NicholasAakre

NicholasAakre t1_j2c779y wrote

A few weeks ago I was walking with my wife and we stopped to look both ways before crossing the intersection. A dude in some riced out Honda Civic is barreling down the street and definitely not gonna stop or slow down. It wasn't until about 15 feet before the stop sign that he slammed the brakes after noticing us. He sheepishly waved to try and signal "my bad".

We didn't start crossing until he came to a complete stop.

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NicholasAakre t1_iujy0nj wrote

Setting ambitious goals for public safety is good, but the snark is not undeserved. Traffic deaths have increased each year since Vision Zero was introduced and that is because the government isn't actively moving toward that goal.

If the city is serious about this, policy has to be focused on making the personal cars the last resort for traversing the city. And as much as people don't want to hear it, cars are the problem.

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NicholasAakre t1_iujwz68 wrote

> Getting around DC sucks for most people.

The vast majority of that is due to cars.

Walking is stressful because you gotta be on alert for reckless drivers at intersections (and maybe the sidewalk!) and car-centric infrastructure making it difficult to traverse the city on foot.

Biking is stressful because you gotta share road space with angry people operating vehicles the size of Sherman tanks.

Transiting is stressful because the bus gets stuck behind all the cars idling/parked in the few dedicated bus lanes that exist or are just stuck in general traffic.

Driving sucks because you are contributing to and at the mercy of traffic from all the other cars on the road.

Get rid of the cars (or drastically limit their use) and this city will instantly become more pleasant and livable.

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