New law, letting people cross street outside of crosswalk, ends racial disparities in enforcement, council member says
The new law permits pedestrians to cross a roadway at any point, including outside of a crosswalk. It also allows for crossing against traffic signals and specifically states that doing so is no longer a violation of the city’s administrative code. But the new law also warns that pedestrians crossing outside of a crosswalk do not have the right of way and that they should yield to other traffic that has the right of way.
If car traffic became 50% worse to make walking traffic 5% better, that's a win for humans in the city. It'll help convince more people to use non-car methods of transportation and that helps spark people to vote for and invest in more non-car infrastructure.
Ditching cars in populated cities isn't a magic law or anything, it's a slow incremental burn; legalizing pedestrians walking strictly helps that
At least in North America, around 80% of the population lives in a populated area. That means even if we only eliminate cars for urban areas, that's still most of the cars removed. The only way I see people in rural areas getting around without a car would be with electric cargo bikes and robust train routes.
Buses would be the short term solution except for the really far out rural areas, during the time in which far out exurbs and suburbs are redesigned for maximum density.
I think he means it would take six hours of walking to reach his city. I mean I live four miles outside of town (which incidentally I'd need to travel to to reach a railroad) and even though it's smaller than 3000 people it still calls its self a "city". Also I'd like to note it's four miles of hilly terrain, which depending on season may feature hundred degree plus temperatures or foot deep snow.
However my town has a train station. From my neighborhood of single family homes, I can walk about 20 minutes, or a bus drives by regularly to get me to the town center which includes the train station
I’m certainly not rural, but there’s no reason my scenario can’t apply to 80% of the population if more cities/towns were designed for it.
Please tell me you're exaggerating. I live in a small city and it only takes me maybe an hour to walk across town. If it's taking you 6 hours, it's not rural.
Wow you're right there is a use case for a vehicle therefore it's literally impossible to have public transit in rural areas, despite the fact that it already existed /s
We aren't discussing tactics for convincing people of anything. We're discussing facts. And the fact is there's no reason public transit can't work in rural areas as you stated.
It may or may not be "condescending" to tell people they're wrong, but it doesn't make them right or change the basic facts.
I'd recommend checking out a different community since you seem to be very invested in making excuses for pro car people, and less interested in challenging people's assumptions about cars.
That's an opinion, you try living 10 miles out of town a mile up a private road when you are out of your prime. Tell is how a car is unreasonable, these are your personal opinions and this community specifically echos them. I can understand more public transport but it's not a one size fits all, explain to me how a diesel bus that gets 3.5-6.5 mpg going 10 miles out of town for 3-6 people is more eco friendly then several people having much more fuel efficiency cars.
A bus isn't going to drive a mile up everyone's private roads in the middle of nowhere, public transport is not a one size fits all, it can get people in town to other parts or other towns but it can't replace cars for everyone