How do I word this without sounding like a dick?

Have you watched how people walk? They shamble, they stand on escalators (not the idea, folks!) and so on. These people drive. They look at their phones as they drive. They speed. Many of them are passively suicidal.

I'm not the only person I know who has crashed a car on a kind of death wish in the past. How the fuck are cars legal? Should be as bureaucratic to drive a car as it is to fly a plane.

E: oh and by the way, people cross the street to avoid cigarette smoke. Fair enough but like, are you fucking kidding me?

  • CascadeOfLight [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Really sucks to live in the middle of the ~1 century that the average human will ever have to deal with this.

    • please_just_stop [comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I'm going to go somewhere where I don't have to deal with cars so much. Fuck living this way. I've got a scheme to live rather cheaply in the CBD in Melbourne/Sydney. I'll give it away to certain people when I'm shot of this place.

      Not yet put it into action myself but it's the only way I'd stay. There's also going parasite mode. Had a mate who lived at his girlfriend's parents' place rent free. But fuck that.

  • companero [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I stopped riding my bike because a :frothingfash: in a lifted truck could intentionally run me over and either kill or maim me at any moment (and get away with it). :sadness:

  • operacion_ogro [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Every day I commuted by bike I committed myself to being run over by some asshole who was eating cereal and checking Instagram while driving a lifted truck

    • please_just_stop [comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Reminder that these people think cyclists are mentally "weak" somehow lmao

      Same thing they think about women btw. Interesting parallel

  • Aryuproudomenowdaddy [comrade/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Would have had an uncle and a few aunts and the one that survived has burn scars and skin grafts over most of her body.

    • please_just_stop [comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I can't really tell the grim stories I know but one involves cops advising the offending party to deny everything

      Not me to be clear. I'd do my time if I killed anyone with a car

      I am sufficiently white -- albeit not affluent -- to have seen the two sides of how cops treat people. The driver in that story was white, as was the victim.

      • MoneyIsTheDeepState [comrade/them,he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Let me guess, "It's sad that the world's come to this Mr. Driverman, but you can't give them anything or else this damn litigious society will let them take everything. And they'll do it, too. They're just itching for a chance to take everything from you - your house, your job, your wife. They want to take your penis away from you, Mr. Driverman."

  • VILenin [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    It’s physically nearly impossible for me to breathe with smoke in the vicinity or exhaust or anything. Sorry that I give a shit about my respiratory health

    • please_just_stop [comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Sorry. I said it's fair enough. Not going to hammer the point but I bet they're not all asthma sufferers and I bet some drive cars

      You have carte blanche to stop anyone smoking in a pub or other smoke-free area

      • iridaniotter [she/her, they/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        For me, I don't have asthma but smoke reduces the air quality immensely, and vape juice smells really bad. I think smokers might be desensitized. Anyway, I'm still glad people go outside to do it now.

  • UlyssesT [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    There are a lot of roadside memorials around where I live for pedestrians killed by :grillman: and more pop up here and there every time :the-pigs: remove them.

    It's scary out there.

  • ElGosso [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    What's wrong with standing on escalators? If you want to walk up something, use the stairs

  • TheBeatles [any]
    ·
    1 year ago

    they stand on escalators (not the idea, folks!)

    wait what, that is absolutely the point of escalators. otherwise they'd just be stairs

      • TheBeatles [any]
        ·
        1 year ago

        oh ok yeah those should be walked on. I never understood why people in airports are so eager to stand still anyway, chances are they've been sitting down for hours at that point

  • Sleve_McDichael [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    It’s so terrifying, I think about this every time I have to drive on a stroad to go to a store

  • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    You should stand on the escalator tho, standing on both sides increases throughput. A study in London found 151 per minute if both stand vs 115 if one side walks. More people can fit on an escalator if everyone stands. People standing on one side also causes damage to the escalator over time

    • please_just_stop [comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      That's interesting. Makes sense I guess given that there'll be more space between people when they walk. In non peak conditions and for selfish reasons I can't think why you shouldn't walk. In fact, wouldn't one side standing give people the option? A mix of individual speed if required and max throughput?

      No one should have to rush to work in the first place I guess. Also I suspect the trains are the bottleneck, not escalators usually

      Didn't read, just spitballing lol

      I'd prefer people not stand on both sides of the escalator for the same reason I'd prefer them not to block the stairs. I think the London method wasn't adopted accidentally. It's a psychological thing as much as it is a numbers game

      Might read it later

      E: damn it now I'm thinking about it and will inevitably read it later

    • iridaniotter [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      That's very interesting. I heard that moving sidewalks also have a throughput issue. Obviously a ton of people just stand, but people who walk tend to adjust their speed so it's not much faster than regular walking. I guess I am the one true zoomer.

    • Tommasi [she/her]
      ·
      1 year ago

      According to the study, you should walk if you're fit and able, no? The reason the standing only escalators had higher throughput was because there's a longer line for the standing side in the mixed ones, not that more people fit, so if it 's a mixed elevator you should walk to help alleviate that.

  • culpritus [any]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Beware of the Death Machines

    I was in a bad car wreck when I was pretty young. Really made me aware of the physics of traffic. It's a total meat grinder out there, and it is normalized to the point that a surprise car wreck is a cliche narrative device.

    I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so even though I sometimes think I must have a death wish, riding a bike truly makes me feel alive.

    :sicko-biker:

    :cars-cool:

  • Grebgreb [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I had a cousin die before I was born because of cars. One time I was walking in the park and a piece of shit in a landstalker entered without slowing or using a blinker, it was my history teacher at the time.

    I find it hard not to think you have to be a terrible, irresponsible parent to let your kid play outside now because of all the cars, how reckless people are in them, and how common these stupid oversized pieces of shit are.

    • please_just_stop [comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      1 year ago

      They used to have PSAs in Australia about not locking children in cars in summer. Seriously. If there's one thing we do well it's PSAs against doing things that in a rational society one wouldn't even be able to do