weeclarky, on 08 February 2012 - 08:52 , said:
I understand. So people can't manage to walk right, but somehow they are excellent drivers? Got it now.
Erm, right. You got that from my post HOW? If peds paid attention to the road, ped crossings, traffic lights and the ped bridges that were built to enable them to cross roads, inform them when it was safe to do so and where to do the same, ped fatalities would drop drastically. Fact.
Nowhere did I say that "they" are excellent drivers. We all know that there are some pretty piss-poor drivers around. You, however, were inferring that the reason that there are so many ped deaths on our roads are that the drivers are crap. That's just plain wrong. Yes, some deaths may have been avoided if a driver was paying particular attention to the peds on the side of the road, or was not driving drunk and therefore could not stop in time when an errant ped crosses the road.
What, however, would have the highest negative effect on ped deaths? (driving them down, negative means reduction in this case)
The answer to that, my dear chap, is that the peds need to take a dose of common sense and stay on the sidewalks (pavement, FYI) cross at the proper crossings when the man is green WHILST STILL CHECKING THE ROAD FOR CARS, or if crossing when there is not a proper ped crossing within 250m (conservative distance) then looking right, left, right again and then only going if the way is TOTALLY clear, not crossing freeways, and not walking in the road.
The greatest contributor to ped deaths are the peds themselves, as I inferred in my reply to your original post, and again above (seeing as you missed it the first time)
Again - yes, some ped deaths are caused by drivers mounting pavements or drivers just plain driving too fast through an intersection (but yet again - peds shouldn't be crossing when the traffic lights indicate that they should not - they're there for a reason after all - to regulate traffic, in case you were wondering) but the vast majority are caused by their own stupidity.
Take a case when a ped crosses a road when he clearly sees a speeding car, and thinks that they may just stop for them. Who, in their right mind, when seeing a car speeding up to an intersection (or just down the road) even if the man is green at said intersection, would cross in front of same said car? Someone without a brain, is who. Whose fault? The driver's, for not stopping at a red light, or speeding, for sure. But did the ped's stupidity contribute? Sure as hell it did.
As far as you're concerned, it seems as if you don't understand at all...
EDIT: A mate of mine was taken out by a bus when he was hitching a ride home from the beach one day. He wanted to flag it down, but it just veered straight into him. He was walking in the road at the time. Was it the fault of the driver of the bus that caused his death? Damn right it was. But if he had been on the pavement, and not walking in the road itself, he would still be alive today. As I said - common sense. It was lacking that day, unfortunately.
Edited by cptmayhem, 08 February 2012 - 09:39 .