How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

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Enki
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How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by Enki »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

This is precisely the sort of thing that makes me scoff when people talk about how free America is. Some of the most basic and simply human stuff is illegal here.
Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.
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Doc
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

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Enki wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

This is precisely the sort of thing that makes me scoff when people talk about how free America is. Some of the most basic and simply human stuff is illegal here.
Image

Sorry but try going to Brazil sometime and crossing the street. Let me know if you live to tell the story. I remember being in an elevator with a pizza delivery guy there that had just seen another pizza delivery guy run over a pedestrian. (They deliver pizza via 90 cc motor cycles down there with a box on the back) He just kept going on and on about how pedestrians just don't care and walk right out in front of on coming traffic.
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
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Safe Crossing Suggestion from Dogs & Cats........

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Enki wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

This is precisely the sort of thing that makes me scoff when people talk about how free America is. Some of the most basic and simply human stuff is illegal here.
Thank You VERY Much for your post, Tinker Enki,

Recalling that Jerry Rubin died after he was hit jaywalking....... Sad......:(

Don't remember if it was in "The Hidden Life of Dogs" or "Tribe of the Tiger" but recalling Elizabeth Marshall Thomas claiming that dogs/cats cross in the middle of the street away from the crosswalks at the intersections because it is less dangerous: only have to worry about 2 directions of traffic vs. 4 or more at the intersection with cars making turns.......

Not sure if Ms. Thomas is totally correct but IMHO it seems to make sense....

And that crosswalks away from intersections might be safer....

Have to remember that drivers don't always obey the traffic signals & other rules :roll:
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Crossing the TurnPike ;-) in Brazil........

Post by monster_gardener »

Doc wrote:
Enki wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

This is precisely the sort of thing that makes me scoff when people talk about how free America is. Some of the most basic and simply human stuff is illegal here.
Image

Sorry but try going to Brazil sometime and crossing the street. Let me know if you live to tell the story. I remember being in an elevator with a pizza delivery guy there that had just seen another pizza delivery guy run over a pedestrian. (They deliver pizza via 90 cc motor cycles down there with a box on the back) He just kept going on and on about how pedestrians just don't care and walk right out in front of on coming traffic.
Thank You VERY Much for you post, Doc.

Sounds like pedestrians in Brazil might do well to carry a pikestaff :twisted:

Recalling that Swiss pikemen could stand up against mounted knights........

While a regulation pike might be a bit unwieldy ;), I suspect a sturdy metal shod walking staff like the Roman Catholic friars used to use (metal Cross on top, metal point on bottom) or a flagstaff with a point & a Brazilian flag ;) might do.......
For the love of G_d, consider you & I may be mistaken.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

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Doc wrote:
Enki wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

This is precisely the sort of thing that makes me scoff when people talk about how free America is. Some of the most basic and simply human stuff is illegal here.
Image

Sorry but try going to Brazil sometime and crossing the street. Let me know if you live to tell the story. I remember being in an elevator with a pizza delivery guy there that had just seen another pizza delivery guy run over a pedestrian. (They deliver pizza via 90 cc motor cycles down there with a box on the back) He just kept going on and on about how pedestrians just don't care and walk right out in front of on coming traffic.
Despite my Brazilian colleagues insistence that I was foolish to do so, I rented a car in Rio de Janiero and spent time driving around the city.
Took a bit of adjusting, but I didn't have any collisions or hit any pedestrians :wink:
Perhaps the most unnerving thing was driving along the coastal highway 101, with mountains on one side and a step drop into the ocean on the other in parts,
and seeing a fuel truck initiate an overtaking pass at such a blind spot curve.

The most insane traffic that I have experienced was in Guangzhou, China.
I lost count of how many times I braced myself in anticipation of a collision including pedestrians.

Although I've read and heard from my Indian friends that in India traffic is at an entirely higher plane of crazy.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

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U of Mich | A Map of the World's Most Dangerous Countries for Drivers

Drivers, rather than pedestrians, but may still be of interest.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

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Perhaps the most unnerving thing was driving along the coastal highway 101, with mountains on one side and a step drop into the ocean on the other in parts,
and seeing a fuel truck initiate an overtaking pass at such a blind spot curve.
Central California? I rode my bicycle down that road with surprisingly little trouble. I wouldn't want to ride northbound though, against the wind.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by Doc »

Typhoon wrote:
Doc wrote:
Enki wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

This is precisely the sort of thing that makes me scoff when people talk about how free America is. Some of the most basic and simply human stuff is illegal here.
Image

Sorry but try going to Brazil sometime and crossing the street. Let me know if you live to tell the story. I remember being in an elevator with a pizza delivery guy there that had just seen another pizza delivery guy run over a pedestrian. (They deliver pizza via 90 cc motor cycles down there with a box on the back) He just kept going on and on about how pedestrians just don't care and walk right out in front of on coming traffic.
Despite my Brazilian colleagues insistence that I was foolish to do so, I rented a car in Rio de Janiero and spent time driving around the city.
Took a bit of adjusting, but I didn't have any collisions or hit any pedestrians :wink:
Perhaps the most unnerving thing was driving along the coastal highway 101, with mountains on one side and a step drop into the ocean on the other in parts,
and seeing a fuel truck initiate an overtaking pass at such a blind spot curve.

The most insane traffic that I have experienced was in Guangzhou, China.
I lost count of how many times I braced myself in anticipation of a collision including pedestrians.

Although I've read and heard from my Indian friends that in India traffic is at an entirely higher plane of crazy.
I drove across Brazil From the coastal plateau to Iguazu falls. The roads compared to other places I have been were not that bad. In Mexico for example the trucks tend to bunch up in groups of three. You have to pass all three and since the speed limits on the highways don't mean much you have to wait for a long view ahead with no cars coming then floor it and pass all three trucks at once. One time I did this and as I was close to pulling even with the last truck going 95 to 100 MPH another car doing the same thing came over the rise in the lane I was supposed to be in. We literally missed each other by a couple meters. As the other car passed he was showing me he was a Texas long horn fan.

Image

So beware Texas long horn fans are nuts when they get behind the wheel. :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_%27em ... he_gesture

Which ties in when drivers in Houston. There they tend to pass on the right side rather than the left. A good way to get rear ending there is to drive less than 10 MPH over the speed limit.
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
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Enki
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by Enki »

Doc wrote:
Enki wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

This is precisely the sort of thing that makes me scoff when people talk about how free America is. Some of the most basic and simply human stuff is illegal here.
Image

Sorry but try going to Brazil sometime and crossing the street. Let me know if you live to tell the story. I remember being in an elevator with a pizza delivery guy there that had just seen another pizza delivery guy run over a pedestrian. (They deliver pizza via 90 cc motor cycles down there with a box on the back) He just kept going on and on about how pedestrians just don't care and walk right out in front of on coming traffic.
It's amazing how people scoff at the actual meaning of freedom.

Not having the right to walk where you need to go seems to be a pretty major infringement upon actual freedom.

Society is a lot of trade-offs of freedom for security/convenience.
Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.
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Post by monster_gardener »

Enki wrote:
Doc wrote:
Enki wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

This is precisely the sort of thing that makes me scoff when people talk about how free America is. Some of the most basic and simply human stuff is illegal here.
Image

Sorry but try going to Brazil sometime and crossing the street. Let me know if you live to tell the story. I remember being in an elevator with a pizza delivery guy there that had just seen another pizza delivery guy run over a pedestrian. (They deliver pizza via 90 cc motor cycles down there with a box on the back) He just kept going on and on about how pedestrians just don't care and walk right out in front of on coming traffic.
It's amazing how people scoff at the actual meaning of freedom.

Not having the right to walk where you need to go seems to be a pretty major infringement upon actual freedom.

Society is a lot of trade-offs of freedom for security/convenience.
Thank You Very MUCH for your post, Enki.

May come from being human chaos monkeys being a quasi territorial species.....

Recalling how my cat & dog children/friends act.....

They are full blown territorial.....

Marking territory with scratch marks ;) , urine & sometimes feces* ;) :lol: :roll:

But they & we are alike....

They & ultimately we have as much freedom as we are willing to fight for unless some higher power intervenes with manna/dog food/cat treats from on high ;) ......

And Law & Discipline**

And though those help, they don't work 100% either: my cat grrls fussing at each other/all the trouble Moses had with the Israelites in Sinai even with the free food/manna.....

*Free Dung ;) setting Borders to Limit Freedom ;)

**Which some say/can be Bondage ;) :twisted: :lol: :roll:
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by Enki »

Absolutely. Americans don't believe in freedom, not really.

When you mention freedom at its most basic and fundamental level, like where you can walk, what you can say, where you can sleep, what you can wear or not wear. The self-proclaimed champions of freedom scoff. They don't like freedom in what it actually means. They don't know the difference between freedom and power. Having a car is powerful, it's not freedom. It has been sold as freedom, but it's not freedom. You're locked into the roads, into the tracks and trails that have been laid down for you by central planners. If you try to walk in certain places the police will arrest you or at the very least harass you. Very few things have restricted freedom in America quite like the automobile. But...the car has made us much more powerful.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by noddy »

Enki wrote:Absolutely. Americans don't believe in freedom, not really.

When you mention freedom at its most basic and fundamental level, like where you can walk, what you can say, where you can sleep, what you can wear or not wear. The self-proclaimed champions of freedom scoff. They don't like freedom in what it actually means. They don't know the difference between freedom and power. Having a car is powerful, it's not freedom. It has been sold as freedom, but it's not freedom. You're locked into the roads, into the tracks and trails that have been laid down for you by central planners. If you try to walk in certain places the police will arrest you or at the very least harass you. Very few things have restricted freedom in America quite like the automobile. But...the car has made us much more powerful.
if you substitute "fear worship" for freedom in all the modern western rhetoric its much less confusing.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

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noddy wrote:if you substitute "fear worship" for freedom in all the modern western rhetoric its much less confusing.
How about 'risk aversion', or an OCD fixation on guaranteed security?.....'>>.........

Freedom is power in that it's defined in context as the ability to negate or transcend undesirable circumstances. Secondly, it is the ability to engage in socially accepted consumer choices. Freedom as an exponent of the human psyche and soul is shied away from as it's too difficult and demanding - and far too personal....'>>.....

Another way to look at it: 'Freedom From Want' seems to be the only 'freedom' we think about any more. And the only way this can be affected for everyone is to harness everybody (by coercion, if necessary) to the Catherine wheel of the public interest....'>>......
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Enki
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by Enki »

But we have basically lost the ability to just wander the Earth and live off the land. And that's a loss of freedom. We traded it for land ownership.
Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by Miss_Faucie_Fishtits »

Enki wrote:But we have basically lost the ability to just wander the Earth and live off the land. And that's a loss of freedom. We traded it for land ownership.
And we gave up dwelling space to turn it into a money-making machine.........
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by noddy »

Miss_Faucie_Fishtits wrote:
Enki wrote:But we have basically lost the ability to just wander the Earth and live off the land. And that's a loss of freedom. We traded it for land ownership.
And we gave up dwelling space to turn it into a money-making machine.........

exactly, land ownership is a fundamental aspect of freedom, the ability to have a little space for yourself that you can exist on your terms upon is the best safety valve against tyranny we ever could have... woe be to the idiosyncratic or mainstream unfashionable without that wee personal niche.

in the extreme of all the land of being owned by someone already like in a megacity or the extreme of an entire generation throwing all their investments and money at housing and hoping to strike it rich off the next generation of unemployed critters.. well.. those kinds of extremes dont end well and nor do they deserve too.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

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Enki wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

This is precisely the sort of thing that makes me scoff when people talk about how free America is. Some of the most basic and simply human stuff is illegal here.
Nobody talks about how free America is anymore.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by Mr. Perfect »

Enki wrote:But we have basically lost the ability to just wander the Earth and live off the land. And that's a loss of freedom. We traded it for land ownership.
Actually, over half of the world still lives this way. You could easily join them if you wanted to. Why don't you I wonder.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by Doc »

Enki wrote:But we have basically lost the ability to just wander the Earth and live off the land. And that's a loss of freedom. We traded it for land ownership.
Your causation is wrong. It is not land ownership but division of labor. But that also means easier transference of wealth from the have to the have nots. Which with division of labor can happen anytime of the year. Without it this could only be accomplished at harvest time. Survival of the fittest and might is right bygone days. At least lets hope so.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by noddy »

well you need a system to allocate land to all the new young couples popping up all the time and apparently its crude to use the traditional methods of violence and conquest.

some might say that battling with money is actually a step forward.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

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Well my original response was deleted, but in so many words, 1/2 the world will let you wander the terrain living off the land. If you want to live that way there is literally nothing to stop you.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

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im not so sure about that, hunter gatherer gypsy types are pretty much universally treated badly across every established culture in every continent.

they dont mix well with settled folks and it goes way beyond capitalism or anglo american issues.
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Re: How the Car Industry Outlawed Crossing the Street

Post by Mr. Perfect »

Well everyone but white liberals get "treated badly" across the globe so I'm not sure exactly what that means, but you can still do this lots and lots and lots of places around the world.

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