Increase In Pedestrian Deaths. Self-Driving Cars Are The Problem...Or Are They?

I once blogged that, that if all Smartphones disappeared overnight, the Federal Government would have to spend billions teaching drivers to drive with both hands on the steering wheel. That was silly...Or was it?

That lady walking her bike across the street in Arizona was killed by a Self-Driving Car and some blame the Self-Driving Car.

 

Arizona has banned Uber from testing of Self-Driving Cars in the state.

 

If the technology of the Self-Driving Car should be able to detect a Jay-Walking Pedestrian in the shadows, the Fella agrees the Self-Driving Car should have detected her presence but he also says we ought not get carried away with blaming, attacking and “doing something” about Self-Driving Cars. The real problem is right in front of us...

Pedestrians and Cars Driven By Human Beings Are the Problem

Don’t get excited, allow me to develop my daring to blame walking people. First, some statistics...

1.   Pedestrians were victims of about 15% of traffic fatalities in 2017, with the roughly 6,000 pedestrian deaths representing a level not seen in 25 years.

2.   Regulators are reckoning with a sudden rise in traffic deaths that follows a decade long improvement in highway safety.

3.   Pedestrian fatalities rose 27% from 2007 to 2016.

4.   Drivers are dealing with increasing distractions in the cabin of their cars (“Dealing With”...Huh? Drivers are looking at their Smartphones!).

5.   Americans are putting more miles on their vehicles amid a strong economy and low gasoline prices.

6.   There is an increase in both the number of people walking and driving.

7.   More people are using Smartphones both while driving and walking (see #4 above).

8.   There is a rise in drugged driving.

9.   75% of pedestrian fatalities occurred after dark and more than 70% occurred in travel lanes away from intersections.

10.        Some are working on ways to alert pedestrians via an application that a Self-Driving Car is about to cross their path.
>“Some” ought to be working on an application to warn that driver with a Smartphone in hand is about to cross their path.

 

If your neck of the woods is the same as my neck of the woods, this is what is going on out in your woods...

 

Jay Walking

Ø The Fella believes the most important of all the key points made above was missed by 83.7% of you. (I made up the 83.7%. There is no factual basis for this percent.)

Ø The most important key point is in #9, “70% occurred in travel lanes away from intersections” ... in other words, they were Jay Walking.

Ø We are seeing a dramatic increase in Jay Walking where I live.

Ø For me it started a few years ago when I saw someone Jay Walking and I was surprised because it was a long time since I had seen a Jay Walker.

Ø Now I see them every day.

Ø The other day I saw a mother Jay Walking as she ran across a large busy street eating a sandwich with one hand and leading her 2 children with the other hand.

Ø She had one of her children by the hand but the other had gotten disconnected from his sister’s hand and was lagging behind.

Ø He probably let go because he was shocked that his mother would be so stupid as to run across such a heavily traveled street.

Ø As with many of these Jay Walking Dare Devils, this mother and her kids were within a few car lengths of a Crossing Lane at the end of the block complete with Walk/Don’t Walk Signals.

 

I said above that the Uber Car should have detected the lady pushing the bike but a car driven by an old-fashioned human being would probably not have been able to avert hitting her. As I said, she was Jay Walking, it was Night Time (10pm), she was In Shadows and she appeared in view Only a Moment Before She Was Hit. Click below to see for yourself...

https://twitter.com/TempePolice/status/976585098542833664

 

Stop Signs

Ø My woodland friends pay little or no attention to Stop Signs.

Ø Many times I check my rear view mirror when I stop at a Stop Sign to make sure that I am not about to get rear-ended by the driver behind me because he does not expect me to be coming to a complete stop at a Stop Sign.

Ø I once stood back from the Stop Sign, which exits our subdivision onto a highway, and watched to see if the brake lights came on to confirm if they had even tapped the brakes. There was no tapping.

Ø I have been the lead car going onto this same highway in front of 4 other cars. When I pull out onto the highway, the 4 cars following me come right with me, bumper to bumper, as if they were making a turn on a NASCAR track.

 

Speed Limits

Ø Speed Limits are not completely ignored...Or are they?

Ø There are times I am passed by cars that are going so fast that I think my engine has quit and I have had to stop myself from opening the door and getting out to see what’s wrong with my car.

 

Yea, I know I’m old fashioned. Yea, I know I am behind the times. Yea, I know I am in danger of being the victim of road rage because I made an unexpected stop at Stop Sign or I’m only going 50 in a 45 MPH Speed Zone but I am the way I am.

 

Wish me luck.

 

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

 

Lagniappe: It has been estimated that if 90% of vehicles in the U.S. were Self-Driving Cars as many as 4.2 million accidents could be avoided, saving 21,700 lives and $450 billion in related costs. The way we make knee-jerk laws in the Good Ole USofA don’t be surprised if we see Foghorn Leghorn stand up in the Senate any day now and propose that we outlaw Self-Driving Cars because that lady was killed in Arizona by one of those Evil Self-Driving Cars.