Car as Weapon

Today I saw two instances of people being threatened by drivers.  One was a cyclist who had to take the lane to pass a parked truck and some major potholes.  The driver tailgated him while laying on the horn.  The second was when a woman walking a dog was still in the crosswalk as the signal changed to green for the cross street. The driver accelerated hard across the intersection, stopped just short of the crosswalk, and of course layed on the horn.

We desperately need to have transportation options other than driving, if only because a lot of people don't have either the intelligence or temperament to do it responsibly.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 18, 2013 at 7:16am

The key here is "it's that drivers are held legally accountable for their actions."  We don't necessarily need stronger laws.  We need to enforce the laws that exist and hold people accountable for their actions.
 
Michelle Stenzel said:

I read this article from 2012 in Governing recently and thought it was spot on. We need stronger laws that hold drivers accountable for their actions when they injure or kill bicyclists and pedestrians. The author points out that there are plenty of bike lanes in the Netherlands, but that's not what keeps the bicyclists safe; rather, it's that drivers are held legally accountable for their actions. Changes in our laws would help change the culture of driving.

Without laws protecting bikers and walkers, however, the goal of having truly livable cities in America remains out of reach. Legal lines are more important than physical lines. Creating the right laws to govern the interactions among walkers, cyclists and drivers is more effective than painting new stripes for a bike lane.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on November 18, 2013 at 7:36am

Yes!!!!

Lisa Curcio 4.1 mi said:

The key here is "it's that drivers are held legally accountable for their actions."  We don't necessarily need stronger laws.  We need to enforce the laws that exist and hold people accountable for their actions.
 
Michelle Stenzel said:

I read this article from 2012 in Governing recently and thought it was spot on. We need stronger laws that hold drivers accountable for their actions when they injure or kill bicyclists and pedestrians. The author points out that there are plenty of bike lanes in the Netherlands, but that's not what keeps the bicyclists safe; rather, it's that drivers are held legally accountable for their actions. Changes in our laws would help change the culture of driving.

Without laws protecting bikers and walkers, however, the goal of having truly livable cities in America remains out of reach. Legal lines are more important than physical lines. Creating the right laws to govern the interactions among walkers, cyclists and drivers is more effective than painting new stripes for a bike lane.

Permalink Reply by Mark on November 18, 2013 at 7:37am

We desperately need to have transportation options other than driving, if only because a lot of people don't have either the intelligence or temperament to do it responsibly.

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on November 18, 2013 at 8:07am

Yes, of course stricter laws as well as increased enforcement. I heard recently that a study showed that would-be criminals are deterred from committing a crime less by the potential severity of the punishment, and significantly more by an increased risk of being caught in the first place. In my opinion, this explains the general outrage about red light and speed cameras by drivers: It increases the chance of their being caught breaking the law from close to 0% to close to 100%. 

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on November 18, 2013 at 8:25am

I invite you to share your story more publicly (but anonymously) and populate the dataset of interesting (er, harrowing) situations people in Chicago find themselves in when bicycling. 

Submit your "close call".

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on November 18, 2013 at 8:28am

This supports my assertion that the increase of a dooring fine this year to $1,000 won't reduce the instance of dooring. However, it should not be difficult to prove a dooring happened when a police officer (or other reputable person) witnessed it. The difficulty is in persuading an officer that the crash was in fact a dooring and that they should issue a citation to the vehicle's operator.

Michelle Stenzel said:

Yes, of course stricter laws as well as increased enforcement. I heard recently that a study showed that would-be criminals are deterred from committing a crime less by the potential severity of the punishment, and significantly more by an increased risk of being caught in the first place. In my opinion, this explains the general outrage about red light and speed cameras by drivers: It increases the chance of their being caught breaking the law from close to 0% to close to 100%. 

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on November 18, 2013 at 8:41am
Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 18, 2013 at 9:38am

Jeff--you get the prize!

Note the date of 1950, folks.  It is a very long-standing cultural problem. :-)

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on November 18, 2013 at 11:47am

...it should not be difficult to prove a dooring happened when a police officer (or other reputable person) witnessed it. The difficulty is in persuading an officer that the crash was in fact a dooring and that they should issue a citation to the vehicle's operator.

Exactly.  A large part of our problem is with the "car culture" mindset of many officers, as we've discussed here many times.

Permalink Reply by Beans on November 18, 2013 at 12:06pm

Permalink Reply by David P. on November 18, 2013 at 12:24pm

You seem to be confusing "car culture" with "commuting culture"; the first has many, many varieties and has nothing at all to do with the second. As for the romanticization of the car, certainly autmakers encouraged that and facilitated it with their advertising campaigns, but the American public has been all too happy to romanticize it itself over much of the 20th century. I love car cultures but hate commuting culture, which is why I still have three cars (two of which are hobby/project cars) yet want to (and do) live in an environment where I do not have to drive if I don't want to. The auto dominance of American cities and suburbs has been the product of many factors, but could not have happened to the degree with it did without the assent of so many Americans, even granted the effect of urban-planning decisions that foreclosed certain options from public consideration in the first place.



Steve Courtright said:

I agree with you both, Skip and Michelle. 

But in addition to the slow desensitization regarding the dangers of driving autos, there has been a concerted effort by the car manufacturers in romanticizing car culture.  This has resulted in a culture where the auto is dominant.  There are several generations of folks who have only romanticized ideas about automobiles.  That seems to be changing among the "millennials" many of whom will be making less money than their parents and have reduced expectations regarding stable jobs and single path careers.  Cars are now viewed by some as a serious liability in the cities with respect to high cost, serious health consequences and lack of convenience compared to bikes.

(http://www.amazon.com/The-Geography-Nowhere-Americas-Landscape/dp/0...)

Permalink Reply by Steve Courtright on November 19, 2013 at 4:05am

In my view, David, the two "cultures" are highly overlapping although I see the difference. 

It's not just advertizing that caused the shift to cars.  It is well known that the car companies purchased much of the eastern railways and simply shuttered them a long time ago (see Geography cited above).  After that, everyone living in the burbs and working in the cities had to drive.  We assented to cars and permitted their dominance at least in part because it was the only option.  This did not happen in Europe and that is why there is a difference in commuting and car culture over there - this seems to be prima facia evidence that the difference in culture is the absence or presence of commuting options.

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