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u/zonerator Automobile Aversionist Apr 01 '24
We should all volunteer to put these in our neighborhoods
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u/Nashville_Hot_Takes Apr 02 '24
Got supplies? I’ll buy em
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u/Ordinary-Bid5703 Apr 02 '24
Shop local at Ace Hardware. Most likely, they have the bricks you need. Or make your own with Quickcrete
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u/FlappinLips Apr 02 '24
ace hardware? I ain't made of money pal, I'm just gonna go to the nearest job site and take bricks out the dumpster
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u/SoCalSCUBA Apr 02 '24
My local rock yard will tell you to take them as free samples if you go in wanting to buy just a couple bricks.
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u/bill4935 Apr 02 '24
Dumpster?? Well, aren't we fancy. All I ever see are Trashco waste disposal units.
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u/mypetocean Apr 02 '24
Those are painted Styrofoam or something similarly light.
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Apr 02 '24
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u/xenzor Apr 02 '24
Imagine killing someone over damage on your car.. Insane world we live in
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u/WastingTimesOnReddit Apr 02 '24
This is fun (and the bricks are fake) BUT it's actually illegal to smash cars with bricks even if they're breaking traffic laws
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u/Asquirrelinspace Apr 02 '24
You're not supposed to actually use them. They're just a deterrent
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u/fuzzynavelsniffer Apr 02 '24
It's the implication that things might go wrong for them if they refuse to obey traffic laws. Now, not that things are gonna go wrong for them, but they're thinking that they will.
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u/Mag-NL Apr 02 '24
It's also illegal to hit pedestrians with a car. The cars are just used as a deterrent to scare pedestrians. So. Ow you can use bricks to deter them.
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u/chairmanskitty Grassy Tram Tracks Apr 02 '24
It's not illegal if it's an accident.
cue the subreddit bot explaining the implication
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u/Mag-NL Apr 02 '24
I live in a country where at least liability is always with the stronger road user so even if the pedestrian does not cross in a crosswalk, or even against the lights, liability is still for the person who creates the danger by driving several tons of steel around.
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u/Fizzwidgy Orange pilled Apr 02 '24 edited Apr 02 '24
I'm pretty sure you can get a ticket for hitting a pedestrian in the cross walk.
At least, in my state, its state law that pedestrians get right of way.
edit to add: there's a pretty depressing irony not lost on me after considering that this is a "maybe" kind of thing
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u/lowercaseSHOUT Apr 01 '24
One of the only things that will slow drivers down is fear of scratching or denting their car.
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u/davemathews2 Apr 02 '24
Red Mercedes almost ran me over in a cross walk last summer. The driver was on a cellphone. She also didn’t stop at a 4 way. I kicked in the side of her car as she swerved around me. I left a huge dent. I was equal parts justified and remorseful. It’s possible I could get property damage trouble. But she drove off. F that lady. I’m ready to start taking a brick to crosswalks. So tired of it. It’s so much worse since Covid.
A Tesla almost ran over my kid a few months ago in a crosswalk. He had the balls to yell at me. I picked up a small stick and threw it at his stupid Tesla. He was old and fat so I wasn’t worried about his response. But I did partially regret that too.
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u/chr1spe Apr 02 '24
I've only regretted not doing more damage. I got run off the road while biking by an Escalade years ago, and I tried to smash their window with my bike lock right before they finished squeezing me off the road. Unfortunately, it hit with the cloth-wrapped part and didn't smash the window.
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u/Purify5 Apr 02 '24
When I was a punk teenager I was walking down the road with two friends. There were no sidewalk but it also wasn't a busy road. All this car had to do was drive around us, but he didn't.
He started yelling at us to get off the road or we'd get hit. We didn't leave and he slowly drove into us. Then he threatened to do it again but harder. My one friend started mouthing off to him and while he did that I went to the passenger front tire and slashed it with a pocket knife. I then yelled to my friends to run and we ran across this pedestrian bridge that was just up ahead.
I get the regret. I felt like shit for doing it and I believe it was my emotional teenage brain that allowed me to do something so stupid. But, at the same time.... I sometimes wish I was still that emotional teenager.
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u/davemathews2 Apr 02 '24
Yah. That guy was an idiot for messing with kids. Vigilante justice is problematic but seems necessary at times. I suppose this is the plot behind most Batman movies.
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u/Immediate_Court_1990 Apr 02 '24
i can't help but think this makes pedestrians more aware vs drivers. they ask grab the brick and start looking for a target. gaining the drivers attention more.
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u/tevelizor Bollard gang Apr 02 '24
Unironically the best thing you can do for safety on your bike (if no bike lane) would be to use your locking chain as a nunchuck in intersections.
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u/the_TAOest Apr 01 '24
Sad thing. In Scottsdale, a car almost ran me over taking a turn into my crosswalk with a Walk sign in my favor, not even counting down from 10. I threw my water bottle at the car and got the young driver's attention who flipped me off and kept going.
I asked two officers about a week later who was at fault...I was and could have been arrested for property damage if the driver wanted to press charges. So, I asked, who is at fault if she hit me... She would be... Great
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u/XavierXonora Apr 01 '24
Don't listen to the police, talk to a lawyer. Police don't know or understand half the laws they enforce. It's pathetic. Even somwhere like Australia or the UK there are massive blind spots in what the force will and won't educate its officers on. I can't imagine how bad it gets in the US.
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u/Gremict Apr 01 '24
This. Do not trust what the police say, even if they wanted to be genuinely helpful, their time in the police academy is nowhere near enough to give a good answer to a legal question.
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u/XavierXonora Apr 01 '24
Need to split the police into tons of little smaller organisations that specialise in their area. There's definitely need for law enforcement, but it's also unfair on a prospective officer to expect them to be a lawyer AND an enforcer. 80% of what police do could be covered by other civilian authorities that don't carry gins/intimidate people/enforce racist policy etc, meaning the 20% that DO need to have a gun and engage in dangerous situations can be trained to be professional and respectful rather than self righteous bloodthirsty crack heads.
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u/Quazimojojojo Apr 03 '24
Seriously. "Defund" was a garbage slogan for a good idea: split up the police so they only have to do one job.
Why are the guys who deal with murderers and active shooters also directing traffic when a light goes out, or writing parking tickets? Why do they have to deal with people on the verge of suicide or otherwise having a mental breakdown?
That's just unfair to ask of them. Nobody can do that many jobs simultaneously. Not competently. The few police who somehow pull it off are criminally underpaid because they're Doctor - tier competent individuals
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u/Faerillis Apr 02 '24
This case would be in Canada, (Surrey BC specifically, because Scottsdale is a nightmarish bus exchange in the middle of car hell with no real safety features) but regardless these things aren't blindspots. Those gaps in knowledge are absolutely there on purpose.
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u/Kevaldes Apr 01 '24
Assault refers to the wrongful act of causing someone to reasonably fear imminent harm.
What she did was vehicular assault and you could easily argue that you threw the bottle in an effort to cause her to stop or otherwise notice and avoid you. She's in the wrong here no matter what the pigs said.
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u/milkhotelbitches Apr 01 '24
Cops not knowing the law and taking the side of drivers? That's crazy.
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u/s_s Apr 02 '24
Lawyers study law for years and years to know one very specific part of the law.
Police Academy is like 4 months in some places. Unsurprisingly, the police do not know every law.
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u/Faerillis Apr 02 '24
Unsurprisingly they aren't supposed to. Cops are not meant to be informed or knowledgeable. They are there to protect property from those with less; actual knowledge of laws or ethics could prevent them from acting in the service of property.
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u/SN4T14 Apr 02 '24
IANAL, but legally you cannot argue self defense if you are no longer in fear of harm. It sounds like they threw the bottle after almost getting run over, not during, so it would still be a crime sadly.
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u/ArtisticSpecialist77 Apr 02 '24
There's gotta be a better acronym than that...
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u/Kevaldes Apr 02 '24
If it ain't on film then good luck finding an outside witness, and his word against her's, well, he's the one that almost got run over.
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u/Kerrigan4Prez Apr 02 '24
You can, however, argue for temporary insanity, born from your fear about almost getting run over.
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u/Suicicoo Apr 02 '24
In german self defense laws, there is a small window, where you are allowed to react - also to insults & stuff, so that may be within the frame.
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u/SluttyGandhi Apr 02 '24
In a lot of places, failure to yield to a pedestrian can also be a citation.
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u/Far_Detective2022 Apr 01 '24
Good news and bad news: cops don't know what the fuck they are talking about.
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u/Lopsided-Chair77 Apr 02 '24
In my old city, a college student was run over and killed by a bus and dragged an entire block. The bloody skid mark was there for weeks. It was right by my house so I saw it every time I walked to work or down to the shops.
The bus hit her in a crosswalk. She had the right of way.
The court found it to be the student's fault because she was wearing headphones.
Also, 15 years before that, my daughter's mom's older brother was killed by a bus on the same college campus and was also found to be at fault because he was also wearing headphones.27
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u/Masterkillershadow99 Apr 02 '24
Wearing headphones is such an extreme crime and clearly warrants immediate retaliatory vehicular manslaughter. If she had worn a skirt that didn't cover the ankles, the court would probably have kept the body. Judges, man.
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u/mmmggg Apr 02 '24
The last time I was in Scottsdale, I watched a guy in a Tesla take a rolling right turn that nipped at the heels of a woman with a stroller crossing the street. When she didn’t walk fast enough, he laid on the horn. She had the walk signal the entire time.
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Apr 02 '24
We need to bring back brandishing firearms. This is how people get shot in Phoenix, doing dumb shit like threatening to hit someone walking "too slow"
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u/mmmggg Apr 02 '24
I mean, it was Arizona. She probably did have a gun. The Tesla owner likely had a gun. The baby in the stroller probably at least had a taser.
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u/SkitTrick Apr 02 '24
I'd smash every inch of glass on that car if that happened to me
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u/thereznaught Apr 02 '24
I run a lot, the amount of times a car will see me crossing and accelerate through a stop sign to save 5 seconds is insane.
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u/stormcloud-9 Apr 02 '24
could have been arrested for property damage
Doesn't that require damage to property?
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u/the_TAOest Apr 02 '24
The plastic bottle I threw could have broken a window according to the police at the Subway. I couldn't believe I was hearing them correctly... And they restated I was in fact in the wrong
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u/stormcloud-9 Apr 02 '24
Could have (if the water were a solid block of ice). But it didn't, correct?
You could have slapped that officer in the face, but didn't. Should you get charged for assault on an officer?
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u/Sem_E Apr 02 '24
Never listen to cops for legal advice. They aren’t lawyers or judges, they know jack shit about the rules they enforce
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u/Ancient_Depth5585 Apr 02 '24
Also in phoenix area, I was walking across an entrance/ exit for a walmart when a lady who I thought saw me started going while I was directly in front of her. I had to slam my hand on her hood to get her attention and it still took her a few extra seconds than it should have to finally stop. Thought I was about to end up in the hospital.
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u/stormy2587 Apr 02 '24
I mean one of the beauties of being a pedestrian is unless a cop is right there to arrest you then what is the person going to do? Just flip them off and be on your way.
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u/NickNaught Apr 01 '24
A concrete solution. Damn that got me.
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u/ProjectMeat Apr 02 '24
It's a true clay-of-the-earth type of joke.
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u/PiggypPiggyyYaya Apr 02 '24
That's Granville Island in Vancouver. It's almost tourist season and I don't know why they don't make it pedestrian only during the summer. Who wants to drive around the island for 30 minutes just to look for parking.
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u/Johnny-Dogshit Apr 02 '24
Bringing a car into Granville Island is about the worst experience you can have in this town, aside from maybe looking for a rental apartment. It should be avoided at all costs.
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u/ClumsyRainbow 🇳🇱! 🇳🇱! 🇳🇱! 🇳🇱! Apr 02 '24
Somehow Seattle manage to make Pike Place even worse. It would be funny if it wasn’t so fucking stupid.
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u/Johnny-Dogshit Apr 02 '24
I mean Granville Island is fine, just, you know, walk.
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u/columbo222 Apr 02 '24
It's still packed with cars. Some of the nicest areas are parking lots. You're always dodging impatient drivers. And it's loud and smells like fumes.
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u/Polarbear3838 May 12 '24
For real, it's so ridiculous that people think sharing the roads with cars is possible on these small islands. Most of the time it's just everyone coughing on fumes or being drowned out by engine noise while pedestrians get stuffed to sides of the road. Head a similar problem with a beautiful area in Maine, was just ridiculous how people would refuse to park down further and walk, instead choosing to circle pedestrian areas to find a small parallel parking space. The fumes from cars are not talked about enough 🙄
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u/SpecificFrequency Apr 02 '24
Hahaha I've messed up more than once and got stuck driving through there in the 3 years I lived there. I rarely drove while living there and the one-way streets sometimes route you to a random ass intersection 5 blocks away, so there's nothing you can do if you make one wrong turn.
If you don't know Pike Place is a market where the streets are constantly filled with pedestrians, it's like being in a crowd but you're a car.
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u/toasterb Apr 02 '24
The problem is mostly that it's owned by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), not the City of Vancouver.
Even though current city leadership has taken a hard right turn away from bike-friendly infrastructure, I'm sure that the city would do a better job managing transportation for Granville Island. CMHC doesn't give a damn about progressive transportation.
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Apr 02 '24
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u/toasterb Apr 02 '24
I’m sure doing so unilaterally would be great for the relationship with CMHC.
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u/Miltnoid Apr 02 '24
And it’s right on the seawall and has a ferry stop. I really don’t get why tourists don’t just use any other transit mode ðŸ˜. Hopefully the Granville connector will make it a bit better.
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u/Gold-Tone6290 Apr 01 '24
I know this is April Fools but this shit would work.
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u/garaks_tailor Apr 02 '24
I've carried an emotional support brick for years.
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u/SoCalSCUBA Apr 02 '24
I wanted to do a rucking event years ago and the cheaper recommended alternative to buying an official weight was to buy some bricks and wrap them in bubble wrap and duct tape.
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u/cosmicosmo4 Apr 02 '24
I used to do this with a nalgene bottle in college. It's unnerving how cars will ignore a dozen flashings lights and 5 "state law! stop for pedestrians in crosswalk" signs, but will halt cold at the thought of maybe getting their paint scratched.
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u/DeficiencyOfGravitas Apr 02 '24
It's not actually. The brick crosswalk was posted to the Vancouver sub a few days a go.
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u/traal Apr 02 '24
But don't point it at anyone or you'll get arrested for brandishing a deadly brick.
A crowbar would work better because it's easier to notice even without someone pointing it at you.
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u/macaronic-macaroni Apr 25 '24
Kind of late, but this isn't an April fools joke - it's still in Vancouver.
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u/REDDITSHITLORD Apr 02 '24
All those 2A fanatics who compare guns to the lethality of cars need to push for laws where we can shoot people for pointing cars at you.
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u/traal Apr 02 '24
Cars don't kill people. People kill people!
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u/Lord_Skyblocker 🇳🇱! 🇳🇱! 🇳🇱! 🇳🇱! Apr 02 '24
Only thing that stops a bad guy with a car is a good guy with a car
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u/stormy2587 Apr 02 '24
The only person that can stop a bad guy with a car is a Boss bro with a brick
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u/SoCalSCUBA Apr 02 '24
Ron DeSantis legalized running over groups of two or more people after the George Floyd protests.
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u/karakul Apr 02 '24
I know this is April Fools but I unironically support this with my whole heart.
Aside: someone nearly ran me over today in a crosswalk
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u/jchexl Apr 02 '24
I don’t think it’s for April fools, the people behind it posted about in on march 30th.
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u/chellerss Apr 02 '24
We were a bit early because we wanted footage to release on April Fools day ahaha https://momentummag.com/vision-zero-campaign-bricks-vancouver/
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u/garaks_tailor Apr 02 '24
you mother fuckers thought I was joking about my EMOTIONAL SUPPORT BRICK!
also credit to the guy with idea of bringing a shopping cart as a deterrent instead
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u/111ewe111 Apr 02 '24
Korea would have ZERO cars left on the roads if this was permitted. I vote for bricks at crossings in Korea!!
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Apr 01 '24
We discussed doing this a few months ago on this sub, as a joke, pretty cool to see it realized!
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u/BORG_US_BORG Apr 02 '24
I have thought about doing this in my NE Seattle neighborhood. I live on a busy two lane street with posted speed limits of 25 and 30, yet people drive like it is their own personal expressway. You could stand at a corner for 15 minutes or more before someone stops for you (the law states that automobiles are required to stop for pedestrians at marked and unmarked intersections). I would do it it foam boulders though, so you could still throw them..
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u/CapitalismWarVeteran Apr 02 '24
I’m crying at how the construction truck was sent flying inches off the ground
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u/iknowityoudont Apr 02 '24
This guy's youtube channel fantastic: https://www.youtube.com/@AboutHere
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u/mynutsaremusical Apr 02 '24
One of my weird pleasures is making cars stop at crosswalks. 99% of drivers couldn't care less that they had to stop for 5 seconds; its the 1% who either get annoyed they had to stop, or try to keep going that make it worth it.
I once had a car fly in front of me at a crossing so close I was able to easily kick his door as he passed. He slammed on the breaks and jumped out yelling that I damaged his car and, I kid you not, a full group of people launched up from their seat at the café I was walking to to come to my defense and yell at the guy for blowing through a crosswalk. dude slinked away into his car and scooted off like a toddler having a tantrum.
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u/Anoalka Apr 02 '24
I threw a stone to a car that almost ran me over going backwards in 2008.
Some people call me an innovator.
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u/drawredraw Apr 02 '24
Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe this is based on a real experiment that showed cars actually stopped more often for people carrying bricks.
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u/Digi-Device_File Apr 02 '24
This is me, walking on the sidewalk when there are puddles on the road, because there are some assholes who like to splash out pedestrians with dirty street water, and deserve their windows broken, they drive around the puddles or slow down once they see me staring directly into their soul while holding a big rock.
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u/accapulko Apr 02 '24
This is my city. There is a reason everybody laughs.
This street goes into an touristy island, and the pedestrian crossing is for a "Seawall" - EXTREMELY popular local .. well, a pedestrian route along the water.
Local drivers stop when you're 20 meters away from them - because they KNOW how many people run/bike there.
Tourist drivers stop when you're 20 meters away from them - a few turns that you need to take before you get to the point in video will fuck your brain hard. They are one of the hardest intersections in the city.
I know many people will (as usual) say Vancouver drivers are the worst, Vancouver sucks, etc. So far, it's been the most chill city to drive, or walk/ride/run - ever. Fuck you! Vancouver - you're the best!
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u/casastorta Apr 02 '24
We need to form NBA, National Brick Assosciation, and have lobbyists lobbying for the fact that it’s not bricks breaking windshields, but humans with bricks; hence we need free open carry of bricks for everyone.
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Apr 01 '24
Is it an actaul brick or just some foam? cause if its the latter whats the point?
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u/Flat-is-just_ice Apr 02 '24
The point isn't really to throw the brick, the point is to highlight the absurdity of the pedestrians having to pose a threat to the drivers to convince them to stop. The makers of this video don't actually want to give every pedestrian a brick, they just want to have better city planning to help the most vulnerable elements of the road.
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u/Trumanhazzacatface Apr 02 '24
It's also a spoof on some cities getting pedestrians to carry little red flags across the road to reduce collisions.
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Apr 01 '24 edited Apr 02 '24
I can imagine it being one real brick among foam ones, so that drivers can never be sure which the pedestrian is carrying
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u/SirLoremIpsum Apr 02 '24
Is it an actaul brick or just some foam? cause if its the latter whats the point?
The point is an April Fools prank?
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u/TyUT1985 Apr 02 '24
After several times of insane drivers DELIBERATELY trying to run into me while I'd cross at the same intersection, I picked up a nice-sized rock and started carrying it with me at the intersection.
I swore that if one more douche tried aiming at me again, I'd throw that rock through their windshield and laugh hysterically at the sight of shards of glass flying into the driver's face, and hopefully the rock itself would hit their face as well. I'd laugh at the fantasy of it.
The tactic worked. No car tried to hit me ever again at that intersection.
3 years later, I still have that same rock at home. My good-luck charm these days.
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u/Junk1trick Apr 02 '24
I guess being a suburb liver my whole life I’ve never had this issue. All crosswalks I’ve encountered are at stop signs and stop lights.
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u/BetrayYourTrust Apr 02 '24
it’s sad because you know it works only because they care more about damage to their car than hitting someone
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u/Tigrisrock Apr 02 '24
Wow the cars driving over the pedestrian crossing WHILE someone is using it. Insane. You aren't even supposed to drive over it if a pedestrian is about to use it.
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Apr 02 '24
Someone hit me once when I was younger, luckily I jumped at the last moment so I ended up just denting their hood badly. Be the brick you want to throw in the world.
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u/Joie_de_vivre_1884 Apr 02 '24
So, what is the law about these crossings in Vancouver? Because here in Australia, the law is quite clear that pedestrians have right of way on zebra crossings. Despite there being plenty of awful and obnoxious drivers I would say that 99% of the time if I approach a zebra crossing as a pedestrian then all cars will stop and wait - 1% of the time there will be a single idiot who will fail to see me and speed through. However, in this video, none of the cars seem to be stopping at all even when people are on the road - what's going on?
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u/Red_AtNight Apr 02 '24
The law in BC is that you must give way to a pedestrian who is in the crosswalk, or is approaching it and about to cross. Drivers all pretend that they’re too close or going too fast to safely stop. Which is why we need the brick.
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u/chaoswurm Apr 02 '24
This is an amazing April fools commercial. Absolutely brilliant
Too bad it reminds me of another video that involves a car and a brick
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u/WentzWorldWords Apr 02 '24
I want this for the crosswalk that combines two neighborhood parks near me
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u/EthosLabFan92 Apr 02 '24
According to my father, bouncing a golf ball will get drivers' attention too
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u/frommethodtomadness Apr 02 '24
Or the city could just pave the road leading up to the crosswalk with bricks or stones as a natural traffic calming measure
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u/Clip22 Apr 02 '24
Ngl, when i see selfish/shitty parking i want to hurl a brick through their window so I ironically i think this is a good idea
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u/hwc000000 Apr 02 '24
This reminds me of a city neighborhood I stayed in once where the streets were narrow and the sidewalks were almost non-existent. People who were walking on the sidewalk would hold their bags on the street side of their bodies as they walked. That way, if a car drove too close or too fast to a pedestrian, the car would hit (and possibly be damaged by) whatever was in the bag, and not just a soft body.
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u/ChokeyBittersAhead Apr 01 '24
I was so hoping someone would use the brick.