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submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by vanes@lemmy.world to c/til@lemmy.world
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[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 109 points 6 days ago

We’ve never had better technology to build safer cars and streets, and yet here we are. Pedestrian detection and all, installed on a vehicle that’s got a front grille as tall as a person.

I saw someone watching a movie on their phone as they drove the other day, also a probable factor.

[-] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world 52 points 6 days ago

Investment in better infrastructure with no profit is a crime against capitalism.

[-] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 42 points 6 days ago

I met a woman who told me that during the pandemic lock downs she made money driving to legal weed states to spend tens of thousands of dollars on weed and flip it back in her state. She also told me that it was really boring so she'd frequently get above 100 while watching a movie on her phone on her dashboard. So that's who's out on the road with you

[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 25 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Fucking.

Wild.

That kind of behaviour should just be an immediate and permanent revocation of the license, car towed on the spot. Fiddling with phone to get directions or dismiss a notification is one thing but actively watching entertainment?

I have ADHD. It’s not super severe but it’s not great. I can drive 16 hrs (with appropriate breaks) without the radio. I will admit, I tend not to be super respectful of speed limits. But driving is enough stimulation for my scatterbrained self. Brain rot is a hell of a drug.

[-] hcbxzz@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

Punishment for bad driving iof any kind is nearly completely unenforced.

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[-] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I also have ADHD, and have also done a 16 hour drive straight through. Audiobooks or podcasts help. Music gets boring after a few hours. Audiobooks or podcasts are constantly changing, so it’s enough mental stimulation to stay engaged, while also not being too distracting.

People like this are why safe drivers’ insurance premiums are still so high. The safe drivers are subsidizing the dangerous ones. We’re being forced to pay more because the risk of being hit by a braindead watches-movies-while-doing-100 driver has increased.

[-] Taldan@lemmy.world 10 points 5 days ago

That's the end result of car centric infrastructure. The bad drivers couldn't afford to pay the full rates they would be charged. If you kick 10-20% of the population off the road, that is a whole lot of people siddenly unable to work

That many people suddenly stopping working would destroy the only thing Americans truly value - shareholder profits

We have no alternatives to driving. As such the worst drivers you've ever seen will continue to drive by necessity

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[-] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 days ago

Yup. When you look around, everybody is on their fucking phone these days. No wonder they are killing people.

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[-] KindnessIsPunk@lemmy.ca 78 points 6 days ago

Vehicles are getting way too big on average, I mean the F150 is North America's best selling vehicle (*edit: I have since learned as of 2024 that spot actually belongs to the RAV4) since forever. It's a problem of misaligned incentives.

There's an exception carved out for large vehicles in the EPA guidelines that hold them to less stringent emissions standards which incentivizes building larger vehicles 1

Large cars are also incentivized by our crash safety rating system which only takes into account the mortality rate of those inside the car as apposed to average related fatalities. This means it will prioritize safety of those in the vehicle, which has led to our average fatalities increasing. 2

As an unintended side effect this also damages roads much faster because vehicle weight per axle determines the magnitude of the damage a vehicle does to the road. 3 anecdotally this makes me concerned for the additional weight that electric cars add.

Also as vehicles increase in weight the amount of microplastics put into the air as a by product of tire wear increase. 4

As cars increase in size (and therefore weight) the downsides are exponential.

[-] Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world 32 points 6 days ago

All that plus everyone is going 10 over on their phones. If operating a motor vehicle is so disinteresting to you, that you need to look at your phone every 10 seconds, DON'T DRIVE.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 20 points 6 days ago

Driving is simultaneously the most boring and most dangerous thing people do day-to-day. They want the driving to stop as soon as possible, so they speed. They don't want to be stuck with their own thoughts for even a single second, so they text.

And there's no choice. It's not like they can get anywhere without a car in this shithole country.

[-] Waldelfe@feddit.org 4 points 5 days ago

I didn't drive for many years because I always lived in cities with good public transport. When I drove again for the first time in 2021 I was shocked by how basically everyone went 10 over. I really feel this has gotten way worse in the last 20 years. Going 60 where the speedlimit is 50 seems to be the rule, not the exception nowadays.

[-] CainTheLongshot@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

Thank you for putting these links together! I'm about to be in the market for a truck and have been researching current models, and noticed the trend of larger and larger vehicles for a few years now, and wondered why. It couldn't just be because of lifted truck culture. I'm about to just go to a junk yard and try to restore an old one.

[-] KindnessIsPunk@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

It sucks too because the old trucks with a low bed were so much better for actualy doing work if you care about your back at all.

[-] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 3 points 5 days ago

We should try to use AI to manipulate culture into making low trucks popular again.

/not sure if serious

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Honestly, I would love a lil Japanese kei truck in addition to my daily driver vehicle. They seem like the perfect lil truck for dump runs and transporting materials from Home Depot or what have you.

[-] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 5 days ago

I wonder if it's all of the touch screens? I got in a rideshare vehicle the other day and the driver had fucking youtube on

[-] Revan343@lemmy.ca 33 points 5 days ago

Trucks and SUVs have also gotten bigger with flatter fronts. People used to go onto the hood in a collision, now they go under the vehicle

[-] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 days ago

I think that's been true for a long time though

[-] titanicx@lemmy.zip 4 points 5 days ago

This is a man that's never seen in 1970s square body.

[-] AshMan85@lemmy.world 36 points 6 days ago

and its 100% from unnecessarily large cars

[-] pumpkin_spice@lemmy.today 21 points 6 days ago

You don't like the 'pedestrian mower' trucks, where the driver can't see anything that's less than 30 feet in front of them? Weird. /s

[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 11 points 6 days ago

bah. children are not the future. Ever talk to one? pretty ignorant.

[-] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 4 points 5 days ago

Average car size probably rose approximately 70% as well. I remember when Hummers were considered absurdly large, now they're not even the largest things on the road.

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[-] starlinguk@lemmy.world 32 points 6 days ago

And now the States has forced the EU to allow shit cars like that.

[-] falseWhite@lemmy.world 42 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Nobody forced them, EU politicians are Trump bootlickers, cowards afraid to stand up to a bully.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 days ago

There would certainly be consequences if they stood up to the US.

[-] falseWhite@lemmy.world 12 points 6 days ago

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe consequences are for the best. Time to wake up and wean off being dependent on USA goods and technology.

All Trump has is his fucking tariffs, which are doing as much damage in the USA as the other countries.

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[-] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 24 points 6 days ago

The share of pedestrians increased over that period, which may have had something to do with it. I suspect cell phone use while driving makes up a large part as well.

[-] toast@retrolemmy.com 24 points 6 days ago

I agree with you on cell phone use being a contributor. I'm not convinced that pedestrian numbers contribute at all to the increase. I'm not really even convinced that pedestrian numbers have increased at all. Population, yes, has increased but given how growingly hostile most of the US is to pedestrian traffic, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that real pedestrian numbers have decreased.

[-] Steve@communick.news 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Cost of living in that time has gone up substantially nation wide. In my city (Albuquerque) there are easily twice as many people on the street today as 15 years ago. This report says it's gone up %40 in just the last 2 years alone.

[-] toast@retrolemmy.com 6 points 6 days ago

Um, that's a report on homelessness. The majority of pedestrians are not, in fact, homeless.

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[-] Zephorah@discuss.online 9 points 6 days ago

Yes. And while walking.

Lack of focus all around.

[-] Cheems@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

I live in a small town and when I'm walking around it seems as though half of the vehicles that drive by are in their phones

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[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 10 points 6 days ago

That number is sure to drop soon, as clankers run everyone over instead.

[-] Stety@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago

Damn, 23 posts in 4 hours. You sure are posting fast.

[-] NABDad@lemmy.world 23 points 6 days ago

They have to. They're driving.

[-] theuniqueone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Expand public transportation towards the goal of banning personal cars nothing but giant space hoarding, planet destroying death machines.

[-] Zephorah@discuss.online 8 points 6 days ago

Until everyone outside city limits has transportation to get to or to do work, it’s not a viable option.

[-] Eq0@literature.cafe 6 points 6 days ago

Yeah, I’m a big public transport supporter, I never owned a car and so forth, but the transport options outside of city limits are always crap. I haven’t found a good solution yet, and definitely never saw one implemented.

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[-] witty_username@feddit.nl 8 points 6 days ago

Who would've thought that market incentives and regulatory capture would lead to this?
/s

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this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2025
523 points (100.0% liked)

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