Self-Driving Uber in Crash Wasn’t Programmed to Spot Jaywalkers

...but it's there, ready to use against you in a headline when a car hits you and you're killed.

'Jaywalker killed' - your fault.

'Person trying to cross the street mown down by car' - different kettle of fish.

Well, OK, we are on the same page here.

But they surely do not exist in most of the US, and will not be available overnight. Until we have that, we should be mindful of people who have to deal with inadequacies of the infrastructure.

Uber is not a solution for most people. Call it what it is: a taxi. And you wouldn't expect someone too poor to have a car to take a taxi everywhere (same applies for children, international students, etc, etc).

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Personal anecdote: I petitioned the city of College Station, TX to construct sidewalks on Harvey Rd, where a lot of international grad students who don't have cars live. The street was missing sidewalks for a full block on both sides. I've seen a wheelchair being rolled on that road, where cars go 50mph, because there was no alternative.

The city's answer? It's in the development plan, but there's "no money" for it.

In the meantime, the Highway 6 ramp on Harvey Rd was redone two or three times. The ramp was fine, I saw no gain from that.

In my 7.5 years of living in the area, I never figured out a way to get to DPS by public transportation. I heard that there is a city bus, but I have not witnessed it. You'd think that people who need to get a license should have means of getting to the place that gives them out without having to drive, but no.

There was no way to get to most of the places without having to walk on the street where cars were driving. The sidewalk on College Main street (the main is in the name) was completed in 2016, and was an exception.

You literally couldn't walk to a movie theater, for example: the walking directions on Google Maps would take you on a highway frontage (exactly where you wouldn't want to be as a pedestrian).

So, if you have $10 for a movie ticket, but not another $20 for a taxi there and back (the idea that there could be a bus is laughable, of course there is no bus), you are SOL.

Not to mention that before Uber, even taxis were not a thing in many suburbs.

You know that people without cars are screwed, because you'd be very afraid to lose your license. It would be a disaster for your life. But it shouldn't be, because (as your driver's manual surely says) driving is a privilege that not all of us enjoy.

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PS: I say this as someone who accumulates at least 10K non-commute miles every year, and who considers 200 miles a "short" drive. I am very much pro-driving, and think that having a personal vehicle is very liberating.

But at the same time, not having a vehicle should not be a death threat. In the US today, it is.

The idea is that in a vehicle-pedestrian collision, the driver is going to be unharmed, and the pedestrian is likely to die.

The idea is that cars already have plenty of pedestrian-free infrastructure: the highway system, but pedestrians are nearly always forced to share the road with cars in the US (sidewalks are disconnected by roads).

The idea is that roads and sidewalks are constructed with tax money, and the pedestrians are not getting their fair share. A lot of people drive because, as you noted, they have to, not as preference.

The idea is that the cities don't belong to people with cars, and the convenience of moving around in a vehicle should not come at the expense of lives of pedestrians.

The idea is that if you are not on a highway, you go slow and look out for people.

Is that last thing too hard to grasp?

Isn't that what I wrote? :) Anyway, doesn't have the same ring to it, does it? Compare the title of the article with

"Self-Driving Uber in Crash Wasn't Programmed to Spot Pedestrians Crossing the Street Anywhere Except Crosswalks".

Which one makes Uber look less competent?

>You cannot label a person a "speeder" or "tailgater" in Russian too. Wow! Languages are fun indeed.

Well, yes! These aren't actions that warrant labeling a person in Russian. That tells you something indeed.

However, as verbs, the do have direct translations: превышать (to speed), висеть на хвосте (to tailgate).

Claim: "Jaywalking" does not translate to anything but literal dictionary definition like the one you provided in any language other than English, where it also has a clearly negative connotation.

Etymology: early 20th century: from jay in the colloquial sense ‘silly person’ + walk.

From Wikipedia: The term "jaywalking" is primarily a North American concept where laws restrict pedestrian use of public roads. In other countries such as the United Kingdom, the word is not generally used and there are no laws limiting how pedestrians can use public highways.

Also from Wikipedia: The word jaywalk is not historically neutral.[5] It is a compound word derived from the word jay, an inexperienced person and a curse word that originated in the early 1900s, and walk. Automobile interests in the US took up the cause of labeling and scorning jaywalkers in the 1910s and early 1920s, by then the earlier term of "jay driver" was declining in use.

I mean, it's all right there, with references. Again, what specifically are you arguing? That Wikipedia is wrong?