Walking in the USA blows and this is why
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- Опубліковано 16 лис 2024
- 100 years of car lobbying and propaganda have fundamentally changed how it is to walk in the USA from road design to pedestrian focused laws, all the way down to media. But can we fix what what our ancestors screwed up so royally?
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References:
The forgotten history of how automakers invented the crime of "jaywalking"
www.vox.com/20...
Massachusetts Pedestrian Laws
www.mass.gov/d...
Editorial Patterns in Bicyclist and Pedestrian Crash Reporting
journals.sagep...
New Jersey Stop For Pedestrian Law
www.nj.gov/oag...
BicycleDutch UA-cam Channel
/ bicycledutch
The Car Crashes That Go Undetected
www.bloomberg....
![Stroads are Ugly, Expensive, and Dangerous (and they're everywhere) [ST05]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ORzNZUeUHAM/mqdefault.jpg)
One of the biggest culture shocks I had in the US was the look of shock when we asked the hotel receptionist how to walk to the Mall across the road to us.
The lobbying of the car industry worked unfortunately really well...
But still don't be afraid to ask, keep asking the receptionists...
It's crazy - one of my family members on a business trip to a major the mid west US city was told that the mall less than 100 meters away from the hotel "can't be walked to".
there was an interstate between the hotel and mall , the road bridge over the interstate at the corner of the block the hotel was on had no footpath, so the nearest pedestrian access was a bridge over a Km away so a return walk was a winding 1.5 km wander through industrial back streets, across the next bridge, 1.5 km back up toward the mall.... then the same back in reverse.... so a 2 hour 20 minute, 6+ kilometre walk to get to a mall and back they could have almost thrown a stone at and hit.
Did that once then they just ended up getting an Uber to drive them the 100 meters up the road for other trips there.
honestly when she showed me the video of the whole thing it was almost like they deliberately went out of their way to stop pedestrians
Thats crazy. They treat roads like they are uncrossable rivers
That’s probably because they’re shocked that at your age you still don’t know how to cross a street.
Great video, I like that you brought up how America neglects road design in car accidents. We just chalk it up to "personal responsibility" and don't question that maybe we are in a badly designed road system.
Who is this “America”? In the REAL world, if an intersection or a block has an unusually large proportion of accidents it’s redesigned. Yes, in the United States.
Yup. Was hit in 2020, small Corolla running up the shoulder of the road (single lane) and hit me as I turned. No sign denoting it was a single lane, no speed limit posted (she admitted to driving 35 in a 25). An accident caused largely by shit road design.
@@MelGibsonFan This was a city street? A rural country road?
@@afcgeo882 City street, I was merging onto a parkway. The intersection was always awful and at least for us who grew up near it we knew it. The lady who hit me unfortunately was visiting from PA and was unfamiliar with rules. It was just a shitty situation all around.
@@MelGibsonFan Wait… merging? Were you walking or driving?
Saw a pithy comment on Twitter the other week: "My politics is I want to have safe, walkable community with robust public transportation WITHOUT having to move to New York City."
Especially coming from a New Yorker. Every time I leave the city it's like a slap in face when am forced to walk on grass to get to a convince store or my parents house.
Glad people on all aisles of politics can agree on urbanization and walkablity
I'm Colombian and while I studied in Spain in 2016 I went t the US for that year's Indy 500. With buses passing by only each hour and taxis being quite expensive, I decided to make the walk to dowtown from the hotel. Pretty nasty business until I made it to dowtown itself, I'm sure I jaywalked more than once to get here. Even in the suburbs that made the walk feel endless by virtue of all looking virtually the same, I felt awkward because without actual sidewalks I felt I was invading people's front yards, worrying one may take offense from it. Meanwhile when I went back to Spain I spent 8 hours walking around Madrid in a single day, never felt unsafe and there was always something to see or do
American here, in regards to the suburbs, walking on the edge of the road is perfectly acceptable. If a car comes you just momentarily start walking in someone's yard until it passes then step back onto the street. If the street is wide enough though, just walk on the edge of the street. Kids play in the streets, and just move out when a car comes. People are generally pretty good about slowing down, and/or, giving pedestrians a wide berth if they can.
@@tylerrobichaux9521 See, no one thinks that roads are acceptable places to walk on, especially in suburban areas that don't have sidewalks. They just think "durrr no walkpath = bad"
@@tylerrobichaux9521 "Just walk on the road and get out of the way when an important car person in their important car comes" is not an alternative for proper walking infrastructure lol
@mrpalaces The edge of a person's property in the US is owned by the government so you would be in the right for walking on it.
Country is DEFINITELY NOT FREE if it prevents you from doing the most basic method of propulsion - WALKING....
And he's not kidding that in some places police will question people merely for being a pedestrian. It's happened to me on multiple occasions, and I'm not even black.
Yeah, happened to me visiting my own home town in Tennessee when I was walking through the new developments where we used to play as kids.
That's crazy! Goes against everything the US was founded on.
Glad not to live there. I would probably get myself arrested with my remarks if someone questioned me for walking somewhere.
I’m European and visited Los Angeles once. I didn’t have a car, so I walked to the grocery store, and some people in cars looked at me weird. Which is even stranger in the US where people usually avoid eye contact with strangers at all costs.
I also remember crossing these huge stroads, which took sooo long.
Yup! I like to go for walks outside my home and I got stopped by an officer who was curious “what I was doing”.
Yes, in the Netherlands the municipality is informed by the police and/or the insurance company where an accident occurred, what kind of people (age, sex), the means of transport (pedestrian, bicycle, car etc). In this way the municipality, responsible for road design, can analyse and improve the local situation. And the municipality can check whether their improvements worked or not, by comparing the statistics before and after. Which effects it had on nearby situations etc.
The experience of all municipalities is bundled to come to a better road design.
That sounds rational and competent. We don't have the time or the patience to competently operate our crumbling streets, with the attendant "run over bicyclist" shrines popping up all around my small town.
We only have money and time for bombing strange, far away lands, not for running our own country.
@@daveybernard1056 It also prevents designers from doing it completely wrong and getting a lawsuit, so saves the city lots of money.
And costly corrections afterwards.
When the city can say: 'We did all according the CROW guidelines!', chances that they are fully liable for damage is reduced considerable.
(CROW = Guidelines for road, traffic, and infra design in NL)
US cities already do this. I don't know why the author here claims this doesn't happen. Again, just another video to incite people to spread hate and lies.
@@puffpuffin1 Correct, but on a less organized scale, not centrally coordinated, and not systematic.
Therefor the guidelines are not binding and strict, leaving designers to take more freedom and with it, errors.
@@dutchman7623 No, the US has several design manuals to choose from to fit each unique situation. The US is a vast country with different types of cities, towns, geography etc that makes this freedom to choose the best design a positive to better fit the needs of each individual community. Yes, there may be errors, but you (hopefully) will learn from each.
That Jersey pedestrian law really should be in every state AS A START
I visited the USA years ago and it was impossible to walk to the shops quarter of a mile away. I tried cycling and the drivers tried to run me off the road then a sheriff pulled me over. Never again.
Man I'm glad people are FINALLY starting to talk about this problem. I'm sincerely convinced this more than any other issue is the single biggest problem in the US today. It directly contributes to everything from climate change to obesity to racial issues to income inequality to poor mental health to economically unsustainable cities and to a hundred other things.
I spent a good chunk of my life too poor to own a car. Freeways are like a huge wall to a pedestrian, nevermind a large street. Sometimes jaywalking is the only way to get from point a to b. What's really awful is how some people pretend to hit pedestrian. Jaywalkers tend to be minorities and poor, and the laws can also be detrimental. Imagine you don't have a car, get a ticket for jaywalking and miss court because of lack of a way there. Now you are arrested and sent to jail, putting your employment at jeopardy. I am excited about smart streets and complete streets that want to include the pedestrian into the traffic flow. We all use the roads. Stockholm actually closed their entire downtown to car traffic, pedestrian only. Hopefully these kinds of ideas come soon. I've seen 2 people killed trying to cross the freeway on my way to work. They were crossing at a place between 2 large neighborhoods, but the underpass is over a mile away. A bridge or tunnel for pedestrian traffic could've saved their lives. It'll probably keep happening too. Sadness
Someone in Birmingham in the UK, saw a woman with a pushchair struggling to get over the central barriers on one of the main roads.
He said how he suddenly realised how the highways split neighbourhoods up and made ordinary life very difficult. Roads in so many towns have been more designed for people driving through them than for the people who live there.
@@grahvis that woman was probably being stupid. Roads in the UK are not like those in the US and there would have been a crossing point. She probably didn't want to walk to it though.
In a city like Birmingham, I'd struggle to believe any part of it is not walkable and that road in particular probably had a central reservation because it is so busy and there'd be a bridge/tunnel/traffic light further down the road.
Having said that, there are horrible areas to try to navigate by foot, like around the North Circular in London.
You always see stupid irresponsible parents pushing their push chairs out into the road without even checking.
She may have been part of a gang of beggars. You see those around London, at busy traffic light junctions like Hangar Lane. I have see them using children and push chairs too.
As I wasn't there and do not know the area, I can only speculate and am open to being corrected.
Be careful what you wish for. Vehicles are often needed. The problem is public transport is often not invested in enough and is at the whims of the politician of the day.
I agree with pedestrianised areas (and certain streets being car free (especially in a dense centre), but this needs to be balanced with access needs and needs to be tailored to specific areas. Car use will naturally go down if efficient and affordable public transport is available (it often isn't). Corrupt local councils here have abused powers given to them and made everything much worse.
I own a car in London largely because I cannot rely on (or afford) the trains for when I leave the city (which is frequently). But I don't drive all that often within the city.
On jaywalking, that is a stupid law which shouldn't exist anywhere (other laws can cover walking on motorways and train tracks). Jaywalking doesn't exist in the UK.
Drivers routinely accelerate at and/or attempt to intimidate pedestrians in Florida.
I was walking to work yesterday in Phoenix and had two assholes lean out the window and bark at me like dogs.
@@edwardmiessner6502 protestors have no business obstructing traffic
@@danieldaniels7571 So just run them over? Wtf..
@@danieldaniels7571 Walking under those conditions is a form of protest 😅
@@danieldaniels7571 Nobody mentioned protesters, just pedestrians. People who think like you shouldn't own a car imo.
Here in Luxembourg if you fail to yield to a pedestrian that shows intent to cross, you automatically fail the driving exam
I’ve been without my car for nearly four months, and vlogging daily showing the struggle of getting around and surviving in Phoenix by walking and public transit. Now many fast food places have closed lobbies and won’t serve you if you don’t drive through the drive-thru.
I live in a small town, and I still have trouble walking. There's a state highway that splits the town in half. It has 2 traffic lanes + a center turn lane. It's possible to cross, but because it's a state highway that connects other nearby towns, it is basically a stroad. Unfortunately, there isn't a crosswalk that has a cycle that stops through traffic and allows pedestrians to go through, so it takes minutes to wait to cross to the other side of town.
i also live in a small town and have a lot of issues walking. almost everyone lives in a housing development and it takes me 15 minutes of walking just to get out of mine. then you are greeted with a road with no sidewalk, and the nearest store would take an hour to walk to. i say i live in a small town but really it’s just very spread out and it’s ridiculous that there is no regard to cyclists or pedestrians
Get neighbors together and petition for a bypass. I am sure most of those drivers don't want to waste time crawling through a town they have no intention of visiting, if there is an alternative.
Stroads are so stupid. Who thought it would be a good idea to have a highway disguised as a street in a city environment?
A highway with a center turnlane? That's the stupidest design i've ever heard of.
@@TehDutchStar Guessing you don't live in the US? Roads like that are incredibly common around where I live, at least. It's one of the biggest reasons I intend to move out as soon as I'm able to
So depressing. Many drivers in my city fail to give way to pedestrians who have begun to cross the street the driver is turning into, despite the law ‘protecting’ the pedestrian. Of course this is due to speed and the ridiculously wide intersections with rounded wide kerbs that encourage cars to speed.
In the area where my daughter lives in the UK, the local council have sharpened many of the junctions to slow down those turning in.
I live in the Netherlands and all of this is so alien to me. Walking is my primary mode of transportation, augmented by public transportation for longer distances or when the weather is truly miserable. I do not even have a driver's license nor ever felt any need to acquire one. The funny thing is that the city I live in, Rotterdam, is probably the most car-centric city in the country, even though by US standards it would be a pedestrian's paradise.
Being from England, not being able to choose to walk to wherever I want to go sounds so alien to me.
European are all old countries (England included), proud of their heritage and historical buildings. They would rather have small roads rather than demolishing historical landmarks. That's why a lot of laws protecting such landmarks from road expansions, and in return, pedestrian sideways also protected by laws. Should I mention you guys also helped by more elaborate public transport hubs?
even in Australia which has a similar car culture the US is exceptionally bad, I can only think of a few places, all mixed retail/industrial areas on major highways, where I'd hesitate to walk/cross roads.
Honestly I thought jay walking was some made up joke thing until met some American backpackers who where shocked when I just crossed roads without going down to the crossing lights.... what? jaywalking rules are real? we just have a general pedestrian dangerous road use law that is used at police discretion (literally never heard of anyone getting charged with it either, only know of it due to police friends)
@@TheRealMarxz its only the "libtard" states have walkable cites 🤣
@@prashnaveetprasad8339 LA???
@@manchesterunitedno7 America used to have that everywhere pre 1920's, people like to foolishly say that America was designed for the car, no, it was bulldozed for the car. Look up old photos of US towns and cities and plenty are indistinguishable from European ones besides some building architecture, especially with abundant rail car services etc. which all got removed for the car.
I love that they call them "accidents". Like they were inevitable, no one at fault, they can't be helped. They're COLLISIONS, dammit! And someone is at fault. And it's usually a car.
In the Netherlands, you, as a driver, are always responsible if you hit a cyclist, two wheeler or pedestrian. Even if they are breaking the law.
Except this is a myth
@@tmnvanderberg it's not
@@Jalmaan It is. Dutch law only inverts the burden of proof, meaning that a driver has to prove that he is blameless in case of an accident with a vulnerable road user. But it is definitely possible to prove you are blameless.
(Additionally, if the driver is not 100% blameless, he pays at least 50% of the damage, even if his blame is considered less than 50%.
Finally, if the vulnerable road user is under 14, the driver pays 100% even if completely blameless.)
@@tmnvanderberg So the driver is responsible for proving himself blameless. So Jalmaan was correct.
@@Brindlebrother He said that drivers are always responsible. I explained that they are not always responsible.
Good report on this situation.
Two other channels that discuss this inherent problem: "Strong Towns" and "Not Just Bikes". Somewhat different focus, but definitely related.
You have some high quality content for someone with less than 100 subscribers. Hopefully you'll grow and get more recognition. Thanks for the video.
As a disabled person it sucks that I have to be shuttles around by family members because our public transportation system in my state and local areas is unreliable.
Welcome to not accessible America.
The US is definitely NOT a free country...
@@BassandoForte free with many MANY rules🤣
@@albinoguidedog 😂😂😂😂 u nailed it
Are you having an issue where you live with fast food places closing their lobby and refusing to serve you because you’re not driving?
@@danieldaniels7571 no why?
Instead of making the bike lanes safer my city just labels them as "Advanced" and moves on
I went to Japan in late 2019, to Tokyo. One of the things that amazed me is how well integrated the streets are between people and vehicles. There are still the major roads that are cars only (and thinking about it now, all these major roads had massive sidewalks on both sides without fail), but literally every smaller street or side street is perfectly shared. I saw so many streets filled with people that cars were still driving down very carefully. It was crazy to see, every street that wasn't a multiple lane street was perfectly shared. There were even so many streets that were almost exclusively people and I did not see one vehicle on them at all despite them being shared streets. I really hate how we've designed the US around requiring cars to do anything at all. It's so nice to just be able to walk anywhere in Tokyo, and here we basically need a car to do anything due to a lack of places to walk and public transportation. You could live your whole life in Tokyo without ever needing a car, but in the US it would be hard to even go a week without a car.
I remember a case in the US where a pedestrian correctly using a crossing, was struck by a police car. When they tried to sue for damages, the judge stated regardless of having the green light, they had no right to an expectation of safety.
As for headlines, this is one from the UK.
"Cyclists kill or maim two pedestrians every week according to statistics."
Further down in the article it did point out the statistics made no mention of who was to blame but the overall impression was obviously that blame lay on cyclists.
Without these rules/laws there would be more traffic. That is true.
But this video is talking about something more. There are so many more private vehicles in US than optimum and we are talking about pedestrian safety vs driver inconvenience. Yes, there are not many pedestrian casualities but that is precisely because of this lacking infrastructure making few people walk. Most car trips in US are short ~3 mile trips, which can be easily done by walking/biking. And a walkable city surely will bring more smaller, neighbourhood stores.
Improve pedestrian infrastructure -> make walking/biking more lucrative -> reduce traffic -> increase health and reduce emissions and air pollution. Of course it is not a easy change, but is needed nevertheless.
When I was in LA I tried getting walking directions from the airport to my hostel a quarter mile away, couldn’t do it
the thing about stating who was responsible of a traffic accident might seem a minor thing, but I've noticed it. Many times I read headlines stating "cyclist died at x or y street" or "one person was ran over by a car". Even if it was not intentional does not mean people has to know exactly was guilty of the accident, be it the driver or the pedestrian/ cyclist.
As a latin American I was astonished by the mere concept of jaywalking.
That's true, paisano. We learn about he concept of jaywalking when we learn english... There's not even an specific word in spanish for it...That's how weird it is
@@fszocelotl yeah it's really weird. Here we are told to have basic safety measures like looking both sides of the road and cross at the corner of the block which unfortunately not everyone does but it's weird that just crossing the street is something like a felony
The term "jaywalking" was invented by car lobby, so it's not a real word. Presumably, the term "sidewalk" appeared after the politicians decided to give every single street to cars.
Some time ago we walked from a closeby (historical) suburb to the downtown of a small American city, basically less than a 30 min walk, most of it on calm streets with nice sidewalks yet little in terms of cross walks. Well, in between of course there was a a bridge across a highway with access ramps intersecting with no cross walk, no traffic lights or anything. Those ramps where in a sharp curve so cars were appearing almost out of nowhere, as fast as the curve allowed. That was fun and probably slightly life threatening. Either way, we made it just fine and it was not too long of a walk anyway.
When we arrived in downtown and met our host she was looking at us in disbelief and then introduced us to each person as the crazy Europeans who "WALKED!" from that suburb to downtown. We were begazed as if we had jumped out of the stratosphere with parachutes and landed right there on a downtown street.
My state has the stop for pedestrians law like New Jersey and I can’t imagine trying to walk around without it.
Which state is that?
@@r.pres.4121 Minnesota
in Germany I just cross the road wherever and whenever it feels safe. The only time where I waited for traffic lights to change was when visiting the US as Americans warned me that I could get into trouble
yep… the closest thing we have to "jaywalking" is §25 (3) StVO, which basically said "it's illegal to cross the road where it's stupid to do so" (for which not even a theoretical fine exists).
@@kailahmann1823 a friend told me she was fined, in a black forest village
Live in Minneapolis and we have lots of bicycle infrastructure, which also sorta protects pedestrians, as drivers are used to humans in the roads. Most bicyclists and pedestrians actually jay-ride or jay-walk. In Minnesota some are trying to make this legal, if no cars are close or around.
I once had to cross when the sign said “don’t walk” because they take too long to change. I was on a bike riding at a decent pace and didn’t want to wait.
i overheard a conversation the other day between my colleague and a customer complaining about cyclists (in a bicycle priority street, to top it of) and their 'rude' attitude.
the customer lamented about bikes not belonging in the street and how horrible it is for a car driver to hit a cyclist in traffic.
i was so dumbfounded by this perspective.
I visited the USA in 2013 from the UK. My wife and I did quite a lot of walking around small towns and twice people in cars stopped and asked us for directions. I realised there was very few people out walking although the areas we were in were very pleasant and easy to walk. Americans have got out of the habit of using their legs!
I think if people walked and cycled more they would be healthier but Dick Turpin Health Insurance wouldn't like that
yeah, going to the US as a tourist from europe is a real piss if you cant properly walk, properly bike or use public transport...
my common day was driving everyehere during thr day and during the evening spending a shitton of time in thr gym to burn all the sitting around
There are many things I like about NJ, but the inability to walk or even bike anywhere (as well as the exorbitant property taxes that go toward maintaining and expanding car-only infrastructure) is ultimately the reason why I moved. There really is nothing quite like the experience of biking several miles to another town, by way of a 45 mph road with no sidewalk, bike lane, or even a shoulder, so that I can take the closest non-highway overpass, then turn and take another 45 mph road several miles back in the general direction I came, to get to a town that literally shares a border with mine, but is otherwise unreachable without a car because its border is Route 1. The google maps image of the "1.5 mile detour" hits very close to home.
It really depends where in Jersey you live. Some places is extremely walkable and pedestrian-friendly while others is just a nightmare
I despise laws that make the walk/don’t walk lights regulatory, rather than advisory. In MN, the law is the same as in MA: even if the traffic light is green in the same direction and there’s no traffic, if the pedestrian light says Don’t Walk, it is technically illegal to cross. WI law on this point is far more sensible: the pedestrian signals are advisory, not compulsory. Only the traffic lights are compulsory. So you could technically be guilty of jaywalking if you crossed against a red light (even with no traffic), but if the traffic light is green and the pedestrian signal says Don’t Walk, you can legally cross.
IMHO, if pedestrian signals are going to be compulsory then they need to also be automatic: whenever the same-direction traffic light is green, the pedestrian signal should be Walk. Period. If that means motorists need to check before making a right turn-well, they should already be doing that. And your signals should already be timed to allow pedestrians to cross, not only when someone presses a button.
as a native jerseyite, i find that ma law super weird. I've never even thought it could be more complicated than "stop for pedestrians"
Streets should be public and held in common by the people. The ability to move freely thru streets is at the heart of freedom. Anything less is encarceration.
I love your videos. And the news reporting is outrageous.
This is so true. I got hit by a car and woke up in the hospital with a jay walking ticket. Screw you APD.
Blind person here in Memphis inches away from burning down an auto dealership if things can't change soon
Not a solution at all but on a personal level I have a 65w car horn in my backpack which somewhat helps with safety and confidence while biking and walking. Also have 45W LED high beams on the bike, if cars don’t see me now they do and they can hear me too
In Europe it is always said who was the person that struck someone on the street and the person who got struck if there's ever an accident so seeing US covering this type of thing as it's the pedestrian fault... It just doesn't seem right to me.
So if you are driving down the road and a pedestrian suddenly and unpredictably jumps in front of you and gives you no time to react, would you be fine with having to pay a higher insurance premium to cover the cost of his injuries and having that accident on your record?
@@aycc-nbh7289 It depends.
If it was intentional, then the person who got struck is fined. If it was not intentional, then the person who was driving is fined.
But that's for the Court.
@@JacobTheCroc So you are saying that if there is no intent, a driver could still be fined for striking a pedestrian without any time to react to the incident at all?
@@aycc-nbh7289 what I'm saying, keep your eyes on the road and not on your phone, watch your surroundings and be aware of everything that is happening
@@aycc-nbh7289 and I don't know too much, I don't even plan on having a driving license.
Somebody WALKED across that road with the Home Depot near the Holland Tunnel? Incredible!
For those of you unfamiliar with where this is, it's the main entrance to Lower Manhattan. You can see the tunnel entrance briefly in the video.
Almost died getting that b-roll, lol. It was just before rush hour and the beg button to get across the road was broken as well so I had to weave through traffic to cross the road. I do it every once in a while if I feel like shaking hands with danger.
@@UrbanJerseyGuy Makes me happy to live in a town not large enough to generate many deadly traffic situations.
I assumed "state law stop" was just normal everywhere. I didn't know missouri was special
Yep its only about a dozen states and DC.
@@UrbanJerseyGuy I see it here too.
Jay-walking is one of the most BS law.
Definitely
I an undecided between jaywalking and right turn on red as default.
I never thought about how the news/people don't think much about cars harming pedestrians but they do a lot about cyclists/pedestrains causing harm to each other!
Excellent summary of the issues here. The problem is not just in permanent design, but in transitory planning. Case in point:
When I worked in SF in 2011 in a large shared office on Fremont Street, there was a lot of construction for the tower that's still hoped to become the terminus of high-speed rail in California. The city would shut the sidewalks and crossings regularly, but Fremont Street's 4 lanes of one-way car traffic? That was protected. For one stretch of time, the route from the bus stop to the building was changed from what could have been a single street crossing but had been four to SEVEN street crossings. The 2 minute walk of a short block was changed closer to twenty minutes. SF cops naturally took advantage of this and handed out tickets to pedestrians who crossed gaps in traffic just trying to get to work.
11:59 the second one is how reporters are supposed to write anyways because it's active voice and not passive voice, so they are already failing at their job with no cultural changes
Basically from this and other videos what I've found out is, public transport is crap, walking is basically illegal in most places, and cycling is scary asf.
The UK is due to update its Highway Code imminently to place the greatest responsibility for the most vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, horses, motorcycles) on the most dangerous vehicles (HGVs, PSVs, Cars/Vans/Minibuses) in that order. It intends to place a much greater emphasis on stopping or giving way to pedestrians who wish to cross, regardless of whether they are at a marked crossing or not.
Thank god I live in a small commuter suburb in central NJ that is mostly residential with a main street business core and as a result quite walkable.
Walk between Hoboken and JC once a week. Rather than the Holland tunnel way I walk thru the train station and thru the mall. It adds another half mile, but better than crossing the Holland tunnel
There's absolutely no point of owning a bike in America, unless it's for recreational use.
And unless you have a car to drive to where you want to bike!
Definitely a culture shock. During my trip to Japan in 2019 I was surprised at how easy it was to go wherever I wanted without transport. Want to go to Denny's? Walk to the station, buy a $1.50 ticket, get off a couple stops away, walk a mile and boom, Denny's. If I want to get to the Denny's a couple miles away in Colorado? Gotta drive the car. Heck even the bus station is like half a mile away on both sides of the trip and I have to wait an hour for the right bus to come by.
Meanwhile here in Madrid jaywalking in 1-lane streets is actually legal and in bigger ones it's done almost constantly with close-to-no repercussion. I've jaywalked up to 4-lane streets right next to 2 (not one, two!) police precints without any problem whatsoever.
I do a lot of walking, and I often find myself thinking, "Why isn't there a sidewalk here?" I've literally walked down streets where there's a sidewalk, and then there just isn't one. Like, it just ends, and they couldn't be bothered to actually pave the whole thing. It's the weirdest thing. If you're a pedestrian, you have to go from sidewalk to grass or street because there's no more sidewalk, and I always feel like car drivers are judging me when I have to do that even though it's not my fault because I literally have no other choice but to walk in the street.
Who designed this crap? What was the thought process here? It makes no damn sense.
I live in Fargo, the city has sidewalks on most streets some don't and really should have a sidewalk. 85% of traffic signals have push buttons and 95% of them work, but if the light is coordinated usually walkrest or walkhold is used for the main road and even if the walk comes up the buttons still work they still place a call to the controller. I always push the button by habit, but I noticed with these new APS buttons is they sometimes don't work I think they are expensive pieces of junk.
Here in Russia, the law in no uncertain terms states that if a driver hits a pedestrian on a clearly marked crosswalk - that driver is fucked. *Seriously fucked.* If there are no serious injuries - they are liable to be fined by police and sued by the pedestrian. If that pedestrian ends up in a hospital or dead - the driver is quite likely to face prison for manslaughter and getting sued into oblivion by that pedestrian or their surviving family.
The only reason some people get away with it is if they're seriously rich, well connected and/or famous. Which is why the most outrageous cases of this happen in Moscow - where you can be a friend of a friend of a congressman, and lawyering up and suing for corruption can't reach that far up the foodchain.
Russian law is one of the best sets of laws in the world (other than the recent additions for surveillance and anti-gay stuff), it's the enforcement of them and corruption of the system that are screwed. But if 2 people are in court, equally lawyered up and the judge isn't anyone's uncle - the law works well and fairly.
i always remember the "Stop a Douchebag" activists from RU that would put a big sticker on the driver's window. You could always tell that they were very wealthy types that would drive so recklessly.
RAM THAT CAR DOUBLE-PARKED IN THE BIKE LINE!
EDIT: Oh, shoot. There's a double-parked car every block. Probably DoorDash thugs who think laws don't apply to them because they deliver fast food.
Wow, I know that place in the beginning of the video: thats Paterson Plank Road in Jersey City near the Hoboken border.
I'd argue that it makes sense not to stop a cab on a crosswalk (6:38) since the cab can obstruct the crosswalk and block the view between drivers and pedestrians trying to cross. Ideally it would be possible to hail one while standing on the edge of the sidewalk itself.
Yeah especially considering a cab hailed at a crosswalk will be at the front of a lane, and potentially block all traffic of a given direction until the passenger is picked up. People will get mad, try to drive around, and hit the guy.
The answer is not having parking, so there is a place for delivery and drop off. I'm not sure if that came across, but if there is only parking on the side of the street, it is not safe to hale a cab walking out between parked cars.
I live in a city of about 650,000 people. We had a period of over two years without a single pedestrian or cyclist death, which I think is pretty exceptional, especially considering little kids walk by themselves here. The traffic is phenomenally safe here.
I asked about walking to the baseball stadium that I could see from my hotel window. The desk cleark told me it was impossible. She was right. St. Louis is awful for pedestrians but it's no worse than most cities in the USA.
I mostly WFH in the UK and after I log off I always go for a wander around the neighbourhood to stretch my legs. An American friend who lives here said that would be seen as strange and indeed suspicious back where she is from the in the US. A guy walking around without a purpose!
I also walk for my local coffee first thing and to the supermarket (if I am not buying lots or anything heavy) even though I do have a car.
in Maryland, stopping for pedestrians is the law, but nobody does it ever.
DC as well, there are few other. Needs to have enforcement and road design changes as well.
They need to stop everywhere? Or just on pedestrian crossings?
@El Berto We don't have that much crossings. We don't need to as it's usually safe to cross the street wherever you want. As long as you pay attention. Look left and right if there's any traffic coming and if not, just cross the street. That makes cars having to stop for pedestrians rare on 90% of the streets.
Same with Arizona
I love that half of the video was filmed biking in circles in the same 4 block area in Hoboken. Great video, lol.
I definitely didn't have a great idea on what to film when I was starting out, lol
This was a fantastic video. Thank you. The indignant tone is perfect. Your objections are entirely correct. We need to work to both be a less car-centric state and country. You've emphasized the needed changes and how de-humanized people on foot can become. Thank you
I feel like you're totally missing out on the fact that the jaywalking fine in MA is $1 and it's completely unenforced to the point where reporters have tried to jaywalk as egregiously as possible in front of police officers and were never stopped. Yes the laws are on the books, no, nobody cares about them, as anyone who lives in MA knows, jaywalking legal in practice.
Older generations wonder why fewer kids go outside these days. They just blame technology and videogames. Yeah, not like most of public space in the USA is anti-pedestrian.
That sounded like "animal farm" only with cars. 😀
dubai created a bridge separated from the vehicule road to cross dengerous intersections. they made their modern city very pedestrian-friendly apparently.
also in europe road law is clear : cities belongs to pedestrians, not cars, pedestrians always have priority, anywhere and anytime. and horn is absolutely forbidden (in theory).
Interesting video and explanation. You might want to check your video settings though, I noticed a lot of interlaced artifacts throughout the entire video that were very distracting. Especially for 4K resolution, you should make sure to never export interlaced video and to de-interlace any source material in your editing software before you export. There was heavy interlacing banding at the start and end of the video. This will help make your B-roll POV bicycling footage look much better, particularly whenever you make a turn.
america, we designed our world around cars...but we also designed the car world to also be a minefield of legality and pain. The biggest one for me is the fact that the US essentially requires you to own a car but god help you if you decide to also make it a livable microhome/stealth camper.
It's cool how this video is taken around Hoboken, NJ. As for the media I am happy to say that if it is not about the weather or a new technology, I have no interest in it what so ever.
in ma no one actually follows the jaywalking laws, I jaywalk all the time and the only time I've gotten in trouble for it was in Austin, tx.
This is true with most laws, easily broken and rarely enforced. The point is when they are enforced they are generally to punish people of color.
in mass the fine for jaywalking is $1. The police literally refuse to give tickets, there’s a whole article about a journalist trying to.
@@UrbanJerseyGuy laws that are almost never enforced and were the public consensus is that that non enforcement is good should be abolished to achieve legal clarity. The only unenforced laws that remain in the book is should be laws like the one that bannes plate armor in the British parliament. So laws that prohibit things that no one would do anyway even with the law.
@@IaHarbour In my home state, it is $77, but it is still pretty small of a fine when it is compared to those for other violations. People jaywalked all the time right in front of the police station while I was at university and no one did much.
I recommend upgrading your mic; these vids are great and they deserve a good voiceover :)
I heard a roumor that the song "Jump" by Van Halen was originally intended to educate how to avoid being hit as an US pedestrian.
Ironic
Its so hard to read the dialog boxes, i would recommend you try another style of text boxes. You content is so good but since im not a native English speaker its hard to read the frases devided and with that font
That pan shot at the beginning -- that corner of Hoboken! I used to bike down there all the time before any of those condos were there, hah.
In Italy you can legally cross if the crosswalk is more than 100m (320ft) from you. And drivers who don't yield to people at crossings can get fined
I live in South LA and sometimes when crossing the street on the crosswalk, ppl just randomly honk @ u even when they can't turn right they still do it
Ironically at 2:36, the pedestrian detour is in effect while crews work to widen the sidewalk on either side of 12th Street and possibly narrow the roadway.
Come to Portland, at least we can walk to most places and we have tons of public transportation and bike lanes. Also we have tons of homeless here.
I stayed at a hotel app. one kilometre away from our office, being from Germany, it was obvious to walk. It was an everyday challenge not being killed by a car as there was no walkable way. Still, I found it extremely strange that in the morning the hotel offered a transfer by car, and in the evening colleagues asked me if they should give me a lift. The only pedestrians I saw, were people leaving their cars at the parking place. At least now I know why.
I can say that's why the US has the highest carbon emission per capita. Those companies are just having too much power.
9:53 "here's a rarrow strip for your bikes to car to speed past, also, cars are going to park in the strip, so have fun."
A friend of mine went to USA a few years back, were from UK and we had no idea what jaywalking was. In UK it's normal if there's no car coming just walk across the street it's fine. We all do it here but when my friend did it there apparently a few elderly people had a go at him 😂😂 just kinda blows my mind
Gotta love Spain. Go anywhere near a crossing and cars stop. In the UK where I am, a pedestrian only has to apporach the kerb for cars to slow down ready to make way. America has never been great.
@3:30 it looks like a joke but it actually is apprently the shortest path.
It's simple, at least theoretically, to rectify the problems which you well illustrate. Start building habitats for people and not machines. Unfortunately, the essence of the challenge has little to do with engineering and construction, and everything with unlearning a century of acculturation. That's a long process. It'll take generations.
Apparently, the Netherlands was car centric into the 1970s. That gives me hope that things can happen relatively fast once there's enough of a push. Of course, the US will struggle with how politically charged everything has become - even walking!
I’m so glad Jay walking isn’t a thing in the UK because I wouldn’t be able to live like this
I Thank you have to look at the car side of things as well. We have these crosswalks in town that come from behind trees and parked cars into two lanes of busy traffic. Let me tell you from experience, the cars cannot see the pedestrians when they emerge from behind these obstructions. The pedestrian see the signs telling them that they have the right away and they step out into the road without even looking.
so real hot take... don't drive faster than 30 km/h if there's a pedestrian crossing.
It's worse than that. Where I live cars have taken over the pavements (sidewalks) too.
Great video! I also live in Hoboken and have to deal with the palisades cliff elevator. I'm the guy in the video Alan Fisher made about Personal electric vehicles. I have an instagram account about biking in Hoboken that I'd love to hand over to you since im moving away in a month.
Hey Jackson! Thanks for the offer, I'd probably take you up on it if I was not just about to move myself. Don't know if I'll be back or not yet.
You know I'm 100% sure I've seen you around
very good videos from your channel, keep it up!
Very informative, thank you!
For another interesting perspective see "notjustbikes" channel. In The Netherlands the law for decades has been that you MUST stop for pedestrians at a crosswalk. The fine for a car not yielding has been steadily increased to just over $480,-. The law also recognizes pedestrians and cyclists as intrinsically vulnerabele road users, making car users always more responsable and liable in an accident. Yes, this has some negative effects in some cases, but it has made it so that it is engrained in national culture that road users carry a bigger responsability in road safety. And therefor they act more responsably. Another factor is thst almost every car user in the Netherlands is a bike user as well. So knowing first hand how vulnarable you and you children are, you act more responsable when in a car to protect other people and their children as well.
Wow the US is insaaaaaane! Wtf is the point of a crosswalk if vehicles don't have to yield to pedestrians!?!