I keep seeing ads for cars adding automatic braking, pedestrian warning/avoidance stuff - soft front ends to cushion impacts... WTF??? Are they getting mowed down left and right or something? Every once in a while somebody is yaking on a cell phone and steps in front of a CTA bus here in Chicago, but is it really something big enough to warrant adding a bunch of cost/weight/complexity to vehicles? Or is that a midwest view that if you step out in the street you should watch out for and get out of the way of big, heavy, fast-moving metal objects....Or is that so you can drive downtown while texting and not worry about it????
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Nov. 4, 2010 11:28 a.m. oldtin HalfDork
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Nov. 4, 2010 11:32 a.m. nutherjrfan HalfDork
in one of D.C.'s neighboring suburbs, MoCo I think, pedestrian deaths regularly outpace murders, but it's still pretty low. we got some pretty dumb pedestrians round these parts.
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Nov. 4, 2010 11:44 a.m. Marjorie Suddard General Manager
Timely question for me. This morning's newspaper reported three kids were struck yesterday morning on the way to school in two incidents; one hit-and-run killed a 15 year old and seriously injured his brother, another crash seriously injured a 10 yo who didn't look both ways before crossing the street to school.
The hit-and-run driver was caught returning to his smashed and bloodied car with a couple armloads of groceries after police spotted it in a Publix parking lot. If people are going to be that callous and/or clueless, maybe it IS necessary to add a bunch of stuff to cars that wouldn't be necessary if most folks took driving seriously.
Margie
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Nov. 4, 2010 11:45 a.m. carguy123 SuperDork
Europe mandated some "improvements" to cars to help reduce the injury to pedestrians and they have found their way over here. It's much easier (or should I say cheaper?) to build a car that meets both standards.
That's why the front ends are so much taller nowadays. There also has to be some crush room between the hood and the motor so there's some more height.
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Nov. 4, 2010 12:02 p.m. 914Driver SuperDork
Auto Companies are going that way because they know people will always text and drive regardless of the law.
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Nov. 4, 2010 12:13 p.m. ReverendDexter Dork
Make something idiot proof, and you'll just get handed a bigger idiot.
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Nov. 4, 2010 12:31 p.m. Knurled HalfDork
I lived in a neighborhood where people would just walk across the street without looking.
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Nov. 4, 2010 12:39 p.m. oldsaw SuperDork
Can't wait for the first law suit because an "alleged" failure didn't stop the errant (aka, stupid) driver - who still managed to hit or run over someone/something.
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Nov. 4, 2010 12:40 p.m. oldtin HalfDork
Ahhh, protecting the childrenses, they're our future. I get it now.
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Nov. 4, 2010 1:00 p.m. Zomby woof Dork
Knurled wrote:
I lived in a neighborhood where people would just walk across the street without looking.
Apparently we were neighbors.
I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself, over, and over.
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Nov. 4, 2010 1:04 p.m. Wally SuperDork
Pedestrians, especially in urban areas are the dumbest creatures on the planet. We have been trying to deal with a problem at work with an increase in pedestrian accidents but it's hard when they are now generally the ones hitting moving vehicles. The last pedestrian accident I went to involved someone walking into the side of a stopped bus hard enough to get an egg sized lump on the top of their head. Now that we have a large number of hybrid buses there are even people trying to pass laws requiring the buses to be louder so they can be heard over phones, ipods, ect.
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Nov. 4, 2010 1:15 p.m. oldtin HalfDork
Lump on top of head from walking into a bus = walking & texting
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Nov. 4, 2010 1:19 p.m. Wally SuperDork
Close, he was watching a movie on a phone
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Nov. 4, 2010 1:21 p.m. 1988RedT2 HalfDork
If we start getting cars that automatically brake to avoid pedestrians, I guarantee that playing in the street will become a very popular teenage pastime.
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Nov. 4, 2010 1:55 p.m. Don49 Reader
I'm not sure you can repeal the law of natural selection. That said, innatentive driving should be rewarded with large penalties. I have close calls every day with people not paying proper attention to their driving.
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Nov. 4, 2010 2:49 p.m. paanta New Reader
By some of your logic, we shouldn't put safety equipment in cars, either, because that just encourages more bad driving! Never mind the fact that road deaths have dropped substantially in the last 15 years (about 35% per VMT) thanks to all the fancy tech in new cars.
Drivers are at fault in about 40% of pedestrian deaths, pedestrians in about 50% of cases. About 4,000 pedestrians are killed each year (compared to ~25,000 people in cars), and around 70,000 pedestrians are injured enough to go to the hospital. That's around $8B of lost life and god knows how much in medical bills. Seems worth addressing with some engineering fixes to me.
Anecdotally, I've been hit by cars 7 times in a decade, always while I had the right of way.
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Nov. 4, 2010 2:58 p.m. nderwater HalfDork
Since I started riding the bus to work two summers ago, two of the people I ride with have been hit crossing the street in front of my building here in downtown Atlanta. Neither was killed, but they both spent time in the hospital and were unable to work for a week or so.
A kid on a moped was killed in front of my parents house when he was hit by a delivery van. He wasn't a pedestrian, but pedestrian safety measures might have helped save him.
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Nov. 4, 2010 3:07 p.m. SillyImportRacer Reader
While i don't want to sound entirely hardhearted, At what point do we stop trying to engineer our way around personal responsibility? There is only so much technology cab do, At some point we need to learn to drive (or walk) without endangering others.
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Nov. 4, 2010 3:40 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
Don49 wrote:
I'm not sure you can repeal the law of natural selection.
I'm still trying to get Newton's Second Law of Thermodynamics repealed. That was a really bad idea. I mean seriously... if we don't stop this our Sun will eventually burn out. Do you have any idea what sort of inconveniences that will cause?
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Nov. 4, 2010 3:54 p.m. benzbaron HalfDork
I almost got caught up in a pedestrian crosswalk sting riding my motorcycle. There was a cop sitting about 200ft from the crosswalk on a motorcycle. Once you got to the point you couldn't stop in time the pedestrian would walk out into the crosswalk. I locked up the rear brake and was able to balance the bike without putting my foot down then took off when the pedy cleared the crosswalk. Cop was kind of surprised.
Around here I call pedestrains "hood ornaments." Some people don't realize or appreciate the consequences of getting hit by a speeding car and if they are dumb enough to get run over, good riddance.
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Nov. 4, 2010 4:12 p.m. oldtin HalfDork
In reply to paanta:
So if pedestrians are carrying the majority of the fault burden - where's the legislation for impact devices carried by the peds?
There's good body armor, helmets...
Maybe the improved auto safety is a result of increased congestion and lower avg. speeds. I'm kidding - sorta - airbags are great, the designs and safety of chassis engineering is greatly improved. But ABS - mixed results - 5mph bumpers - srsly. I think there's a bigger deal with all kinds of driver distractions. Every day I see people yaking on cell phones, reading the paper, shaving, tweezing, applying make-up, texting - pretty much anything and everything except actively driving in their cars and commutes. Maybe we're better off in automated pods that drive for us and save the driving for track.
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Nov. 4, 2010 4:20 p.m. aircooled SuperDork
paanta wrote:
By some of your logic, we shouldn't put safety equipment in cars, either, because that just encourages more bad driving!......
Actually it does!
Take the seat belts out of cars and install 4 inch spikes on the steering wheels and just see how safe and careful everyone drives!!! Making people feel safe in their cars is the last thing you want to do, safety wise.
Safety devices, realistically, are for accidents that can't practically be avoided.
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Nov. 4, 2010 4:22 p.m. Cone_Junky Reader
Ever seen an 80+ year old woman with a walker jaywalk across a 6 lane street? I see it weekly in my neighborhood. That and the people who step out without looking because they feel they have the god-given right to walk across a busy street. They don't even look in the general direction of oncoming traffic. Besides the fact that they don't have the right of way on such a major thruway, but even if they did, those rights suck while being confined to an iron lung after I run you over.
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Nov. 4, 2010 4:38 p.m. Schmidlap Reader
oldtin wrote:
I keep seeing ads for cars adding automatic braking, pedestrian warning/avoidance stuff - soft front ends to cushion impacts... WTF???
I keep seeing ads for cars with more powerful engines, bigger brakes and better fuel economy...WTF???
I keep seeing ads for cellphones with bigger screens, better cameras, and more memory...WTF???
I keep seeing ads for washing machines with more complicated cleaning cycles that use less energy and water and have fancier controls...WTF???
They're improving a product, that's all! People like gadgets, especially gadgets that other people don't have. People buying cars rate safety as a very important part of their decision on what to purchase. If a carmaker wants to position a car ahead of a competitor's car they have to add stuff to it, and safety gadgets are an excellent way to do that. If they make a mistake and people don't spring for it, the gadgets get cancelled. Remember Cadillac's Night Vision? That didn't work out very well because it was so expensive so nobody bought it and it got cancelled. Engineers have figured out a way to cut the cost and it's making a comeback. We'll see if it sticks around this time. Should automakers have just stopped adding gadgets to cars back in 1920? "Doris, I was just looking at the new Duesenbergs and they've added heat to it, even for the chauffeur! And electric start! Bah, they are completely ruining the driving experience."
Bob
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Nov. 4, 2010 4:44 p.m. Karl La Follette HalfDork
