Mastodawn

scott f Jan 1, 2023

Phil Ting's #FreedomToWalk Act is now law in California. You can cross the street anywhere as long as you're not creating a hazard.

#Jaywalking, the fake "crime" created by automobile industry lobbying to blame victims of #TrafficViolence, no longer exists in California.

Enjoy your freedom to walk! https://ktla.com/news/california/new-law-allows-californians-to-legally-jaywalk/

New law allows Californians to legally jaywalk

A new law signed on Friday will allow Californians to legally jaywalk without being ticketed. Pedestrians can now cross the street outside of an intersection without breaking the law as long as it is safe to do so. The bill, AB 2147, also known as The Freedom To Walk Act, was introduced by Assembly member […]

KTLA

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PeterKReilly Jan 1, 2023

@scott this is not rational. Crossing at random places on a street is dangerous. if you are worried about your estates ability to sue for liability after you have been killed walking across a street where car drivers dont expect you to be you are silly. i f you don’t expect cars to exist you are a fantasist.

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Iain Collins Jan 2, 2023

@PeterKReilly @scott The US has more pedestrian fatalities per capita than other countries which don't have the very weird concept of it being illegal to cross the road whenever it is safe and reasonable to do so.

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PeterKReilly Jan 2, 2023

@iaincollins @scott we also have the highest cars per capita of any major country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita?wprov=sfti1 You have to adjust for that THEN model whether pedestrian deaths are above or below expectations in countries with pedestrian laws. I am an actuary this is the type of analytics I have spent my whole career doing.

List of countries by vehicles per capita - Wikipedia

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Iain Collins Jan 2, 2023

@PeterKReilly @scott That is really not how you do data science.

The death rate for pedestrians is several times higher in the US than in places like the UK (e.g. 13 vs 3 per 100,000).

Even "adjusting" for the (much smaller!) difference in cars per capita, which doesn't make a lot of sense, you can't massage the numbers to try and make it work for you.

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PeterKReilly

@iaincollins @scott my point was that you cant just say US has highest pedestrian fatality rate and then conclude that pedestrian safety laws don't work without a much more sophisticated analysis, controlling for exposure (which is 50% higher in US ). What other factors are you missing? Urban density preponderance of ignoring said pedestrian safety laws relative road speed limits differences in road construction? I dont know what accounts for the US rate of fatalities and neither do you