Who are Reckless Drivers, really?

[@falsificationism]

Before watching I attempted to answer the titular question...it's me. It's all of us. After watching: Yep. Really novel and useful perspective. Try to be understanding to your fellow drivers out there. Some people will be fired if they're 2 minutes late to their job. Others were awake all night because they're drowning in debt, and now they're distracted. Others just got cut off by another driver and are just matching the driving behaviors of everyone else on the road out of self-preservation. It's the system. It's the design. Without drastic engineering changes, there are way too many degrees of freedom for cars on stroads to be a safe and stress-free mode of transit.

[@chuckstrongtowns]

Thank you for your thoughtfulness.

[@Optopolis]

When it's talked about in my area, it's always said how everybody is always in a hurry so they speed. Sometimes, maybe this is true, but even when there is nothing to rush for, people don't tend to do the speed limit, they are doing 5 to 15 over. It's rare that I see someone doing the limit. The best (worst) part is that the limit is still often too fast in that even if you did everything right, you are still likely to harm someone else if they screw up on the road.

[@DizzyDiddy]

Plus, most everyone else around the law-abiding driver going at or below the speed limit seems to get frustrated and become more aggressive. In some cases it may even be more dangerous to go the speed limit or less, because speeding has become the norm. To be fair, speeding is mostly because the roads are designed for speeds that are higher than the speed limit, so it's somewhat rational to exceed it and irrational to actually try to avoid exceeding it.

[@Optopolis]

@@DizzyDiddy Could not say that better! I'm one of the few that at least tries to follow the law and do the limit, but of course, people speed around me. I captured video a while back of a person illegally passing me by crossing a double striped, solid yellow line. Numerous times, I've seen instances where even the cops are doing over the limit for no apparent reason (even literally listening to the scanner for anything happening, and nothing apparent would be happening.) It's at this point that I truly question our thoroughfares and realize that something's gone wrong.

[@falsificationism]

This sparked something in me...being in a 'hurry.' Regardless of how long the commute is...2 minutes or 2 hours...we'd still be in a hurry to be done with the commute, but why exactly? For me, it's because it's an unproductive, lonely, stressful waste of time. But I don't feel like that when I walk or bike unless I'm actually late.

[@Optopolis]

@@falsificationism That's a whole thing too from what I've noticed.

[@nunyabidness3075]

A LOT of speeding is due to over engineered roads which make the speed limits seem too low and entice hire speeds. Studies have showed the roads should be made to obviously make drivers more cautious.

[@blubaughmr]

If everybody drove in a safe and legal manner, most auto body shops would go out of business. However, a consistent design issue I notice is that people don't stop behind the stop line. Their front bumper is going 5 MPH when it crosses the stop line. If there is no cross traffic, they might get down to 3 MPH before they hit the gas. If there is cross traffic, they will jam on the brakes and come to a stop with the stop line somewhere between the rear wheel and behind their back bumper. At that point, they are blocking my path in the bike lane. Why do they do this? Partly because there is usually a row of parked cars on the edge of the street, and they can't see oncoming traffic from behind the stop line. This is another reason why street parking is a scourge.

[@sachamm]

What you want is called "daylighting" the intersections. This usually involves some sort of curb bump out to completely block parking, among other remediations.

[@blubaughmr]

@@sachamm We call them Curb Bulbs where I am. They give pedestrians a shorter crossing, but they make a limited contribution to sight triangles.

[@emmettpickerel]

Love this well-laid out illustration of the problem of blame-based crash assessment. It's a good illustration of why I have never enjoyed driving as a necessary activity, back to my teens. I was well aware that one unlucky circumstance could change my life for the worse for a long time to come. And the benefits were just being able to do mundane daily tasks.

[@ttopero]

As someone almost always outside of vehicles when I encounter them as a car-free driver, I think of them as #AWDs (Assholes While Driving; people who behave against the interests of others) or #IWDs (Idiots While Driving; driving recklessly or in a way endangering others and/or themselves), both committing #VehicularTerrorism to others in my mind.

[@adrianderijcke1294]

Use of the term "Accident" assumes that the incident wasn't preventable. This removes accountability.

[@Datamining101]

That's not what accident means.

[@ttopero]

@@Datamining101what does “accident” mean, legally?

[@Datamining101]

@@ttopero ianal, but google implies it’s more or less the same definition as real life, an unintended outcome of a sequence of actions (or inaction). Roughly the negation of “on purpose”.

[@nunyabidness3075]

Are you a real car hater or were you hired by an auto company to gain reactionary support for even more car infrastructure?

[@jonathanhamm9694]

Not sure if you read these comments, but given how high profile it is, would Strong Towns be willing to do a Crash Analysis Studio on the crash that killed the Gaudreau brothers? This case seems much more tricky to analyze, and certainly easy to lay a lot of the blame on the reckless driver who hit them. I'm still curious what your take would be on the road conditions present at the site.

[@chuckstrongtowns]

Have a lot to say about this one and we might.

[@baronvonkrogglesteiniii5310]

By coincidence, you posted this as I'm dealing with the aftermath of a crash. (Nobody hurt, thankfully) I rear-ended a guy because a freeway lane that had been flowing cleanly came to a dead stop with no warning. Presumably, this happened because someone far ahead of us randomly struggled to negotiate a crossover point between hov/toll lane and normal travel lane. Structurally, maybe the crossover is short and that made this kind of event more likely. Or it's placed too close to an exit on the other side of the freeway. Or the signage didn't give people enough time to prepare for the crossover. But proximally, I'm reckless for driving behind someone who had better brakes.

[@jyutzler]

This video is total bunk. Reckless driving has a specific legal definition that varies by state. It has little to nothing to do with who is at fault for a crash.

[@David-TX59]

How about we talk about reckless road design. A six lane divided road with a 40 mph speed limit between apartment's and a park reckless road design. As a professional driver I see people walking and riding bikes on the highway because there aren't sidewalks or bike lanes, reckless road design.

[@mikko.g]

I don't think of people who drive extremely aggressively... sure they could be reckless, but maybe not... I think of the driver who wasn't paying attention and missed the turn they wanted to make at a stop sign. They then crank their wheel into a left turn to initiate a 3 point turn causing a motorcycle to emergency break because the person misjudged distance and speed of the smaller vehicle.

[@walawala-fo7ds]

incorrect. reckless driving is not driving 5 over or on the cellphone. that will be a careless driving or distracted driving charge. there is a very specific definition of reckless driving reserved for people that not just engage in disobeying laws but do so with intent to or total disregard for others in ways that cause imminent danger to the public. example: driving on the sidewalk to get past another car. using your car as a bartering ram to push someone out of the way (that may even be assault). blowing past a school bus intentionally. the reason we make a distinction is because humans are imperfect and we all make mistakes and mistakes with a car are still mistakes. you can literally kill someone with a bicycle and it happens. are they wreckless if they go 1mph over the limit? If anything cyclists rarely follow trail speed limits because "it's just a bike"... right. 30 pounds of metal and 150 pounds of rider at 25mph hitting a child is not just a bike .. point being, there is reckless and careless. we should not aim to blur the difference

[@nullifye7816]

legal semantics. this asks you to challenge how you think of street design and personal transportation, and redefine momentary recklessness.

[@walawala-fo7ds]

@@nullifye7816 you realize the entire legal system is based on semantics right? and that's a Good thing 😁