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[–] 40 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Cars operate in pedestrian spaces all the time.

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  • [+] -6 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    Yes, this is precisely what I mean by "bad faith." Even in the most terminally car brain culture there is effort made to separate pedestrian and automobile traffic, even if that means time interleaving on the same roadway. Very few places in the developed world allow pedestrians and automobiles to share the same roadway at the same time the way bicycles and pedestrians can.

    The simple and (I thought) self evident premise here is that cyclists and pedestrians can coexist in ways pedestrians and motor vehicles cannot. Blurring the line between a bicycle and a moped serves nobody besides those who seek to perpetuate the exact same legacy ideas which currently force pedestrians and motor vehicles into needless, dangerous conflict.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I'm upset because the government put a bunch of roads in between my house and the other places I like to go, so I have to be around cars in order to get places. I don't think that's fair.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago

    Again, nothing is preventing you from having a moped, or riding a bicycle on the street. However, there are many other places in the world where there are trails and other infrastructure meant to be shared with pedestrians, which is why it is important that the distinction between bicycle and moped/motorcycle be understood.

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  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Even in the most terminally car brain culture there is effort made to separate pedestrian and automobile traffic

    What's a "crosswalk" then?

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  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    time interleaving on the same roadway.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    That's what a crosswalk is.

    Furthermore, for all modes of transport (even boats), crossing situations are where most crashes occur; overtaking crashes are relatively rare. The reason for not mixing vehicle and pedestrian traffic moving in the same direction (and the reason for creating sidewalks in the first place) is for speed and convenience of drivers, at the cost of pedestrian safety. Even in places where people walk in the street, crossings are where they most often get killed.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    I can't speak for elsewhere but in much of Canada the situation is opposite what you're suggesting. Bicycles are legally considered vehicles and are expected to use the road with other traffic if no bicycle lanes or designated paths are available. It is illegal for them to share the sidewalk with pedestrians.

    This is, however, very rarely enforced.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    It's bad faith to claim that city streets are exclusively for cars. City streets have always been mixed use spaces historically.

    Cars are so dangerous they annexed the mixed use spaces they run in. Cars are a threat to everything around them. Bikes are forced into conflict with pedestrians as much as they are because of the amount space that has been seized by cars.

    Roads need to be rebuilt to eliminate or control cars to make them safe to those around them. Cars are the most dangerous thing on the roads, and should be treated as the threat that they are.

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  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    You make it sound like cars are driving over the sidewalk at the same propensity and speed that they are driving on the road.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

    Imagine someone trying to claim to be pro-pedestrian and fuck-cars and yet claiming crosswalks are "pedestrian spaces". What are you, a car company lobbyists? Not just one, but two, lol

    "Sure, we believe in pedestrian spaces" - proceeds to slap white stripes on an eight car lane street with narrow one meter sidewalks.

    Although I do love to hate on a lot of the single-mindedness of this sub, I'll do the guys in it a favor and assume this argument is an outlier. Otherwise, it's just embarrassing.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Crosswalks are literally the intersection of pedestrian spaces and motorized spaces. It doesn’t matter what facilities they’re provided with, it’s a place where automobiles operate in the same space as pedestrians all the time.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    I'm sorry, but your mental gymnastics are just embarrassing. If you are going to be snarky, have better, more relevant arguments. Gotta love how you put "all the time" in italics, as if that's some specially strong point. Hopefully no one takes it to heart and tries to cross them when the traffic lights don't allow them to.

    The whole point of crosswalks is that their use isn't supposed to overlap between pedestrians and cars. You will literally fail your driving exam if your "automobile operates in the same space as pedestrians" on a crosswalk. I feel silly just pointing out the obvious.

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