The recent news out of Tempe, Ariz., that an autonomous vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian is indeed a tragedy.
However, we live in a time when tragedies are not to be marked with respect, but by immediate use for leveraging our established positions and prejudices.
Those in favour of self-driving cars were quick to point out that the pedestrian was jaywalking at the time, not crossing in a crosswalk. Those who feel that the rollout of autonomous cars is proceeding too quickly were themselves quick to note that the car did not appear to slow down before impact.
Whatever lens you choose to apply, the facts are pretty cut and dried. The weather was clear and dry. There was a safety driver at the wheel, but neither he nor the car were able to detect and avoid the pedestrian in time. And, lastly, there has been yet another fatality on our roads.
It is the opinion of this author that we are currently in one of the most dangerous times to be a pedestrian, and things are going to get worse. We know distracted driving is on the rise – it’s one reason law enforcement keeps pushing for greater penalties – and we know that far too many people push the limits on speed when conditions are poor, and when it’s dark out.
We are also aware that pedestrians appear to be more distracted, with the rise of the so-called “petextrian.” We’ve all seen videos where someone, nose buried in their phone, walks into a wall or tumbles into a fountain.
There is thus a temptation to blame the pedestrian when a fatality or injury occurs. They were wearing dark clothing. They ran out where they shouldn’t have. They were jaywalking.
Well, stop it. Stop it right now. It’s well past time for drivers to take some damned responsibility for themselves.
It’s perhaps worth taking a quick look at the provenance of the word “jaywalking.” Dreamed up in Kansas of all places, it’s actually a form of the word jay-driver. Jay-driver showed up in a newspaper in 1905, and was used to refer to country bumpkins who would come in to town and then not abide by traffic laws.
Jaywalker showed up later, and was used to refer to people who had poor sidewalk etiquette. It had nothing to do with people crossing the street illegally, and in fact, before cars came along people used to wander around the street whenever they felt like it. You could stop to have a chat, buy a suspicious-looking hot dog from a vendor, and just generally treat the place like your front yard. Obviously horse-drawn carts and trolleys had to get around, but the streets were a people-crowded place.
Of course, then cars came along and started killing people in droves. I’ve driven a Model T, and while it isn’t a rocket ship in getting up to speed, it’s worse when trying to slow down. If you start breaking on Monday, you’re likely to hit the wall on Wednesday.
Those who had a vested interest in the success of the car began pushing the idea of a jaywalker being a sort of stupid person who wandered out in front of a car. Why, they practically deserved to be run over.
Sadly, something of this attitude persists. The street belongs to the car, and people and bikes should stay out of it. From behind the wheel, everyone’s an obstacle.
This is a poor way to view the world. I’m not suggesting that we return to the days of horse dung up to our ankles and suspicious hot dog vendors on every corner, but we can banish the idea of the jaywalker from our vocabulary, and start thinking about pedestrians as just being our fellow citizens trying to get from place to place.
Part of that is communication, something autonomous cars won’t be able to do. Make eye contact. Indicate your intentions. Very few pedestrians come running straight at a crosswalk at full tilt – you should be able to see them before they’re in the street.
Then, add in the basics of safe driving. Don’t pass a stopped car, especially anywhere near a school zone. Don’t begin a left or right hand turn until the intersection is clear, and certainly don’t try to sneak in while people are just about to step off the curb.
Another irritating and dangerous thing I’ve sometime seen is drivers creeping through an intersection toward an occupied crosswalk. This happens especially when someone is making a left turn and hasn’t cleared the crosswalk: they don’t want to miss their “turn” in traffic, so they roll towards the crosswalk slowly. Stop doing this! It’s all too easy to hit the wrong pedal and cause a catastrophe.
The golden rule is to do unto others as they would do unto you, and since you’re going to have to get out of that car at some point, it certainly applies here. The golden rule of driving, which should probably be posted along major routes every five kilometres or so is, “Drive As Though Everyone Else Everywhere Is A Moron.”
If you drive prepared for people to do silly things in front of you – whether they’re on foot, two wheels, or four – then you reduce your likelihood of being in a collision, and you make life safer for everyone on the road or just crossing it. Motorcyclists know how to do this, or at least the wily old ones do.
This is all very basic stuff, and feels like preaching from a rickety and worn soapbox, but it is incredibly important for the coming age. Autonomous cars won’t arrive tomorrow. They’ll be rolled out in drips and drabs, with automated cruise control and lane-keeping assist. There are chimes to let you know if the vehicle in front has moved off at a stop light, and collision warning alarms to let you know if you’re about to hit someone.
In short, automakers will be putting a ton of driving assists on news cars, all in the name of safety. But these crutches will make it increasingly more tempting to sneak a peek at that phone, or mess around with the stereo for just a little longer, or basically turn our attention away from the business of driving. Worse, it will likely encourage people to maybe have that one extra drink at the bar and rely on their car’s systems to get them home safe.
Those systems may work. They may fail. When they do fail, the fault ultimately falls to the person behind the wheel. Driving is a privilege, not a right, and it requires the application of responsibility.
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and automotive enthusiast. If you have a suggestion for a column, or would be interested in having your car club featured, please contact him at [email protected]. Follow Brendan on Twitter: @brendan_mcaleer.
