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My boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient."
] |
>
Not for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes."
] |
>
Since my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit"
] |
>
I'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose"
] |
>
He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men"
] |
>
they fit better
Not if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).
And men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope.
I buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)"
] |
>
Then buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it."
] |
>
Just buy larger?
Do you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.
Lol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size."
] |
>
Men have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu."
] |
>
Dude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there."
] |
>
Yes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves."
] |
>
“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄
It means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely."
] |
>
I say give it up. He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.",
">\n\n“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄\nIt means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests."
] |
>
There is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.",
">\n\n“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄\nIt means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests.",
">\n\nI say give it up. He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype."
] |
>
Ok sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.",
">\n\n“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄\nIt means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests.",
">\n\nI say give it up. He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style."
] |
>
I am too short to wear men's clothing.
A better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.",
">\n\n“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄\nIt means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests.",
">\n\nI say give it up. He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit"
] |
>
If my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.",
">\n\n“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄\nIt means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests.",
">\n\nI say give it up. He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets."
] |
>
As a woman who has tried on men's clothes (most pointedly cargo pants), men's clothes absolutely do NOT fit better.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.",
">\n\n“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄\nIt means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests.",
">\n\nI say give it up. He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to"
] |
>
Cargo shorts are ugly, though
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.",
">\n\n“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄\nIt means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests.",
">\n\nI say give it up. He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nAs a woman who has tried on men's clothes (most pointedly cargo pants), men's clothes absolutely do NOT fit better."
] |
>
Convenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics
Not everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.",
">\n\n“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄\nIt means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests.",
">\n\nI say give it up. He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nAs a woman who has tried on men's clothes (most pointedly cargo pants), men's clothes absolutely do NOT fit better.",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though"
] |
>
They also have no room for a woman's ass or thighs. And don't say buy a bigger size because then they don't fit in the leg and that is on top of them being too long to begin with.
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.",
">\n\n“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄\nIt means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests.",
">\n\nI say give it up. He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nAs a woman who has tried on men's clothes (most pointedly cargo pants), men's clothes absolutely do NOT fit better.",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets."
] |
>
|
[
"They absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nSo men dont have \"curves\"?",
">\n\nSome men certainly do. I never said they didn’t.\nI said men’s clothing isn’t accommodating of curves.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nPlus this removes cash flow from an industry that makes choices for it's consumers in a way they vocally decry.\nVote with your wallet ladies. It works.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nThey absolutely do have store to store size difference, WTF? There is massive variation in what 34” waist means. And then you have shirt cuts that are all meaningless jargon with the same words used to mean different things between different stores. XL in the chest of a shirt, depending on the brand can vary from 44”-54”",
">\n\nI've never experienced that. I buy from multiple stores and it always means the exact same thing in every store.",
">\n\nIf you’re just buying baggy, it’s probably not a problem, which it kinda sounds like you must be, but if you want clothes that fit, that’s a whole other ballgame.",
">\n\nYes, I only buy baggy. The few times I've bought clothes that fit my body, they've still matched the correct measurements per store. Baggy is the most convenient.",
">\n\nMy boobs don’t fit into men’s shirts. They get squished and look like pancakes.",
">\n\nNot for style tho, I'm a guy and just bought 2 'womens' hoodies because I want that witchy/gothic aesthetic, not monster energy or sons of anarchy macho bullshit",
">\n\nSince my hips (not just ass) are wider than men’s, those pants won’t fit me right. To have a right fit in the waist, the leg part would be way to loose",
">\n\nI'm convinced OP doesn't understand women have different shapes to men",
">\n\nHe is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype as if it will change the way things work. He is convince he is right and therefore the mere females must be wrong and how dare we contradict his brilliance! (this last part is sarcasm... he is not brilliant and women know more about their bodies than he does)",
">\n\n\nthey fit better\n\nNot if you have curves. And boobs. Oh dear god I get choked to death every time I wear a man’s (or even a unisex) shirt. My options are get choked and constantly tug at my shirt, or buy a much larger shirt and be super baggy and swimming in the shirt (which I will admit is comfy but damn it looks like pajamas).\nAnd men’s pants aren’t an option at all because curves. I’ve never found a pair of men’s pants that fit (except sweats / pajama pants [and those have pockets so YES!!!]). I’ve tried to find men’s jeans or slacks, but nope. \nI buy men’s hoodies and sweatpants/pajama pants, but that’s it.",
">\n\nThen buy larger. If you don't fit into the size you buy, you didn't buy the right size.",
">\n\nJust buy larger?\nDo you understand how curves work? Not all parts are the same size.\nLol I’d end up wearing pants that are 5 sizes too big at the waste, and a shirt that looks like a muumuu.",
">\n\nMen have this issue too. Overweight guys have to buy from stores where the clothes fit their body type and they still get all the benefits of pockets, price, reliability etc. Just buy from there.",
">\n\nDude, the issue isn’t finding bigger men’s clothing. It’s finding clothing that fits curves.",
">\n\nYes thats the same problem I literally just solved. Overweight mens clothing isn't just BIGGER, it's reinforced in areas that are bigger and fits them more closely.",
">\n\n“Curves” doesn’t mean I need reinforcement in areas that are bigger or need clothes to fit more closely in those areas 🙄\nIt means I need clothing that accommodates curves. Hips, breasts, thighs, which curve out in contrast to waists, legs, chests.",
">\n\nI say give it up. He is leaning into the ignorant man stereotype.",
">\n\nThere is no reason why women should buy more men's clothes. Everyone should wear whatever clothes they feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of traditional gender norms. It's important for people to be able to express themselves through their clothing and personal style.",
">\n\nOk sometimes- I have a pair of men’s cargo joggers and they are amazing, BUT- there’s no room for having hips/boobs without having to wear a men’s XL without having the legs be super long or the shirt being large enough to host a wedding inside. I’m a short woman so buying men’s clothes esp in larger sizes- made for 5’10”+ does not make for a good fit",
">\n\nI am too short to wear men's clothing.\nA better idea would be for women's clothing to be made in a similar style to men's except flattering to women and in sizes women can actually wear comfortably. Also, pockets on women's clothes would be easy additions, especially considering how many fake pockets we get, but they want us buying handbags. If women started buying men's clothes then men's clothes would lose their pockets.",
">\n\nIf my tits fit in men's shirts with the ratio to shoulders then I'd love to",
">\n\nAs a woman who has tried on men's clothes (most pointedly cargo pants), men's clothes absolutely do NOT fit better.",
">\n\nCargo shorts are ugly, though",
">\n\nConvenience and cost efficiency > aesthetics\nNot everyone thinks cargos are ugly. I'm not saying just buy cargos, mens skinny jeans have usable pockets.",
">\n\nThey also have no room for a woman's ass or thighs. And don't say buy a bigger size because then they don't fit in the leg and that is on top of them being too long to begin with."
] |
This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.
Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
(For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
Rule-breaking posts may result in bans.
|
[] |
>
You have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans."
] |
>
Unfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too."
] |
>
how many months?
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks."
] |
>
I'm guessing they meant 7
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?"
] |
>
That is correct XD
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7"
] |
>
Giant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD"
] |
>
Right?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell."
] |
>
"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs."
― Neil Gaiman, American Gods
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary"
] |
>
I wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods"
] |
>
the problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!
Rail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option.
I was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲"
] |
>
China is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.
Edit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation."
] |
>
As someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.
The size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.
By land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.
The US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.
Secondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.
For the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide.
Nearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.
Cross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.
In cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii"
] |
>
What changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities."
] |
>
There is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.
There are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.
Consider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.
For instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.
Clearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.
For families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).
Additionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?"
] |
>
It sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist."
] |
>
Oh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about."
] |
>
Having driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet."
] |
>
I was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states."
] |
>
Jesus
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic."
] |
>
And we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus"
] |
>
"rules"
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side."
] |
>
rules of the road
More of a suggestion, really.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\""
] |
>
You can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really."
] |
>
Just like ancient Rome.
And every major civilisation since.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically."
] |
>
I'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking "dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be"
Edit: It makes me a little uncomfortable
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since."
] |
>
You don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable"
] |
>
Hello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately."
] |
>
Kauppi Weave
Thanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty."
] |
>
We're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding."
] |
>
I‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,..
I mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family."
] |
>
Sometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?"
] |
>
Also barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads."
] |
>
Nothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.
You're asking to die.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest."
] |
>
Yet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die."
] |
>
Google an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued."
] |
>
About 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).
We just kind of accept it. Crazy.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis."
] |
>
What do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy."
] |
>
Only safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever"
] |
>
Sometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.
As in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops "don't like it when you do that," so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )
Laws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)"
] |
>
Remember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread."
] |
>
One time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs
Haven't been the same since
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!"
] |
>
That's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since"
] |
>
Or in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans."
] |
>
Anyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years."
] |
>
I think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time."
] |
>
My 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol"
] |
>
In EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck"
] |
>
OP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close"
] |
>
I don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?
Fastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times"
] |
>
There are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh."
] |
>
And in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh)."
] |
>
Gotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!"
] |
>
That's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️"
] |
>
And literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions"
] |
>
So what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h"
] |
>
Lol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130"
] |
>
We all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad"
] |
>
Since when do people follow the rules of the road?
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road."
] |
>
There's rules?
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?"
] |
>
They be more like guidelines
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?"
] |
>
I always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines"
] |
>
The other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close"
] |
>
Drove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.
And we are not by any forest where it was
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament."
] |
>
I sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was"
] |
>
Only thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it."
] |
>
So weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road"
] |
>
Now think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think "doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous."
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall"
] |
>
This also bothers me. I used to work 30 kilometers outside of my city in a smaller town for 2 years. The roads leading there were super narrow, with lots of curves, leading through smaller forests, up and down smaller hills with really bad vision etc. etc.
I always thought if only one idiot decides to overtake an oncoming car on my lane when there's bad vision I have no chance to react. My health basically exposed to thousands of random strangers in the oncoming traffic.
Didn't help that I worked as a paramedic for those 2 years and saw a few fatal and almost fatal car crashes, often with the 'innocent' driver on the losing end.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall",
">\n\nNow think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think \"doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous.\""
] |
>
I'm a trucker, you'd be surprised just how many people don't seem to care that they're passing a 40 ton metal missile just a few feet away. We can see you watching Netflix while doing your makeup, Deborah
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall",
">\n\nNow think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think \"doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous.\"",
">\n\nThis also bothers me. I used to work 30 kilometers outside of my city in a smaller town for 2 years. The roads leading there were super narrow, with lots of curves, leading through smaller forests, up and down smaller hills with really bad vision etc. etc.\nI always thought if only one idiot decides to overtake an oncoming car on my lane when there's bad vision I have no chance to react. My health basically exposed to thousands of random strangers in the oncoming traffic.\nDidn't help that I worked as a paramedic for those 2 years and saw a few fatal and almost fatal car crashes, often with the 'innocent' driver on the losing end."
] |
>
This is why I never got a driver's license. I wouldn't trust myself behind the wheel. I know there are literal teenagers driving cars but still
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall",
">\n\nNow think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think \"doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous.\"",
">\n\nThis also bothers me. I used to work 30 kilometers outside of my city in a smaller town for 2 years. The roads leading there were super narrow, with lots of curves, leading through smaller forests, up and down smaller hills with really bad vision etc. etc.\nI always thought if only one idiot decides to overtake an oncoming car on my lane when there's bad vision I have no chance to react. My health basically exposed to thousands of random strangers in the oncoming traffic.\nDidn't help that I worked as a paramedic for those 2 years and saw a few fatal and almost fatal car crashes, often with the 'innocent' driver on the losing end.",
">\n\nI'm a trucker, you'd be surprised just how many people don't seem to care that they're passing a 40 ton metal missile just a few feet away. We can see you watching Netflix while doing your makeup, Deborah"
] |
>
I am the same. I have no idea why people are down-voting you.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall",
">\n\nNow think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think \"doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous.\"",
">\n\nThis also bothers me. I used to work 30 kilometers outside of my city in a smaller town for 2 years. The roads leading there were super narrow, with lots of curves, leading through smaller forests, up and down smaller hills with really bad vision etc. etc.\nI always thought if only one idiot decides to overtake an oncoming car on my lane when there's bad vision I have no chance to react. My health basically exposed to thousands of random strangers in the oncoming traffic.\nDidn't help that I worked as a paramedic for those 2 years and saw a few fatal and almost fatal car crashes, often with the 'innocent' driver on the losing end.",
">\n\nI'm a trucker, you'd be surprised just how many people don't seem to care that they're passing a 40 ton metal missile just a few feet away. We can see you watching Netflix while doing your makeup, Deborah",
">\n\nThis is why I never got a driver's license. I wouldn't trust myself behind the wheel. I know there are literal teenagers driving cars but still"
] |
>
Not getting a license won't save them from all the people that have one but shouldn't as long as driving is practically a requirement to get most places.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall",
">\n\nNow think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think \"doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous.\"",
">\n\nThis also bothers me. I used to work 30 kilometers outside of my city in a smaller town for 2 years. The roads leading there were super narrow, with lots of curves, leading through smaller forests, up and down smaller hills with really bad vision etc. etc.\nI always thought if only one idiot decides to overtake an oncoming car on my lane when there's bad vision I have no chance to react. My health basically exposed to thousands of random strangers in the oncoming traffic.\nDidn't help that I worked as a paramedic for those 2 years and saw a few fatal and almost fatal car crashes, often with the 'innocent' driver on the losing end.",
">\n\nI'm a trucker, you'd be surprised just how many people don't seem to care that they're passing a 40 ton metal missile just a few feet away. We can see you watching Netflix while doing your makeup, Deborah",
">\n\nThis is why I never got a driver's license. I wouldn't trust myself behind the wheel. I know there are literal teenagers driving cars but still",
">\n\nI am the same. I have no idea why people are down-voting you."
] |
>
If they live in Europe, driving isn't a requirement as long as you don't have to go somewhere rural.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall",
">\n\nNow think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think \"doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous.\"",
">\n\nThis also bothers me. I used to work 30 kilometers outside of my city in a smaller town for 2 years. The roads leading there were super narrow, with lots of curves, leading through smaller forests, up and down smaller hills with really bad vision etc. etc.\nI always thought if only one idiot decides to overtake an oncoming car on my lane when there's bad vision I have no chance to react. My health basically exposed to thousands of random strangers in the oncoming traffic.\nDidn't help that I worked as a paramedic for those 2 years and saw a few fatal and almost fatal car crashes, often with the 'innocent' driver on the losing end.",
">\n\nI'm a trucker, you'd be surprised just how many people don't seem to care that they're passing a 40 ton metal missile just a few feet away. We can see you watching Netflix while doing your makeup, Deborah",
">\n\nThis is why I never got a driver's license. I wouldn't trust myself behind the wheel. I know there are literal teenagers driving cars but still",
">\n\nI am the same. I have no idea why people are down-voting you.",
">\n\nNot getting a license won't save them from all the people that have one but shouldn't as long as driving is practically a requirement to get most places."
] |
>
This is why we build dual carriageways (divided highway) and it doesn’t always have to be a motorway or highway to have the lanes separated
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall",
">\n\nNow think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think \"doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous.\"",
">\n\nThis also bothers me. I used to work 30 kilometers outside of my city in a smaller town for 2 years. The roads leading there were super narrow, with lots of curves, leading through smaller forests, up and down smaller hills with really bad vision etc. etc.\nI always thought if only one idiot decides to overtake an oncoming car on my lane when there's bad vision I have no chance to react. My health basically exposed to thousands of random strangers in the oncoming traffic.\nDidn't help that I worked as a paramedic for those 2 years and saw a few fatal and almost fatal car crashes, often with the 'innocent' driver on the losing end.",
">\n\nI'm a trucker, you'd be surprised just how many people don't seem to care that they're passing a 40 ton metal missile just a few feet away. We can see you watching Netflix while doing your makeup, Deborah",
">\n\nThis is why I never got a driver's license. I wouldn't trust myself behind the wheel. I know there are literal teenagers driving cars but still",
">\n\nI am the same. I have no idea why people are down-voting you.",
">\n\nNot getting a license won't save them from all the people that have one but shouldn't as long as driving is practically a requirement to get most places.",
">\n\nIf they live in Europe, driving isn't a requirement as long as you don't have to go somewhere rural."
] |
>
Its amazing people are willing to trust the other drivers on the road!
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall",
">\n\nNow think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think \"doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous.\"",
">\n\nThis also bothers me. I used to work 30 kilometers outside of my city in a smaller town for 2 years. The roads leading there were super narrow, with lots of curves, leading through smaller forests, up and down smaller hills with really bad vision etc. etc.\nI always thought if only one idiot decides to overtake an oncoming car on my lane when there's bad vision I have no chance to react. My health basically exposed to thousands of random strangers in the oncoming traffic.\nDidn't help that I worked as a paramedic for those 2 years and saw a few fatal and almost fatal car crashes, often with the 'innocent' driver on the losing end.",
">\n\nI'm a trucker, you'd be surprised just how many people don't seem to care that they're passing a 40 ton metal missile just a few feet away. We can see you watching Netflix while doing your makeup, Deborah",
">\n\nThis is why I never got a driver's license. I wouldn't trust myself behind the wheel. I know there are literal teenagers driving cars but still",
">\n\nI am the same. I have no idea why people are down-voting you.",
">\n\nNot getting a license won't save them from all the people that have one but shouldn't as long as driving is practically a requirement to get most places.",
">\n\nIf they live in Europe, driving isn't a requirement as long as you don't have to go somewhere rural.",
">\n\nThis is why we build dual carriageways (divided highway) and it doesn’t always have to be a motorway or highway to have the lanes separated"
] |
>
Oh, just like that same thought from the other day, just slightly reworded
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall",
">\n\nNow think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think \"doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous.\"",
">\n\nThis also bothers me. I used to work 30 kilometers outside of my city in a smaller town for 2 years. The roads leading there were super narrow, with lots of curves, leading through smaller forests, up and down smaller hills with really bad vision etc. etc.\nI always thought if only one idiot decides to overtake an oncoming car on my lane when there's bad vision I have no chance to react. My health basically exposed to thousands of random strangers in the oncoming traffic.\nDidn't help that I worked as a paramedic for those 2 years and saw a few fatal and almost fatal car crashes, often with the 'innocent' driver on the losing end.",
">\n\nI'm a trucker, you'd be surprised just how many people don't seem to care that they're passing a 40 ton metal missile just a few feet away. We can see you watching Netflix while doing your makeup, Deborah",
">\n\nThis is why I never got a driver's license. I wouldn't trust myself behind the wheel. I know there are literal teenagers driving cars but still",
">\n\nI am the same. I have no idea why people are down-voting you.",
">\n\nNot getting a license won't save them from all the people that have one but shouldn't as long as driving is practically a requirement to get most places.",
">\n\nIf they live in Europe, driving isn't a requirement as long as you don't have to go somewhere rural.",
">\n\nThis is why we build dual carriageways (divided highway) and it doesn’t always have to be a motorway or highway to have the lanes separated",
">\n\nIts amazing people are willing to trust the other drivers on the road!"
] |
>
Yes. All it takes is one driver with high cholesterol who experiences a common TIA and it's a tragedy.
|
[
"This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.\nRemember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not \"thoughts had in the shower!\"\n(For an explanation of what a \"showerthought\" is, please read this page.)\nRule-breaking posts may result in bans.",
">\n\nYou have to trust the other people not to do something idiotic too.",
">\n\nUnfortunately this doesn't always work, I was tboned back in November by some silly prat driving a van, he shot out of a yield road on the right of a cross roads and struck my front drivers side wheel arch, that shunted me into a car waiting in the left yield road. My car was a write off, only had it for 7 months by that point -_- ended up off work with concussion for 3.5 weeks.",
">\n\nhow many months?",
">\n\nI'm guessing they meant 7",
">\n\nThat is correct XD",
">\n\nGiant. Metal. Death. Machines. And people go as far as texting, eating, doin their freaking makeup! While operating one. F*ckin hell.",
">\n\nRight?! One loose tire, a bad bump, some idiot texting, an icy road and boom dead or messed for life. Roads are scary",
">\n\n\"There were car gods there: a powerful, serious-faced contingent, with blood on their black gloves and on their chrome teeth: recipients of human sacrifice on a scale undreamed-of since the Aztecs.\"\n― Neil Gaiman, American Gods",
">\n\nI wish Americans had high speed rail gods instead 🥲",
">\n\nthe problem is that America is big. Like, really big. there are countries that fit in some of our states. he'll, there are multiple countries that can fit in just one state!\nRail is not feasible for most of the country as a regular transportation option. \nI was 12 miles *as the crow flies* from DC. there was *zero* public transportation.",
">\n\nChina is just as big and has an extensive HSR network. The European continent is larger than the USA and even has practical HSR between major cities. The USA could have invested in rail and public transportation as well but has made and continues to make policy choices not to.\nEdit: I didn't think it was necessary to point out that I'm talking about the continguous United States here and not Alaska and Hawaii",
">\n\nAs someone with experience as a transportation economist, there’s so much missing in what you’re saying that makes none of those regions even remotely comparable for rail infrastructure.\nThe size point is absolutely huge, and cannot be understated. The US is larger than China, and its a fuckton larger than the EU.\nBy land area, the entire EU has 1.634 million mi² of land for ~448 million residents.\nThe US by land area is 3.797 million mi², or well over double the land area of the entire EU, with less than 350 million residents so everyone is vastly more spread out on average.\nSecondly, you need to look at population distribution in that area. I’ll give you a hint, almost 90% of China lives in less than 30% of its land mass, all clustered on the flat coastline, (96% of their population lives in the East against the coast with about 3.5% of the population living in the southwest, northwest, and northern regions of China combined) and no one lives in the majority of the country that is mountains, desert, and inhospitable wasteland— unsurprisingly, there is no rail anywhere near any of that.\nFor the US, all you need to do is look at a population density map, then look at an elevation map and look at The Great Divide. \nNearly half of the US is mountainous and the elevation range almost a full three miles between the highest and lowest major cities.\nCross country rail is prohibitively expensive for anything West of Texas, and the areas that already makes sense for rail or that are economically feasible for such transportation. . . Kind of already has rail infrastructure in place? The problem is, its mostly only feasible in the flat plains in the middle of the country, and even then its predominantly used for shipping raw materials and goods rather than transportation of individuals.\nIn cities like New York, Portland, LA, they either have rail systems already, or are developing them (LA Metro has a massive rail project underway currently) but these rail systems largely don’t make sense to extend beyond the metro areas for these cities.",
">\n\nWhat changed between the 18-1900s and today that makes it so that rail is no longer economical when the US once had the most developed train system in the world?",
">\n\nThere is a whole lot at play here, so I hope you will be content with an overly simplified answer.\nThere are a couple of big changes. Aircrafts existing is a major one that cannot go without mentioning. For the US, one of the biggest obstacles to a cross country rail system for individual transportation is it doesn’t make sense when air travel exists already.\nConsider a few hour flight from coast to coast for a business meeting or a family vacation compared to the time it would take by rail.\nFor instance, from Bangor ME to Seattle WA is a 2500 mile/4050 KM journey. It would take over 90 hours, or nearly four entire days (3.75 days to be exact) by rail. The same flight is 5.5 hours long, or only about 6% the length. Its also roughly half the price for those plane tickets vs taking the train; not only is it significantly faster to fly, its cheaper as well over long distances.\nClearly, the rail travel time is infeasible for anything that requires you be there in under four days, which also makes the time involved prohibitive for most business purposes unless planned well in advance— even then, you would need to compensate your workers for four days of travel— each way— for an additional at least 8 days you are paying them while they are doing no work and providing you no value; OR! You could send them on a plane and have to worry about 11 hours over two days which is much preferable, and will cost you less money by far.\nFor families traveling, the time involved is also prohibitive compared to air travel. If you have a long weekend off work or school you don’t want to spend all your time off just getting to your location (much less getting back from it!).\nAdditionally, there is a massive amount of investment into rail infrastructure that’s necessary to improve any existing rail network or to add new lines to create a new network, and all the active lines need to be maintained, evaluated, etc whereas the necessary infrastructure for air travel is largely already in place and being maintained by existing businesses and travelers and expanding air travel don’t have to worry about the terrain on ground level between the two locations. In other words, the marginal cost of a new rail network to a new location is vastly higher than the marginal cost of flying a plane to an airport near that location, and in the US at least, the airports already exist.",
">\n\nIt sounds like the issue is that its uneconomical for private investment and so private companies wont go for it. But is there something about the current US that makes connecting the country by rail again wholly unfeasible or is this just an initial investment issue that makes private business unlikely to act on its own. The government has a lot more resources, after all, and can afford to be much more forward thinking than the average publicly traded company with quarterly reports to worry about.",
">\n\nOh you should see how people drive in the Philippines. I have never seen these mfs crash into eachother even though they drive so fucking close together and is completely legal to speed to drive in front of someone if they’re not going fast enough and even when turning into a road they can go anytime and the other people have to wait for them to get to the other side. It’s also allowed to fit multiple people onto the bed of a truck and it’s so fun. I swear these fuckin drivers have fast mf reflexes. I have NEVER seen a vehicle there with crash damage, at least yet.",
">\n\nHaving driven in South Asia and the US, I don’t think driving is the same everywhere. In the US, you are relying on the boring predictability of things for safety which makes people complacent and not able to react to unique situations. Vs driving in South Asia (and probably SE Asia) is an exercise in being constantly alert and ready to react to every situation. One important distinction is that vehicles in South Asia don’t go nearly as fast as those in the states precisely because of this unpredictability which means more crashes but less fatalities per crash than in the states.",
">\n\nI was getting picked up from the airport by my aunt and she takes this van and makes a left turn (from the right lane) across 4 bumper to bumper lanes of traffic.",
">\n\nJesus",
">\n\nAnd we trust a brightly coloured stripe of paint will keep them on their side.",
">\n\n\"rules\"",
">\n\n\nrules of the road\n\nMore of a suggestion, really.",
">\n\nYou can pay for the privilege to not respect them, technically.",
">\n\nJust like ancient Rome.\nAnd every major civilisation since.",
">\n\nI'm a confident driver, but when I'm on two lane total highways at night I find myself thinking \"dark out, feet away from oncoming trucks is not a very life compatible spot to be\"\nEdit: It makes me a little uncomfortable",
">\n\nYou don’t feel safer at night? I do on a motorcycle, that headlight in the dark is WAY more visible than me on a bike in the middle of the daytime. It’s easy to not be seen, unfortunately.",
">\n\nHello, fellow rider! Have you heard about the Kauppi Weave? When approaching an intersection with someone waiting to turn left across your path, drive right at them and swerve back and forth. it makes your headlight appear to flash, and they'll most likely see you. you don't have to scrape pegs in your weave... a couple feet side to side is plenty.",
">\n\n\nKauppi Weave\n\nThanks for this information. I'll make sure to use this when riding.",
">\n\nWe're trusting the average person not to stray across a painted white line and destroy us and our family.",
">\n\nI‘m just home after a 3 hour drive on which i did some parts with 200km/h ,.. \nI mean yes - super weird - but isn’t life about the risks you take ?",
">\n\nSometimes I think about this while driving down the highway and need to exit and take the back roads.",
">\n\nAlso barely clearing a semi truck’s front end before they cross over in their lane. Stupidity at its finest.",
">\n\nNothing stupider than entering a wagon's braking distance.\nYou're asking to die.",
">\n\nYet, if I hit and kill someone in my semi I’ll go to jail until I’m cleared. And even then I may still get sued.",
">\n\nGoogle an interstate (edit: or motorway, autobahn, etc) in your area with “accident” and the name of your state and be shocked how often huge accidents happen, often with fatalities. I narrowly missed being in one last month and tried to google it when I got home and was shocked to see huge accidents happened on a daily basis.",
">\n\nAbout 43,000 people died in automobile accidents in 2021 (edit: in the US).\nWe just kind of accept it. Crazy.",
">\n\nWhat do you mean we kind of accept it? New cars are safer than ever",
">\n\nOnly safer for their occupants… vehicles are bigger and heavier which is much more dangerous for vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists)",
">\n\nSometimes, when The Anxiety grips me, I remember that the only thing keeping us from chaos is the generally understood laws of politeness and societal standards.\nAs in, the only thing stopping any of us from saying f*ck laws and driving on the wrong side of the road is the knowledge that people don't like when you do that. (And, you know, cops. But cops \"don't like it when you do that,\" so I'm pretending it fits under that umbrella. )\nLaws are fake and society is a veil and the illusion of time is a man made construct and I have a lot of unresolved existential dread.",
">\n\nRemember! Reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeee!",
">\n\nOne time I was riding passenger in a car while I was on acid and I realized the whole system of control for these heavy pieces of metal rocketing at 100 km an hour is painted lines and colored light bulbs\nHaven't been the same since",
">\n\nThat's because people usually respect them, because they don't want to die. Which is usually good motivation for humans.",
">\n\nOr in a lesser severe case injured for life and be in debt for dozens of years.",
">\n\nAnyone that’s seen Final Destination thinks about that shit every single time.",
">\n\nI think about that every time I come up on a logging truck lol",
">\n\nMy 6 year old knows to never drive behind a logging truck",
">\n\nIn EU there is 2-3 seconds rule, you keep your distance in seconds, not meters. You search for an object that car in front of you will pass and you count to 2-3s. If you pass that object under 2s you are too close",
">\n\nOP is talking about the cars going in the opposite direction — it'd be hard to maintain 2s from them at all times",
">\n\nI don't think we have actual highways without a big divider between the sides?\nFastest road without divder i can remeber is 100kmh.",
">\n\nThere are plenty of roads in texas with 70mph speed limits with only a double yellow in between. So everyone drives 75mph (120kmh).",
">\n\nAnd in Texas, they'll put traffic lights on roads like that! Insanity!",
">\n\nGotta love TxDot. Off topic but I applied for a position with the local TxDot, interviewed but didn’t get the job. Few days later the same position is back on the website so I apply again and get another interview, lol. Did both interviews over zoom and the head interviewer had a smirk on her face when I popped into the meeting. Still didn’t get the job, lol. Few weeks later the same position was up again. I applied again but declined another interview. Probably didn’t help that I had asked about something in the job description and they had no idea what I was talking about. They pulled it up during the interview and pointed it out and they were like “oh….that’s not supposed to be in there. That wouldn’t be part of the job.” 🤷♂️",
">\n\nThat's not a thing in Europe. You can only drive at highway speeds on highways, which are roads where a physical barrier is required between lanes of trafic going in opposite directions",
">\n\nAnd literally no one complies. I've had people on European highways be 5 to 10m behind me while going 120km/h",
">\n\nSo what's the problem there? Speed limit on highways varies between 110 to 130",
">\n\nLol i replied to the wrong comment apparently, my bad",
">\n\nWe all can agree on only one thing in this country and that is follow the rules of the road.",
">\n\nSince when do people follow the rules of the road?",
">\n\nThere's rules?",
">\n\nThey be more like guidelines",
">\n\nI always get an involuntary shiver when one passes very close",
">\n\nThe other cars don't bother me, it's the animals running all over the earth at night that scare me. Anytime we head north it's something I plan around. I was driving through south carolina at sunrise and it was like a warzone every few miles. Dead deer everywhere, and vehicles that looked they participated in a Twisted Metal tournament.",
">\n\nDrove back to school one time, counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road within 20 minutes.\nAnd we are not by any forest where it was",
">\n\nI sometimes liken it to Blue Angels flying in close formation. You get three lanes on Highway and every lane is full but moving at speed, yet you are less than 3 feet from the other cars in some lanes. Then there is the the 50mph two-way back roads. Sometimes the center line there rumbles so you are aware you may be riding on it.",
">\n\nOnly thing keeping you alive everyday is the mutual agreement between you and strangers, to stay on your side of a painted line on the the road",
">\n\nSo weird, I learnt to drive pretty late in life and its the most terrifying thing. How do you just trust that the car isn't going to veer off sideways into you, its very stressful overall",
">\n\nNow think about being on a motorcycle. Every time I ride to work I think \"doing 75 between all these cars should feel way more dangerous.\"",
">\n\nThis also bothers me. I used to work 30 kilometers outside of my city in a smaller town for 2 years. The roads leading there were super narrow, with lots of curves, leading through smaller forests, up and down smaller hills with really bad vision etc. etc.\nI always thought if only one idiot decides to overtake an oncoming car on my lane when there's bad vision I have no chance to react. My health basically exposed to thousands of random strangers in the oncoming traffic.\nDidn't help that I worked as a paramedic for those 2 years and saw a few fatal and almost fatal car crashes, often with the 'innocent' driver on the losing end.",
">\n\nI'm a trucker, you'd be surprised just how many people don't seem to care that they're passing a 40 ton metal missile just a few feet away. We can see you watching Netflix while doing your makeup, Deborah",
">\n\nThis is why I never got a driver's license. I wouldn't trust myself behind the wheel. I know there are literal teenagers driving cars but still",
">\n\nI am the same. I have no idea why people are down-voting you.",
">\n\nNot getting a license won't save them from all the people that have one but shouldn't as long as driving is practically a requirement to get most places.",
">\n\nIf they live in Europe, driving isn't a requirement as long as you don't have to go somewhere rural.",
">\n\nThis is why we build dual carriageways (divided highway) and it doesn’t always have to be a motorway or highway to have the lanes separated",
">\n\nIts amazing people are willing to trust the other drivers on the road!",
">\n\nOh, just like that same thought from the other day, just slightly reworded"
] |
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