But when I did drive, after my reckless youth, I’d usually just chill in the right lane. I don’t care. Fly by at 120mph. I’ll be here going with the flow of traffic, or about the speed limit if I’m alone.
I do remember one time in the suburbs when I was visiting my parents, I was driving to the grocery store. It’s a short drive (because it’s the suburbs, you can’t safely walk to the supermarket), no highways. About 10 minutes to get there from driveway to parking lot. Some guy behind me started absolutely losing his shit, screaming, and passed me dangerously by driving onto the shoulder. He pulled into the same parking lot. I parked well away from him because I didn’t want to deal with crazy.
I’m not good at math, but if the entire trip was about 10 minutes, I feel like the time difference between me going about the speed limit and me speeding is, at most, what, 2 minutes? 5 minutes? The guy probably took more than 5 minutes off his life being so angry.
It’s a short drive (because it’s the suburbs, you can’t safely walk to the supermarket)
It’s funny that suburbs get touted as safer, but you can’t even expect your kid to walk to the supermarket alone until they are well into their teen years. Usually because it’s over a mile away and across a state highway (and likely one without any nearby crosswalks, either).
It’s like pedestrian safety isn’t considered safety at all.
Sure, it’s safe enough for a young kid to walk or ride their bike around their cul de sac, sure…but it gets exponentially less safe the further you travel out from there…and that’s where their friends and everything else are…
My childhood home was 1.2 miles away and across such a state highway from literally anything. No sidewalks or crosswalks along the entire path.
I could walk to a bus stop without crossing a state highway, but I’d be walking along it with no sidewalk for most of it…and after 5.5 miles, I’d get to the bus stop. And I did do that a couple times in the summer before I got my license, to get to work.
If I was raising kids, I absolutely would not want to do it in the suburbs. It’s isolating and limiting. I was always so jealous of the kids I knew that lived in the city. They could do things. I was stuck indoors , or walking for like 90 minutes to get anywhere.
I do not miss driving. Public transit forever.
But when I did drive, after my reckless youth, I’d usually just chill in the right lane. I don’t care. Fly by at 120mph. I’ll be here going with the flow of traffic, or about the speed limit if I’m alone.
I do remember one time in the suburbs when I was visiting my parents, I was driving to the grocery store. It’s a short drive (because it’s the suburbs, you can’t safely walk to the supermarket), no highways. About 10 minutes to get there from driveway to parking lot. Some guy behind me started absolutely losing his shit, screaming, and passed me dangerously by driving onto the shoulder. He pulled into the same parking lot. I parked well away from him because I didn’t want to deal with crazy.
I’m not good at math, but if the entire trip was about 10 minutes, I feel like the time difference between me going about the speed limit and me speeding is, at most, what, 2 minutes? 5 minutes? The guy probably took more than 5 minutes off his life being so angry.
It’s funny that suburbs get touted as safer, but you can’t even expect your kid to walk to the supermarket alone until they are well into their teen years. Usually because it’s over a mile away and across a state highway (and likely one without any nearby crosswalks, either).
It’s like pedestrian safety isn’t considered safety at all.
Sure, it’s safe enough for a young kid to walk or ride their bike around their cul de sac, sure…but it gets exponentially less safe the further you travel out from there…and that’s where their friends and everything else are…
My childhood home was 1.2 miles away and across such a state highway from literally anything. No sidewalks or crosswalks along the entire path.
I could walk to a bus stop without crossing a state highway, but I’d be walking along it with no sidewalk for most of it…and after 5.5 miles, I’d get to the bus stop. And I did do that a couple times in the summer before I got my license, to get to work.
If I was raising kids, I absolutely would not want to do it in the suburbs. It’s isolating and limiting. I was always so jealous of the kids I knew that lived in the city. They could do things. I was stuck indoors , or walking for like 90 minutes to get anywhere.
In an ideal situation you’d save maybe a minute. But in the real world with stop lights and signs you’d probably be closer to 20-30 seconds.