this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023
64 points (70.0% liked)
Showerthoughts
28927 readers
1582 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- Posts must be original/unique
- Be good to others - no bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Not in Mexico. Well it is kind of fluid anyhow.
I do find that it rather works well though. People don't automatically assume they have right of way and this don't just walk out in front of cars. Ignoring the tourists that is. It actually allows for better traffic flows and I find cars stop when it makes sense. Ie. You might see people wanting to cross and you know the traffic ahead is stopped so it makes sense to use that pause to let people cross.
And because the rules are a bit fluid, people and cars seem more cautious. People in particular. It seems more chaotic but the fatality rates are still quite low while maintaining good flow.
But what does the law state about crosswalks?
As said, it is a bit fluid. If you just walk out into a crosswalk and get driven over then likely won't be any charges. If you enter a crosswalk reflecting all cars to stop, that is rather risky. If a car has time to stop but doesn't, the driver will be getting charged. Generally people wait for traffic to have a pause before they use a cross walk. In some really busy areas down town there will always be people waiting at a cross walk. Literally there would be near zero movement of automobile as you could spend an hour waiting for a crosswalk to clear.
Personally from a person that walks often, I rarely wait anytime to cross a street. Traffic flows a best it can but stops enough I can easily cross. At a controlled intersection in Canada you can wait two, there, four minutes till you get a walk for example. Waiting that long is very rare as you take your turn first chance you get.
For lack of better description, they put a higher expectation of personal responsibility. Someone walking should easily be able to tell when it is safe to do something and can easily change their path to ovoid an unsafe condition. They use this same logic in shipping and flying. The smaller vessel typically gives way to the larger less easy to maneuver vessel.