• lgsp@feddit.it
    207·
    2 months ago

    Relevant video in which a guy stands still at the side of a road next to a pond:

    • Hands free: he gets a lot of splashes by uncaring passing drivers

    • Holding a brick in his hand: drivers slow down and avoid the pond.

    It’s really funny:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQpaEN_TN_U

    As usual drivers care more about their car than other people’s wellbeing.

    BTW: any shop that sells inflatable bricks?

    • hOrni@lemmy.world
      21·
      2 months ago

      I am doing this. I have to walk along a narrow pavement next to a road to get to the nearest bus stop. During a rain it has many puddles and I’ve been splashed on many occasions. Will be making a foam brick next week.

    • xantoxis@lemmy.world
      17·
      2 months ago

      Looks to me like a lot of them are slowing down to see what kind of performance art he’s doing. Even the bus driver pointed at him in curiosity. Admittedly, there are also a lot of them swerving away from the puddle in a moment of sudden awareness, or just swerving away from him in a moment of fear.

      There may be some aspect of attention-grabbing that would work no matter what was in his hand. People see so many umbrellas on a rainy day that it barely registers, but if you hold anything at all that’s eye-catching, you’ll pop up in their conscious attention and they’ll treat you like a person instead of a road hazard.

      I mean, if it works it works, but I think it would be less effective if a lot of people did it. “Oh, I’ve seen this one, he never actually throws the brick.”

      • c0ber@lemmy.ml
        14·
        2 months ago

        I mean, if it works it works, but I think it would be less effective if a lot of people did it. “Oh, I’ve seen this one, he never actually throws the brick.”

        seems easily solved by having at least some people actually throw it when called for

        • xantoxis@lemmy.world
          4·
          2 months ago

          That’s true, it wouldn’t take very many before people were always cautious.

          EDIT: Wait, what am I saying. Drivers routinely just kill each other for a million reasons, and then never do anything about the reasons or use any caution whatsoever.

    • Baku@aussie.zoneEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      I saw a video a few weeks ago of a trucker who had to pull over on a fast road and he was holding a sharp pole in his hand. People usually reacted by giving him space, rather than driving inches away from him at 80km/h, like they usually do.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
    77·
    2 months ago

    It’s a “mature” version of “crossing flags” that are a not uncommon sight in Japan near school zones:

    • endhits@lemmy.world
      10·
      2 months ago

      Amazing how America has to have the threat of damage to property to get people to not run over pedestrians, while Japan just has a little flag to increase visibility.

      America is sick.

      • Gabu@lemmy.world
        10·
        2 months ago

        Japan is extremely walkable and has some of the best public transportation in the world, is the thing

      • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
        2·
        2 months ago

        Hahahaha I think this sign is tongue in cheek. Most of the surrounding area outside of Granville Island is very easy to walk and enjoy yourself without a car. At Granville you have to be careful of a large influx of tourists in cars and cement mixer trucks.

      • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
        16·
        2 months ago

        That’s right, anyone crossing takes it, holds it in front of them, and crosses.

        (The flag reads “crossing in progress”)

      • Underwaterbob@lemm.eeEnglish
        12·
        2 months ago

        If they’re anything like the ones in Korea, they hire someone to be there during busy times, and whenever someone wants to cross, the person steps out with the flag and stops traffic. Usually in school zones.

      • SparrowRanjitScaur@lemmy.world
        7·
        2 months ago

        You just pick one up and carry it across the road and then drop it off in the little bin on the other side. The idea is that you’re more visible when you’re holding a flag.

    • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
      20·
      2 months ago

      That whole place is a wasted opportunity for a pedestrian zone. It would be so nice if they’d kept the temporary tram line from the Olympics and banned personal vehicles.

      • jabathekek@sopuli.xyz
        10·
        2 months ago

        It baffles me how Vancouver does these really awesome things and then they’re like “haha no, this amazing concept that made the city a bit better was just temporary”.

  • Greg Spooner@ohai.social
    24·
    2 months ago

    @mondoman712
    I fashioned a large, hand held metal stop sign on a board. That’s why I carry when I cross busy streets in my neighborhood. I hold it out in front of myself like a flag. Drivers will slow if they think they might hit a big piece of metal. And drivers will bully soft fleshy humans with the threat of great bodily harm. It’s not very nice but it helps keep me alive.

    • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
      5·
      2 months ago

      It’s not very nice but it helps keep me alive.

      I think it’s important to keep in mind that the dominant traffic control structure in the US is the stoplight, which relies heavily on “mutually assured destruction” to work. So that’s in everyone’s head when driving around: “I stop because I don’t want to get hurt.” To me, it’s pretty clear that escalation to vehicular damage is the only thing that makes sense for pedestrians in such an environment. Yeah, it’s not nice, but so is the rest of the game.

    • zephyreks@lemmy.ml
      1·
      2 months ago

      You can also do this with a bike if you’re skilled at controlling your bike’s direction from the seat pole.

  • Ho_Chi_Chungus [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    24·
    2 months ago

    oh I’ve been there before. Anti-getting-hit-with-a-car-bricks aren’t even the weirdest part about the place. They got so many seagulls over there they have professional falconers who have trained hawks to scare off the seagulls. Absolutely bizarre to see IRL

    • Aggravationstation@feddit.uk
      9·
      2 months ago

      Not that rare. I live in a coastal town in England. We have hawk handlers come every year. We also have speakers that blast the sound of hawk calls on the dockside but the seagulls seem to have worked out that they’re bullshit.

    • Danquebec@sh.itjust.works
      4·
      2 months ago

      They can’t just establish an independent population of falcons in the city? That’s what we did in Montréal for the pigeon problem. A university introduced them a few years ago and now they’re having babies.

  • TQuid@beehaw.orgEnglish
    23·
    2 months ago
    1. Granville Island should be car-free, full stop;
    2. I actually don’t find that specific crossing very bad;
    3. This is still funny as hell.
    • BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee
      14·
      2 months ago

      i remember seeing a video where a guy stood next to a huge puddle to see if people would splash him when driving by, they all did

      then he did the same thing except he was carrying a brick and everybody slowed down so as to not splash him

    • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net
      English
      5·
      2 months ago

      I’m from a much less pedestrian friendly city, and I completely agree with point #1. There are a lot of other ways to get to Granville and it’s so close quarters with cars, you can’t even swing a cat

    • Ziixe@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      4·
      2 months ago

      They would have to take budget from the military to afford this, what an outrageous act! Wait they can just defund hospitals and schools even more, but do you honestly think they would allocate even a dollar to safety for their citizens? Nah they would just shove the new money into the military again

      This whole thing is satire, I didn’t say /s since it looked like it’s just focusing on the last sentence instead of the whole comment

  • hOrni@lemmy.world
    19·
    2 months ago

    It seems, that the laws are to blame. In my country, when a pedestrian stands near a crossing tha car has to stop under penalty. Even if the pedestrian is just walking towards the crossing. Drivers usually comply.

    • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
      16·
      2 months ago

      That is the law on Ontario, all lanes of traffic must stop for someone using a pedestrian crossover (zebra crossing). The penalty for failure to comply is $1000 and 4 demerits. Fines are doubled ($2000) in community safety zones.

      The law isn’t to blame; driver compliance, enforcement, and road design is.

      • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
        11·
        2 months ago

        The number of people that slowly inch their bumpers towards the old lady crossing the street so they can zoom past is truly disgusting. Could you imagine treating your own mother like that?

        • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
          11·
          2 months ago

          Some stranger? No way.

          My own mother? Absolutely.

          Anyways, my thought is that crosswalks should default to walking, and if cars want to pass then can get out and press a beg button to get the light.

        • njordomir@lemmy.world
          5·
          2 months ago

          I think when you press the button to cross a spike strip should automatically deploy directly on the stop line. Inching into the ped area with just the front tires will cost you two tires, running the light costs 4 and probably some scratches in the paint.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
    14·
    2 months ago

    They look like foam bricks. Same results, virtually no chance of harm in case of brick throwing. Win-win.

  • brian@programming.dev
    12·
    2 months ago

    is it legal to carry flashing red and blue lights when crossing streets as a pedestrian? The number of times I’ve gotten stuck in the middle of the crosswalk bc no one will stop is absurd

    • Grass@sh.itjust.works
      5·
      2 months ago

      Maybe custom blinking shoes like what they used to make for kids back in the day? Just mimic the blinking pattern.

      There are many people who still wouldn’t notice until the siren comes on though. I can spot an interceptor if the sunlight just happens to hit it right, yet my mom will drive right past a parked white cop car with lights on and be surprised when I told her she didn’t slow down to pass it. Then if an emergency siren goes off she panics and tries to pull to the shoulder without locating the emergency vehicle when fully blocked in by other cars and only moving enough to block the ambulance driving along the shoulder.