lamp pole with enough velocity to bend it, but the vehicle remained sufficiently serviceable enough to flee the scene.

It was just another day (night) on a one-way, high-speed abomination.

"(Intimidation) is exactly what drivers are counting on when they barrel through marked crossings."

Earlier this week: Crosswalks.

This 2013 story of a pro-active police "sting" operation targeting drivers who disregard crosswalks (Toto, we're not in Indiana any more) yields delicious nuggets, which I've pulled below.

When walking New Albany's increasingly dysfunctional, plainly unsafe arterials, the foot traveler's first obligation when walking against one-way traffic is to be on the lookout for drivers who approach on side streets and look only in the direction of oncoming traffic, not the other way. At this point, most of the time they've already violated the crosswalk space (if any). Perhaps three drivers out of ten pay heed to walkers or crosswalks.

It is slightly less of an issue when walking in the same direction as one-way traffic; the walker is more likely to be seen, although at times, as for me last week, and the egregiously obese male Kentuckian in the SUV, the walker is seen, and the driver violates the crosswalk anyway.

Over the past half-century, cars have claimed the streets, and cities have acquiesced. As I continue to point out, having one city official out of 20 not wedded to his or her car, and who walks or bikes, and attitudes toward civic pro-activity when it comes to walkability might be immeasurably heightened. What we can do as walkers and cyclists is reclaim the streets, even inches at a time. Perhaps some day the city can be compelled to join in.

Police Stings for Drivers Who Don't Yield in Crosswalks: Does It Really Work?, by Sarah Goodyear (Atlantic Cities)

... Well, actually, pedestrians are not endangering the drivers just as much, and everyone involved knows it. That intimidating fact is exactly what drivers are counting on when they barrel through marked crossings. And when pedestrians are crossing in crosswalks – which is where the Fort Lee police are doing their thing – you, as a driver, are supposed to be watching out for them and traveling at a speed that will enable you to stop in time to avoid hitting someone.

The problem is that roads in much of the United States are engineered for speed. Straight, wide, free of any obstacles, the modern American thoroughfare sends drivers the clear message that this is their domain, over which they should reign undisputed. Bright yellow signs with silhouetted figures and white lines on the asphalt can’t begin to convince people behind the wheel of anything different, not to mention some rule from driver education that they forgot as soon as they got their licenses.