Road design, safety and Vision Zero

[danbrotherston]

I didn't think my opinion on drivers could get worse, after mostly getting around as a pedestrian or cyclist for a decade. But since I've started driving, my opinion has plummeted even further... In only about 400km of driving in the city I've seen 3 people run red lights. One was at the new pedestrian crossing SF22 just mentioned, as a pedestrian was crossing, and two directly in front of crossing traffic, nearly collisions if the crossing traffic hadn't reacted fast enough. I've also had 4 people cut us off by using a left turn lane to pass traffic and go straight (Is this a South Asian driving culture thing? It was the case all 3 times I looked). I also had a car come at me head-on around a bend, because they were driving the wrong way on a one way road. I've twice had oncoming vehicles turn left in front of me while I'm going straight through an intersection, forcing me to a complete stop. Those are the more dangerous ones, but I've seen some other truly bizarre things already too... It's like the twilight zone out there.

I would have a dashcam montage already, if I could install a dashcam in my car without it guaranteeing another smashed window to steal it.

Meanwhile not a single cyclist or pedestrian has caused me trouble, and the only cyclists my spouse has seen behaving dangerously were all seemingly addicts who do as they please, as usual. I don't know how so many motorists can hold the view that cyclists and pedestrians behave more dangerously than drivers...

This might be more of a road safety thread discussion, but I think there's a pretty straightforward cognitive answer here.

Drivers are humans and humans use some cognitive shortcuts to evaluate risk and danger, which frankly are really terrible at estimating risk. Basically, we perceive novel and unusual things as dangerous, and things we're accustomed to as safe, regardless of the actual risk of the thing. So, yeah, most drivers probably don't like the "rude" and "inconsiderate" drivers who routinely threaten their lives, but they don't perceive them as dangerous. Where as, cyclists are rare and often commit different driving infractions (or perfectly legal but still irritating to drivers actions) but because those are new and unusual behaviours for most drivers, they feel more dangerous and threatening despite being largely non-threatening to drivers.

And this is entirely before any culture war stuff, this is just normal human cognitive processing. You add on top the culture war stuff, where cyclists are the "other" and now you've got another motivation to see them as threatening.

As for using the turning lane, I've seen it from time to time, I don't think there's any cultural aspect to it, beyond "North American's are bad drivers because we have badly designed and highly congested roads". It sounds like things in the region have gotten worse than I remember (and you know how much I complain ), the things you describe really have more of a Toronto vibe to me, in Toronto what you describe was pretty common.

My parents have actually gotten annoyed at me these days, because whenever we're going somewhere, I point out the drivers who do things wrong (using a phone, illegal turn, whatever), and it's like...constant, and I realize they just didn't even notice before that this is happening constantly. They're still upset that we have moved, but I think they're starting to notice the road problem as well.

FWIW, drivers here are not perfect either, they'll break a rule that's inconvenient any time and text constantly, but the infrastructure is much more forgiving, usually they are in a much smaller vehicle, and frankly....I just don't have to deal with them very often, so I hardly even think about it.