L.A. pedestrians don't do any LESS dodging, but they're the targets for Ubers.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:59 PM on March 5, 2020

My working theory is that the single metric most correlated with my desire to live in a city is jaywalking frequency. Followed by bicycle theft. (This only applies to the Americas. But, it hasn't failed me yet. Though Seattle is an edge case.)

Neat!
posted by eotvos at 8:22 PM on March 5, 2020

Those trolley's weren't just scary, they were deadly. So many people got killed by them.
posted by bilabial at 9:52 PM on March 5, 2020 [3 favorites]

Who do I call to pitch the Dodgers on my mascot idea, a bloodthirsty anthropomorphic trolley named Roger?
posted by ejs at 9:58 PM on March 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

Those trolley's weren't just scary, they were deadly. So many people got killed by them.

And mostly because someone was frozen by having to make a moral choice about who to save!
posted by hippybear at 10:20 PM on March 5, 2020 [31 favorites]

My great grandmother, born circa 1886, was, for reasons unknown to me and my mother, her grandchild, a huge Brooklyn Dodgers fan. The odd thing is that my great grandmother was a small old (to young me) Jewish lady who had lived in Jersey City her whole life. She knew nothing about Brooklyn and nothing about sports other than she was a National League fan (hated my beloved Yankees) and she knew the players names. SHe became a Mets fan when the Dodgers sold out and moved west. She would listen to games on the radio. Never watched TV. Funny true story, when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's HR record, she said, "Oh, I heard a nice Jewish boy named Henry Aaron broke the Babe's record." Her daughter had to explain to her that while they had members of their temple that were named Aarons, that Hank was in fact not Jewish and was Black. Her matter of fact response, "Didn't think they would let a Jewish guy break the record. Even more surprised he is black. You can hide being Jewish. Hard to hide being black."

The Dodgers should be good this year. Mayor De Blaz is still fighting to lower pedestrian and bicyclist deaths. Now, instead of being hit by a trolley, the double buses, delivery vans and cars are doing the damage.
posted by AugustWest at 11:16 PM on March 5, 2020 [26 favorites]

AugustWest: "She knew nothing about Brooklyn and nothing about sports other than she was a National League fan (hated my beloved Yankees) and she knew the players names. SHe became a Mets fan when the Dodgers sold out and moved west."

Hope this doesn't sound weird but I love your great grandmother and just about broke my finger favoriting this comment.

(Go Giants!)
posted by chavenet at 1:52 AM on March 6, 2020 [6 favorites]

I gave up sports completely when the Dodgers left Brooklyn.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:44 AM on March 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

And when they moved to LA, they had to dodge the Little Old Lady from Pasadena...and now, Ubers.
posted by Gray Duck at 5:32 AM on March 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I was just listening yesterday to the part in Superfreakonomics where they said that in NYC in 1900, horse accidents claimed the lives of 200 out of a population of 3.5 million. In 2007, 274 died in auto accidents out of a population of 8 million.
Presumably, people have learned to look both ways before crossing.
posted by MtDewd at 5:47 AM on March 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

This is also why trolley problems are a thing. They weren't so academic back then, not so much in Brooklyn as Pittsburgh, thanks to the hilly terrain.

That said, the reason trolley problems are discussed in philosophy and not engineering is that engineers prevent trolley problems rather than plan for how to handle them.
posted by ocschwar at 7:31 AM on March 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

Presumably, people have learned to look both ways before crossing.
Well if you include the 200+ pedestrian deaths, the ratio is pretty much the same as 1900, so they have not.


That said, the reason trolley problems are discussed in philosophy and not engineering is that engineers prevent trolley problems rather than plan for how to handle them.
Not in the US they don't.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:38 AM on March 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

im also a Giants lifer who was raised to hate the LA dodgers, but i can kinda get down with old Brooklyn nostalgia.

that said, if they ever moved the team to Hanoi (where the name would be super appropriate) id be on board in a second.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:38 AM on March 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

My roommates and I cracked each other up watching this footage of people walking around in NYC in 1911, mainly because people do NOT look both ways!
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:28 AM on March 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

watching this footage
The steering wheels are on the right side of the cars? Or is the film reversed?
posted by Obscure Reference at 2:20 PM on March 6, 2020

watching this footage
The steering wheels are on the right side of the cars? Or is the film reversed?

FWIW I saw a video of Vancouver 1911 earlier this week and it was similar. Apparently BC changed in 1922 to driving on the right hand side of the road (link). Maybe it was widespread in North America?
posted by philfromhavelock at 3:32 PM on March 6, 2020

Is it possible that some of the cars were European imports?
posted by blnkfrnk at 3:42 PM on March 8, 2020