I currently live in SF and work in South Bay, but this is probably the last job I'll accept down there. Being able to walk to work, or at least jump on a short bus ride to work cannot be understated for quality of life.
You're framing it as a "man, suburbs suck" argument when it's more like "man, choosing a job really bloody far from home really sucks".
But, as a homeowner, I get that it's not so easy to pack up and move every time your job changes addresses.
I find San Francisco claustrophobic, and I can't think of a more miserable commute than walking to, waiting for, and riding public transportation in the rain or heat with a crowd of other people. I've turned down jobs in the city for that reason.
I don't pay any more for the house I'm renting than a decent apartment would cost in the city, and I have a small yard and a quiet neighborhood to live in.
I don't know how you city people do it.
We feel the same about you. :)
I was commuting from Seattle to Bellevue, a distance of about 11 miles. On a really perfect day, it could take 15 minutes. On a normal day it would take between 30-60 minutes. On a bad day it could take up to 2 hours. There were enough bad days that I had to plan everything around that 2 hour commute.
After switching to a job in the city, I knew the longest it would ever take me to get home was about an hour and 15 minutes, and that was if I walked.
I find car driving to be claustrophobic in comparison to being outdoors. I can't think of a more miserable commute than trying to be entirely attentive to driving in traffic when not awake yet. I've turned down jobs in the south bay / SoCal for that reason.
I don't pay any more for the house I'm renting than a decent apartment would cost in the south bay, and I have a small yard and a quiet neighborhood to live in.
(downtown is, after all, only a very small part of SF)
Seems unwise.
I see people putting on makeup and checking email while driving. Not while stopped in traffic, actually being in control of a rapidly moving vehicle.
Increasing fines, mandatory driver education classes for violations, points on a license, and perhaps a lock box (akin to the ignition lock we install for DUI offenders) are, IMO, better measures to take.
Repeated offenders should have their vehicle impounded and license suspended for increasing amounts of time per violation
e.g. 1st offense - $250 fine + class, 2nd - $500 fine, 3rd - $1500 fine + impound + 1 month suspension, 4th - $2.5k fine + impound + 1yr suspension. 5th time should be 60 day jail sentence, car impounded, license permanently revoked, $5k fine
A first DUI conviction in CA involves large fines, generally a 6 month license suspension, is a misdemeanor, and potentially up to 6 months in jail. A $250 fine plus class is a joke. The fine for accidentally running a red light in SV is double that.
Driving and looking at your phone is not a joke, a car traveling at 70 mph is a lethal weapon that can easily kill entire families in an instant, and it should be treated with commensurate seriousness. I know a couple families that have almost been entirely wiped out due to other drivers, with the survivors left as paraplegics.
I think serious penalties for what is seemingly very common might be a shock initially, but once people realize how serious it is, I imagine the infraction rate will drop rather rapidly. Drinking and driving used to be much more common than it is now.
I, of course, want distracted driving treated with the same seriousness. It's why every few months I write to my state reps about this issue. It disproportionately affects me as a rider. Ask any motorcycle rider if they know someone injured, maimed, or killed by a car. I've been hit by a distracted driver. Btw, it hurts quite a lot.
It is indeed more dangerous than DUIs, statistically speaking, but a shock and awe playbook will never work. We need to boil the frog, so to speak. DUI activity became something that's shameful, over time. So too, can we employ the same tactics against Distracted driving. Another example would be cigarettes. They went from cool to gross.
This is why I'm in favor of incremental increases in fines and penalties, instead of a big bang approach. We need to reach out to drivers and educate them instead of making them feel persecuted for what they consider to be "harmless behavior".
- Someone watching a video on YouTube while driving
- Someone on their phone, with headphones on, while driving
I've seen another driver having her foot on top of the wheel, cutting her toenails with a clipper, also on the Autobahn.
And the amount of truck drivers I seen reading a newspaper (actual-paper one, usually "Bild") while behind the wheel is astonishing.
With subtitles, no less. In moderate traffic (which is the worst kind for distracted driving).
I'm a motorcyclist, so it causes a bit of rage in me (it's just so damn selfish), but then I remember that they can't hear me or simply don't care and it's safer to just get the hell away from them.
That is perverse and repulsive. Maybe you should read some statistics on the practical results of distracted driving. Or maybe you should see how the families of people killed by texters feel?
Anywhere in the world.
Moving a cup of scaldingly hot coffee around while driving is not very sensible.
I like coffee as much as anyone, but christ, I can wait until I get where I'm going!
Additionally, a lot of people have tons of anxiety around driving, and being in a city can completely get rid of that. I'd imagine self driving cars would return some of the interest back into the suburbs.
The same can probably be said for dependency. Some people want to feel that the government cares for them, while others want privacy and the feeling of accomplishment that comes from living with minimal outside help.
I don't want to feel the government cares for me -- I want to know that my tax dollars go to something useful instead of something stupid. Highways don't make me feel like I have "minimal outside help". A bicycle sure does :) Walking does more so!
The car is fine in snow. There are numerous modern alternatives to the old-style heavy chains, which of course are still available.
In a train or an uber I can put on my noise cancelling headphones, sit, read and not have to focus on a road. If the train is full, I can still read standing up. It's like the standing desk :)
so, you work locally in the south bay?
there is no place north of the south bay within a 30 minute drive during commute times (which extend to 10:30 if you're talking about MTV)
Not all of us, I feel, really have this luxury. Each time I've had a job change, the overwhelming majority of fish biting are in SF. Not all of my changes have been voluntary, and I've seen numerous people imply that switching too often is a huge flag. I'd love something in the South Bay, but I feel like it's mostly FAANG down here, and if you're looking for something smaller, and perhaps more meaningful…
So I hop on the terrible public transit and keep looking for jobs — outside of CA, because the entire Bay Area is frankly never going to pull its collective head out of the ground and fix the housing crisis.