justanawkwardguy t1_j5k716c wrote
Reply to comment by aintjoan in Hit-and-run crashes hours apart kill woman in South Philadelphia, man riding bike in Kensington by hdhcnsnd
It's not about the police stopping them though. Yes, police need to do their jobs and actually pull people over for flagrant violations, however, the bill also made it so idiotic drivers think they can do anything. Even if it's outside of what the bill was for, people who actively choose to drive recklessly see the bill as making their behaviors ok
aintjoan t1_j5kby94 wrote
I think the fact that nobody is stopping them for doing 90mph down city streets or blasting through red lights without a second thought is doing a lot more to tell them their behavior is ok. Serious question: how many of the people we're discussing do you really think are aware of a bill that came out of Philly City council and what it says? Do you think the folks racing Dodge Chargers on Delaware Ave were waiting for an all clear from city council? Reckless driving behavior was already present. It exploded when the police stopped pulling them over for it, which was after the bill was passed, because the police didn't like the bill.
We're kind of at an impasse at this point, I think, because we don't have the kind of data analysis necessary to figure out the nuances of causation. The one thing I keep coming back to is that the police ARE the only ones who can enforce existing traffic law and they are NOT doing it. If that changed, it stands to reason the behavior would be reduced.
AKraiderfan t1_j5kcrk3 wrote
it only takes marginal enforcement to stop 90% of dumb fucks from thinking they can get away with shit.
Case in point: Seattle has jaywalking laws, and everyone mostly follows it. How often is this law enforced? averages out about 170 jaywalking tickets per year in the past decade. 170 tickets a year, in a metro area of 4mm people, a laughably small number, but keeps much of the population from jaywalking.
Fucking pull over 100 cars a year, and you'll get assholes calling PPD nazis, but probably reduce a whole bunch of bad driving for that comically small number of actual enforcement.
CT_Real t1_j5ni1xf wrote
90% of people in the city have no knowledge of this law...
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments