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CaptainObvious110 t1_iu12tu6 wrote

Reply to comment by tunamelts2 in Man in Coma After Hit-and-Run Crash in DC by MrSpontaneous

I agree.

Hit a pedestrian, cyclist, or a person on a scooter and be charged for it pending an ok investigation and if found at fault revoke driving privileges altogether.

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Quelcris_Falconer13 t1_iu47b1x wrote

Revoke privileges, including parking, and fuck it, seize vehicle in the case of DUIs. Place huge fines. In California speeding tickets come out to $500 roughly. These little $150 tickets is like a meal out.

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CaptainObvious110 t1_iu6limj wrote

Yeah I hear you. It's a real shame that the real issue surrounding why pedestrians and cyclists are considered second class citizens is really about money. The gas and automotive industry is quite powerful politically and have a whole lot of allies.

The fact that they make their money is one thing but they aren't satisfied with that. They want to make sure nothing endangers that meal ticket and they don't care how many bodies get buried in that process.

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drr71-2 t1_iu4mpyv wrote

The animals won't obey the law about needing a license to drive and will just drive without a license. And once their arrested for that, they'll be released within 24 hours and be right back out there doing it again. And then there will be collars shit how fines are holding back these"fine citizens" from succeeding in life.

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Quelcris_Falconer13 t1_iu66hdf wrote

Then make the fines massive and remind people that driving is a privilege in a city that arguable has one of the best mass transit systems in in the USA. (WMATA is trash but coming from LA where the average speed of a bus is 3mph and there is virtually no subway system, it’s great) so the lack of a car would definitely hold you back in LA, but not in DC. I find I have to come up with excuses to actually drive my car. I’d sell it but I’m not committed to living in DC for several years and I don’t want to sell it now and buy a much more expensive one in. The future when I do decide to leave.

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drr71-2 t1_iu677y5 wrote

.... and when they don't pay the fines? Remember, this is the city where people drive like crap and collect fines into the thousands of $$ & then complain about the fines holding them back instead of just obeying the driving laws and not putting the public at risk.... so they wouldn't get the fines in the first place.

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Quelcris_Falconer13 t1_iu68frd wrote

I don’t care if they do or don’t pay the fines. Take their car away if they don’t pay. Make it so they can’t legally purchase a car from a dealer in the district. Like seriously these sociopaths should not be driving 1.5 tons of steel around a city killing regular people just going about their lives. I know I’m Not coming up with perfect ideas but I’m not an elected official. Go take those “what if” question to a city hall meeting instead of forcing a random redditor to play politician

ETA: the word not

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drr71-2 t1_iu6bteh wrote

Really?! I'm "forcing" you to do something? I'm pointing out that this City Council doesn't give a shit.... they won't do anything to help the citizens who are negatively impacted. It's disgusting and what's adding to the lawlessness we're all seeing getting worse and worse.

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Quelcris_Falconer13 t1_iu6c2yc wrote

In not disagreeing with I’m just saying get off my back and take this energy to a city council meeting or ballot box

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drr71-2 t1_iu6e3wq wrote

You assume I haven't. Trust me... I have. This city "leadership" is the worst I've seen. They will piss in your face and tell you it's raining.

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CaptainObvious110 t1_iu6nei2 wrote

Yeah I understand your frustrations and I share them. Please don't take out your frustrations on those here that aren't the actual problem.

With that said I absolutely agree with you but I would say take away their car on the spot and make it illegal to purchase a car ANYWHERE.

The fines can easily be paid by people with plenty of money so there has to be another way to make those people accountable for their actions. Also, people will make the excuse that any of this being enforced would be a danger to poor black people. The way things are today I can absolutely see that happening.

As it is a lot of people have the absolutely racist and absurd belief that black folks simply cannot help being agressive no matter where we are. That due to the awful legacy of slavery that we cannot help being on our phones when folks need to focus on driving instead.

This reminds me that the issue of people on their phones while driving needs to carry charges that can imprison people if they don't comply. We live in a time where Bluetooth and other handsfree devices are inexpensive enough that they should be ubiquitous at this point.

Again, if a person can't conduct themselves properly while driving a motor vehicle then it makes me wonder what other issues of self control they possess. Maybe they simply aren't competent enough to drive.

What I think is that driving school should be absolutely mandatory. With sections where people are actually riding bicycles though the city so they can get a feel for what that experience is actually like. Not some preset track either. Actual city streets and conditions.

What you think about that?

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Quelcris_Falconer13 t1_iu7gqg1 wrote

Wait a min… is driving school not mandatory? Holy fuck no wonder it’s so bad here. Driving school should be mandatory with a minimum of 20 hours in class and maybe another 5-10 behind the wheel with an official instructor

Also for rich people the consequences of paying tickets is that their insurance rates go up so they’ll be paying higher insurance for a minimum of 5-7 years.

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CaptainObvious110 t1_iu6lyvh wrote

You make a very good point.....

Driving is a privilege not a right. The problem is that so many people make money from people driving and so that makes it in their best interest to NOT take people's cars away or to revoke their licenses.

The truth is that if irresponsible people were held accountable for their own bad decisions then it would make things better for the remaining drivers as well as cyclists and pedestrians as well.

Fatalities would go down and we would all be safer. The fact that this isn't already done shows where the priorities are

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