RedfishSC2 t1_ixz4fqw wrote
I know this isn't really the response a lot of people here might like, or agree with, but I think it's phones.
I drive into and out of DC often, and also walk in DC often, and so much of what I see of reckless behavior is from people being idiots on their phones. Jaywalking with airpods in, walking straight into traffic, or riding a scooter into an intersection while scrolling a phone. On the car side, I've seen a guy with a phone attached to the windshield scrolling social media in the 3rd street tunnel, and seen more than a few people run or almost run red lights because they're looking at their phone in their lap. I'm of an age where I grew up without a phone, so I have no problem staying focused, but more and more drivers are hitting the road having spent their entire lives phone-addicted.
rlpw t1_ixz6ov6 wrote
I don’t disagree but I think phones are only a component of the problem - ie a specific behavior in which traffic violence manifests.
RedfishSC2 t1_ixz85mw wrote
Maybe so, but I think a major problem with the discourse here is that people conflate structural issues with behavioral issues when it comes to traffic violence. It's much more emotionally satisfying and righteous to say "I am a pedestrian, and drivers out here are literally trying to kill us," when the extraordinary, overwhelming majority of people driving are just like the rest of us and just want to get where they need to go.
Poorly designed, congested, and confusing roads are a structural issue, as are routing bike lanes onto spaces shared by cars in faster-moving corridors. That shouldn't happen. At the same time, cars with thousands of dollars of tickets should be towed and impounded, and prosecution of distracted and aggressive driving should increase a hundredfold. There's not a silver bullet to the situation.
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