Streetfilms

Looks like Miami alright. We actually have some of THE worst drivers in the nation, proved by study after study.

Nice rant! My mother, who was big on politeness, would agree, as do I.

Thanks Mark and Clarence for shooting this. "Biking Rules" have their place, but they have to be seen in the broader context of everyday traffic and motorist disregard for driving rules.

En route to school today with my--we took the bus and train instead of biking--we watched the motorists taking advantage of the bus by illegally cutting in front of it, using the bus stops for parking, and generally clogging up the road and slowing things down. It was a crowded bus as usual, and we were struck by how much forbearance, cooperation and civility is demanded of bus and train passengers, and how little they get in return--just enough square inches to stand on tiptoes. In contrast, a bare minimum of cooperation is demanded form the motorists, who get to privatize a piece of roadway as big as the car they can afford, where they can sit, eat, smoke, text, and (at least comparatively to the masstrans users) insulate themselves from everyone else's needs.

Some system!

Cars save absolutely NO time by ignoring crosswalks or forcing their way through a line of pedestrians. As a former road warrior, I know the frustrations of driving in high traffic areas and crowded streets but actions like this are inexcusable. It's like these people literally never get out of their cars. They clearly have no concept of what it's like to walk down a street. Shame!

Great work, Mark and Clarence.

Commenters here refer to different reasons for rude driver behavior, and... they are all right.

Current street design practice in America is almost universally auto centric. It screams to drivers that "this is your space" and puts pedestrians on the defensive. While this may be appropriate for the New York Thruway, it certainly is not for Broadway or Main Street USA. America needs to learn from countries like the Netherlands whose "self explaining streets" have led to a national environment where drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists all understand the rules for sharing streets, whether the street be a thruway or a local street. As a result, they have reduced their roadway fatality rate from being equal to ours in the 1970s to less than half of ours today.

If we followed suit, 23,000 more Americans would have returned home to their families last year. That is almost 8 times more than were lost in 9/11, and we would save those lives each year! We mobilized, committed billions, and relinquished some personal rights in reaction to 9/11, yet as a nation we still accept poorly designed roads and rude and reckless behavior as being too costly to address. Go figure.

The tendency of humans to behave poorly once they get behind the wheel, is not new. There is a Disney cartoon from 1956 which stars Goofy turning into a crazed maniac once he wraps himself in his tons of steel on wheels. Seek it out, it will make you laugh and then almost cry! 1956!

Nate Briggs makes a good point. In states like California where police will ticket you for driving your car into a crosswalk while pedestrians are still present, driver respect for pedestrians is far greater.

We need more publicity like that which Clarence and Mark have created here. Bravo!

Truly an idiotic video. Why don't you get a real job?

Point number one: when the signal tells pedestrians to cross the street, the light is generally green for cars moving in a parrallel direction to the walkers. Because you cannot turn on red in New York City, you have to navigate your car turning right or left when your light is green and the pedestrian light is on walk. Duuuh !!

Point number two: the guys stuck in the cross walk are there because they were in a traffic jam and thought they could make it to the other side before their light turned.

'clumsy powerful instrument in such a delicate space'? LOL, this is NY city, dude. Maybe you should move to a small town. Ridiculous, really.

Troll "Hummer Driver":

The host of that video not only has several real jobs running the several companies he founded, he's created scores or hundreds more for other people.

T - you're an idiot.

To the rest of you - yes, this behavior is awful, but it happens EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY! Why? Driver makes you an ass (it's true, I'll defend it scientifically) and there is NO ENFORCEMENT! Blocking the box or crosswalk in many cities brings a $1000 fine, and it's enforced! It's NYC, there are no posted signs for blocking the box, and if there were, the lazy NYPD would do nothing about it...even though enforcement and fines could generate millions of dollars yearly (and that's no exaggeration!).

The answers to this constant annoyance are:
- enforcement and hefty fines
- congestion pricing (don't drive in NYC!)
- everyone making driving as annoying as possible (walk around with baseball bats and smash windows?)

I'm not advocating the last option, but in a city where car drivers' sense of entitlement is reciprocal to their penis size and the police are completely preoccupied with DOING NOTHING, vigilanty justice may be the only way.

Calm down folks! Have you ever driven in NYC? How exactly are you supposed to make a right turn? There is NEVER an empty crosswalk. I agree it can be irritating (and occasionally frightening) as a pedestrian, but as a driver I find it nerve wracking, hair raising, frightening and stressful. I would much rather be OUT of my car. And I HAVE to drive in NY (delivering large heavy objects).

This is an interesting - perhaps unwinnable - campaign. Good luck. Driving in New York City, unlike anywhere else I've been, is a rat race, driver against driver, trying to beat that one extra light or force a turn before the crosswalkers get to you, always inching, inching, inching. Pedestrians and bicyclists are an annoying afterthought. The attempts (shown in this clip) to bust through the crosswalk crowds are so common, they didn't strike me as unusual. When you think about it, it's wrong - but it's so darn New York. I think walkers have grown such a thick skin about it, crossing the street becomes an aggressive and competitive activity, too.

Hummer-

I'm of the belief that driver behavior can be modified to prevent situations like those shown in the video. But if you think that the only way for automobiles to travel through Midtown Manhattan is to routinely allow moving cars to come inches from small children it seems that the only solution is restrict automobile access to Midtown.

I'd offer a few possibilities:

Most extreme: a complete ban on personal automobile traffic. Buses and necessary truck traffic would be able to get through these intersections without much trouble.

Or as a compromise: congestion pricing. Maybe there is some level of automobile traffic that can coexist with these volumes of pedestrians. The money generated from the pricing could help put those drivers into more frequent and reliable bus service.

I'm sure you agree that we don't want to needlessly endanger the lives of children, seniors, or any pedestrians (remember that hundreds die each year in this city). Just as we don't allow people to walk through Times Square with a running chainsaw your assertion that this only way to navigate a car through Midtown leads to the conclusion that the activity must be restricted.

Let's see how your logic holds up. John is a driver. Drivers are rude. Therefore John is rude. (Do you even know John?)

You my friend are just plain wrong. In my many years of living in Brooklyn I have been a driver, a bicyclist and a pedestrian. These days as I'm getting old and not that confident riding a bicycle anymore, I mainly walk everywhere (and take the train also, let's not forget) except to the supermarket when I take my car. Point in fact. some bicyclists in my neighborhood think they own the road and some are incredibly rude especially in Prospect Park. Pedestrians are just as bad both in the park and on the street jay walking, crossing against the light (Some with children). There are the texters (walking & driving), the coffee mug people who drink as they walk across the street against the light. There are the rude drivers too who may have got their driving licenses second hand at a local street fair.

My point is make blanket statements and you really sound foolish. Your real target is rudeness and rude people who are really pains in the ass no matter how or in what they are in motion. Otherwise there's no getting along in this world if every person in some group thinks they are privileged in some way and better than the next guy.

Portland, OR, is only somewhat better. Last time I was there (a few weeks ago) I was almost hit by a twit of a driver, who failed to see me from the other side of an intersection even though I was in the middle of the crosswalk. She did not stop (law requires her to do so), she just kept going, almost hitting me. She was paying attention to what other motor vehicles, not pedestrians or bicyclists.

That has happened to me frequently in the town I live in, Newport, OR. Small tourist town on the coast. Iknow kids of 12 & 13 who will not cross the "highway" that goes splits the town in two--even at a light. They're scared--they've watched pedestrians almost get hit or get hit too many times. In Newport--especially w/some of the RV, pickup & SUV drivers, "right on red" means, you barely slow down as you turn and you sure don't look --or stop-- for a pedestrian in or out of a crosswalk.

This behavior is a great contrast to the driver behavior (of locals) when I first came to western Oregon many years ago (over 20)--I was ready to inch my way across 101 (4 lanes through town, w/painted crosswalks & traffic lights)--during the off season (which doesn't really exist anymore)--the way I'd get across the street in LI, put my foot down into the cross walk and every vehicle from either direction that was approaching the crosswalk came to a dead stop.

That kind of universal respect for OR's strict pedestrian crossing laws is pretty much gone. Some towns are better than others. A couple of years ago, the local police in the county mounted a number of stings in the several small towns along this part of the coast. They handed out warnings & tickets--and netted both locals and tourists. But I still have to cross the highway at a crosswalk, lane by lane, because some drivers will just keep going, even if another 2 lines of traffic are clearly stopped to let a pedestrian cross.

Bicyclists are often not treated well either.

As for how Portland bicyclists do--well, try reading the online version of the Oregonian for about 3-4 months to get an idea of how well they get along. You'll read of bicyclists hit, hurt, sometimes killed, of bicyclists getting into fights w/motorists (or "cagers" as they are sometimes called), of drivers who complain bitterly about bicyclists not obeying basic traffic rules.

The little experience I've had in CA as a pedestrian in the last couple of years suggests that CA is pretty good. I was in downtown Oakland last month & marveled at how much more polite & considerate of pedestrians the drivers were. Also in the small part of downtown SF I walked through. Corvallis, OR, is also fairly good.

I agree w/the commenter who stated that you change when you drive. I notice the difference in how I feel when I walking, taking a bus/train, bicycling or driving. No question I am more impatient when I am driving--although I've worked at becoming more careful & aware of bicyclists since I almost hit one I didn't see coming--that it was someone riding on the sidewalk (not legal in the city I was in) when I was coming out of a parking lot wouldn't have made me or the rider feel any better if I'd hit him.

In contrast to some other people commenting, I feel safer walking in most parts of Manhattan than I do in much of Newport. Mostly because there are so many other pedestrians. Not so easy for a driver to pretend he/she didn't "see" a pedestrian when there are 100 of them.

As for the narrator's tone--whoever criticised it hasn't spent much time in NY. That's just how many people there talk or did when I lived there--yes, people in NY actually get excited about wrong-headed & dangerous stuff & talk loudly about it.

As I recall, during Guiliani's administration (I didn't like the guy or most of his policies), drivers were getting ticketed for sitting in the "box" and honking. I remember visiting NY during his tenure, & being amazed that I wasn't hearing the usual honking and the intersections stayed clear. At least in the parts of town I was walking through, usually from Penn Station to midtown, to museum mile, crosstown & to the upper '80's.

Too bad Bloomberg didn't get his congestion pricing rule through.

I think the film documents some long standing problems--they're so long standing that I hardly think about them anymore when I'm in NY. In a way, I appreciate the film--for making me more aware of them.

I will say, though, that this kind of thing will continue to happen until there is a more substantive change in the way pedestrian/car integration works. I find that intersections with "all way" walk signals are much safer and more usable than the standard "walk while the cars go" model.

Makes me think of
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2009-10-19

oh please, come produce a chicago version of this.

Call for restriction on growth of private cars

Green activists held a sit-in at Shahbagh in Dhaka on Monday, demanding restriction on the growth of private cars to end nagging traffic congestion in the capital.
The government must check the growth of private cars and encourage launch of more buses on the roads to ease city’s traffic congestion, they said addressing the sit-in organised by Save Environment Movement.

The government has banned operation of a number of unfit and old buses in the last few days, which has only worsened the plight of the passengers, the green activists said.

Cashing in on the ban, the buses in operation on the roads have started charging extra fair, causing immense sufferings to the city people, they noted.
The government is virtually encouraging use of private cars by restricting operation of old buses although cars are mainly responsible for the traffic jam, they said.

Traffic congestion in the capital city will never come to an end until the government checks the unbridled growth of private cars, the speakers observed.
Stressing the need for launching more buses, the speakers mentioned that a private carries only 3 or 4 people while a bus can transport 30-40 passengers.
Cars often remain parked at roadsides causing severe traffic snarl in different areas of the city, they said adding that the Operation Clean Street has failed to stop traffic congestion in the city.

Tushar Rahman of Citizen Rights Movement, Mahbubul Alam, program manager of WBB Trust and Abu Naser Khan, chairman of the Save Environment Movement, among others, spoke at the programme.

http://www.dhaka-rickshaw.blogspot.com
http://www.dhaka-transport.blogspot.com
http://www.dhakanewspapers.blogspot.com

Syed Saiful Alam
Save the Environment Movement

HAHa this vid is pretty unintentionally hillarious. It's RUDE! He's being RUDE! This is RUDE! I like the spooky music too cause he is in the crosswalk hahaha it's not like he is about to rape a puppy. Love it!

Great film, great points.

Regarding honking and noise, it's worth mentioning that car horns are loud enough to cause permanent, incremental hearing damage which cannot be corrected with a hearing aid.

In addition, the assault causes physical stress. Traffic noise and stress is very strongly associated with morbidity and mortality (disease, and death).

Measures to prevent misuse of horns are very much needed, particularly in places like New York City where horns are used excessively in an aggressive manner.

Horns are designed to penetrate motor vehicles, which are shielded from noise (although driving, in general, also causes permanent hearing damage and noise-related stress). Using them on unshielded pedestrians is a physical assault and battery which should be treated as such. Many jurisdictions require that horns be used only in emergencies.

Technological innovations are one avenue to reduce this deadly problem.

Unfortunately, from a regulatory standpoint, the EPA's nascent Noise Control Division might was gutted by Ronald Reagan early in his first term. An interesting exercise would be to estimate how many millions have suffered disease and even premature death as a result of that act alone (for all causes of noise pollution). The economic costs of noise are staggering (including lost work time and productivity due to sleep disturbance, and health costs).

Clarence,

{Late to the table comment, but I love this web site]

You have many valid points. However, I might add Boulder, CO drivers may be "more aware", but they can be as big a "douche-bag" as any NYC driver (personal experience, I've lived in both). I think the problems in NYC are magnified, because of pop density.

Of course comments from "Hummer Drivers" are predictably cliche. People are generally the way they drive and what they drive, in my observation.

While riding a bike through downtown Atlanta a driver honked the horn and heckled me for no reason. His bravado changed immensely when his car was stopped at the next red light and I rode up to his passenger window and threatened to beat him senseless for almost hitting me. People aren't so "tuff" when you take away their 3000+ Ibs. weapon called an automobile. This psychological quirk will most likely always be with us, just like typical a-holes in every other segment of society.

There are no shortage of smug drivers, pedestrians or cyclists. All with their disdain for the other and "righteous indignation's". The problem for city planners and the like is finding and creating a functional fusion of the two. kudos to those who try, they have my respect.

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We get a lot of that crap in Morro Bay, too, in fact it's reached epidemic proportions, if I may risk being overdramatic.  And if we ever call them out, WE get called rude!