Interesting article at Slate,
In Defense of Jaywalking, where the author describes how the media and others often slant coverage of pedestrian vs auto accidents--examples include
San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe , and
New York Post columns.
Police, who are typically car-bound, are often
biased in favor of other drivers.
Not unexpectedly the Federal Highway Administration has
curious language regarding walkers--"Still, almost no one can avoid occasional pedestrian status". Even the term
jaywalking is commonly
misused.
Solutions? More money towards safer walking (including a reversal of
funding policies that favor cars), better places to walk, pedestrian-friendly engineering, lower urban speed limits, harsher penalties for drivers that violate pedestrian's rights, and critical reading of the often
selective and sensationalized media coverage of traffic crashes.
posted by aerotive
on Nov 10, 2009 -
100 comments
