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Turns out, 80% of drivers dont give a shit what the speed limit is.
Why? Pedestrians should only be in the street when crossing at safe spots and after making sure it was clear. Thats how we were taught in the 90s. Now they just walk into the street at any point, and expect a 2,000 lb vehicle to immediately stop for them, usually without pausing to check if it’s clear. They call it pedestrian rights, I call it stupidity.
while I agree that pedestrians should be aware of their surroundings, the greater responsibility for safety lies with the person driving.
Amd when they dont make safespots or even sidewalks for miles...
Now they just walk into the street at any point
Face down, phone in hand...
When I was at Miami I couldn't walk the streets because the sidewalk was badly damaged and the crossing spots where on intersections that constantly had traffic passing through.
Okay cool, but what about reconsidering streets from a pedestrian's perspective?
Wouldn't it be nice if they were narrower, had raised crosswalks, a rough surface that's uncomfortable to drive on too quickly, and lines of trees/bollards/gargoyles/^(trees carved to look like gargoyles holding bollards) between the road and the sidewalk to protect pedestrians and provide a better speed reference for drivers?
…come to think of it, the pedestrians (a.k.a. voting taxpayers) would probably rather not pay the taxes needed to finance all these upgrades, and would prefer the much cheaper solution of simply disallowing private automobiles on any street where that is possible. Though, more trees are always welcome. Just about everyone prefers more trees. (As long as the city plants trees of both sexes! Squirrels and allergy sufferers ^(including gargoyles) will thank you!)
Yeah those people who want to travel a few mile’s from their home be damned!
For one thing, local governments don’t always have the authority to make these changes — at least not without jumping through some hoops. State laws often require local communities to perform engineering studies to justify a lower speed limit.
This is one thing I’m running up against. The main road that bisects my community is a state highway, five lanes wide with a speed limit of 45.
Children are bussed across the street from the school because it’s so unsafe to cross. The walk signals are barely long enough for an able-bodied person to make it in time, let alone the elderly or children. And there are cars turning while you attempt to cross.
But I can yell at my local government - of which my dad is a part - all I want and they’re helpless to do anything because it’s a state highway. And I’ve told my state rep - who’s someone I know from high school - and he said there’s no way he could do anything because the legislature would never vote for less highways.
would it not be cheaper to atleast have a few footover bridges, or under the road ones instead of bussing people.
Building a bridge or tunnel would cost millions and take a decade.
i am sorry, but what! foot over bridges can be made in months, if not weeks. they are not that complex (just lots of metal rods on either side of rod, and middle truss are manufactured externally, just shipped and bolted). there is a possibilty, that we may be having a language gap (though we both speak english, we may use different words), so i would request you to please check if these are sufficient for school's needs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footbridge
the wiki page disadvantages list cost, but that is considering we take care of accesssibilty, and install elevators or escalators. but simpler ones can be built under $10,000, if you go all metal and glass decks, that would double or triple.
where i live, these are fairly common, and used on almost all major roads. We are densely populated, so not everyone can have cars even if they have financial means, because all roads would be choked.
I know what you mean, and it’s a good solution for some places but it’s too crowded along the highway to put one up without having to deal with eminent domain, and we’d need four or five of them to handle all the places people cross.
And honestly it would be solved much cheaper and easier with changes to signage, signals, and lane markers.
additional note - wiki's images on fist half of page are mmostly weak wooden or natural aided ones, but lower down there are modern designs. take for example the one over train tracks (though less wide than your highways i am guessing, but take it as an example). They are simple enough, and you would only have to get highway's permissions mostly to ensure that height is enough (usually highways have a height limit, something like 20-30 feet (2 or 3 storey building)). now most people are not willing to go 2-3 floors, so escalators are common. so "small tunnels" are more convinient. just imagine these bridges, but under ground and upside down. now assuming the beneath of road is reinforced, you just need to dig like 10feet below, and you are good to go. they are more expensive when built after building roads, but still can be built under 100,000
Only reducing the speed limit is next to useless: most people will continue driving the speed the road is designed for, except that the police get extra ticket revenue. How does that help?
They cite Boston as an example where it worked, but they need to take a closer look. Boston has some of the worst traffic in the country, keeping speeds lower. Boston is older than most other us cities and has narrow winding streets, keeping speeds lower. Most importantly, Boston has been taking additional steps such as installing medians, curb bumps, roundabouts, bike lanes, bus lanes, reducing lanes. While they’re not doing enough, it is plenty of additional Steps for Boston to not be a representative example f just reducing speed l8mits
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2025
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