You know car culture has gone haywire when a parent is scolded for walking their daughter… on the sidewalk. However, a Redditor shared a frustrating experience of just that with an anti-car subreddit.
“I was walking with my daughter on a sidewalk in the neighborhood,” explained the user. “She was about 5 feet behind me – we were playing with walkie talkies.”
Disrupting this wholesome fun was a man who said he was a former police officer. He offered his unsolicited two cents that the girl was walking too far back and could be accidentally hit by truck drivers during the holiday season. His reason for this was not clear.
The OP did not respond to the officer but expressed frustration about the encounter, considering that he himself was in a large truck and “was part of the problem.” Furthermore, they added that the move to an area with good foot traffic and low car traffic was a deliberate decision. Later they noticed that the accident was at 6 in the morning on a road that was not very busy.
“However, this truck stopped to explain to me that I am wrong,” concluded the OP. “It makes me wish I didn’t live in the United States.”
This disturbing story highlights real concerns about the country’s priorities when it comes to walking and pedestrian safety. There is ample evidence domestically and abroad that walkable cities are effective in reducing air and noise pollution while improving the richness of a place.
Frustratingly, there are too many places where cars are given the right of way, leading to a large number of vehicles on the road. Even when this is not the case, if the cars are increasingly monstrous trucks, they can both hinder or endanger pedestrians due to their enormous size and poor visibility.
There are positive examples of communities exploring solutions such as improving public transport and improving pedestrian-friendly infrastructure. Anyway, the attitude that the man showed towards the parent unfortunately remains in many drivers and legislators.
Commentators empathized, with many expressing anger at the retired cop’s attitude.
“It sounds like he was projecting his intrusive thoughts of running away onto your child,” one user suggested.
One commenter was perplexed: “They’re in the trucks because of the holidays. What the f*** does that even mean?”
“THAT KID IN A GIANT TRUCK, THERE ARE GIANT DANGEROUS TRUCKS HERE,” joked a Redditor.
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