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ActionFalcon t1_irej2uk wrote

Reply to comment by ForWhomTheCheeksClap in Police identify pedestrian killed in a crash in south Springfield by ArtemisGrey

This needed mentioned. Too many people exclusively blaming our terrible drivers, which we certainly have, but we also have way too many pedestrians who would prefer to jaywalk than to take a cross walk.

I see it just about every day around the Walmart on Glenstone & Bennett, people jaywalking across rush hour traffic instead of using the cross walk 100 feet down the road.

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miaret t1_irf3ghh wrote

>To be fair, this city is shit for pedestrian crossings. Roads were designed with cars and only cars in mind. Most crossings are at traffic signals only, which are few and far between. The crossings are too far to be reasonably accessible to able-bodied walkers, let alone disabled travelers. This is a design flaw for both drivers and pedestrians.
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>I've also seen more drivers blow through actual pedestrian crossings (even those light up ones with the cross-walks) with a pedestrian visibly attempting to cross than I've seen people jaywalk in Springfield.
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>Not to say it doesn't happen that jaywalkers do stupid shit, but in instances of a car versus a person, the onus is on the driver with the thousand pound machine to show more care on the road.

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ActionFalcon t1_irfgaxw wrote

I 100% agree we need improvements for pedestrian traffic, but that doesn't necessarily refute the point of my comment which was that we will continue to have jaywalkers even with accommodations close by, and it's not always the fault of the driver when they are hit.

You can't assume this is on the driver just because "they're the ones with the thousand pound vehicle." There are reaction times and physics to take into consideration and plenty of scenarios where a driver simply does not have the time to stop before hitting a pedestrian that carelessly walks across moving traffic.

I'm not blaming the pedestrian in this case, just saying that we don't have enough info to put all the blame on the driver, which could have been out of their control and now be dealing with a tramatic experience.

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