It's a "mature" version of "crossing flags" that are a not uncommon sight in Japan near school zones:
What are they used for? You just take one and wave it?
That's right, anyone crossing takes it, holds it in front of them, and crosses.
(The flag reads "crossing in progress")
You just pick one up and carry it across the road and then drop it off in the little bin on the other side. The idea is that you're more visible when you're holding a flag.
I've seen those in the US not too long ago, too.
You mean "bonus points" flags?
Bonus years in jail lol.
Amazing how America has to have the threat of damage to property to get people to not run over pedestrians, while Japan just has a little flag to increase visibility.
America is sick.
Japan is extremely walkable and has some of the best public transportation in the world, is the thing
Hahahaha I think this sign is tongue in cheek. Most of the surrounding area outside of Granville Island is very easy to walk and enjoy yourself without a car. At Granville you have to be careful of a large influx of tourists in cars and cement mixer trucks.
I hate going there because of all the fucking idiots in their dumb cars stinking up the place.
That whole place is a wasted opportunity for a pedestrian zone. It would be so nice if they'd kept the temporary tram line from the Olympics and banned personal vehicles.
It baffles me how Vancouver does these really awesome things and then they're like "haha no, this amazing concept that made the city a bit better was just temporary".
me talking about "outside"
fr lol
No doubt this is partly making fun of this idiotic idea.
I think you're right and Strong Towns just tested out that theory. Spoiler: it did not work. I really hope they try it again with the brick.
The flag needs a longer pole so that American drivers can see it from the top of their SUVs.
They have these in a town I live near, they seem fine? Why are they dumb? They seem to work pretty well. It's a different context than the video, a much smaller road but in a downtown area where there are always plenty of people walking. Obviously if someone got hit by a car, the driver would still be at fault regardless of whether or not the pedestrian has a flag.
It's mainly because it puts the responsibility on the victim rather than on fixing the infrastructure around it or actually policing bad behaviour from drivers. And that it also sends the signal that walking isn't safe and that cars own the road, rather than the other way around.
Cities often implement "solutions" like this, not because they are the best solution, but because it's one that costs the least and doesn't impact drivers at all. Rather than the actual solutions such as:
- Lower speed limits (30 km/h or less)
- Protected intersections
- Traffic calming such as narrow lanes, bollards, etc
- Smarter signaling systems that keep pedestrians and cyclists moving quickly and protected
- Protected bike and pedestrian paths so people are kept away from cars altogether
- Limits on car/truck size (and hood height in particular)
- Repealing dangerous traffic laws like "right on red"
- Enforcement of traffic laws
I'm going there in a couple weeks, would be cool of this was real.
Bring your own brick (BYOB) just in case.
(╭☞´ิ∀´ิ)╭☞
BYOB (Bring Your Own Bricks)
@mondoman712
I fashioned a large, hand held metal stop sign on a board. That’s why I carry when I cross busy streets in my neighborhood. I hold it out in front of myself like a flag. Drivers will slow if they think they might hit a big piece of metal. And drivers will bully soft fleshy humans with the threat of great bodily harm. It’s not very nice but it helps keep me alive.It’s not very nice but it helps keep me alive.
I think it's important to keep in mind that the dominant traffic control structure in the US is the stoplight, which relies heavily on "mutually assured destruction" to work. So that's in everyone's head when driving around: "I stop because I don't want to get hurt." To me, it's pretty clear that escalation to vehicular damage is the only thing that makes sense for pedestrians in such an environment. Yeah, it's not nice, but so is the rest of the game.
You can also do this with a bike if you're skilled at controlling your bike's direction from the seat pole.
It seems, that the laws are to blame. In my country, when a pedestrian stands near a crossing tha car has to stop under penalty. Even if the pedestrian is just walking towards the crossing. Drivers usually comply.
That is the law on Ontario, all lanes of traffic must stop for someone using a pedestrian crossover (zebra crossing). The penalty for failure to comply is $1000 and 4 demerits. Fines are doubled ($2000) in community safety zones.
The law isn't to blame; driver compliance, enforcement, and road design is.
We should pressure our governments to install these in every crossing where >1 pedestrian has been hit by a car
They would have to take budget from the military to afford this, what an outrageous act! Wait they can just defund hospitals and schools even more, but do you honestly think they would allocate even a dollar to safety for their citizens? Nah they would just shove the new money into the military again
This whole thing is satire, I didn't say /s since it looked like it's just focusing on the last sentence instead of the whole comment
They look like foam bricks. Same results, virtually no chance of harm in case of brick throwing. Win-win.
Hilarious! 😂
is it legal to carry flashing red and blue lights when crossing streets as a pedestrian? The number of times I've gotten stuck in the middle of the crosswalk bc no one will stop is absurd
Maybe custom blinking shoes like what they used to make for kids back in the day? Just mimic the blinking pattern.
There are many people who still wouldn't notice until the siren comes on though. I can spot an interceptor if the sunlight just happens to hit it right, yet my mom will drive right past a parked white cop car with lights on and be surprised when I told her she didn't slow down to pass it. Then if an emergency siren goes off she panics and tries to pull to the shoulder without locating the emergency vehicle when fully blocked in by other cars and only moving enough to block the ambulance driving along the shoulder.
Ear plugs and an air horn would probably do the trick.
Seems great in practice, but wait until someone with the slightest hint of paranoia misattributes a threat against their car, to a threat against their safety.
One of three things happen:
- Driver freaks out and freezes up.
- Driver freaks out and speeds away (possibly causing an accident)
- Driver freaks out and aims their car at you and puts their foot down.
Step 5. Get arrested
For carrying a brick?
@mondoman712 @jaybone
For waving with a brick?
Not likely, they look like fake bricks.
Or excessively high quality bricks.
Ah yes, the most mature response to every societal problem - threatening violence.
Cars are violent
