Holly shit, there is even one riding the sidewalk while on the phone!
So does paying the fine give one the right to drive on the sidewalk?
I regularly cross a major intersection where drivers zip through red lights, frequently without slowing down, although once a guy did roll down his window and yell at me to get out of the street. I’ve thought about getting in their way, but, after a co-worker was hit by one of those jackasses, the idea lost its appeal.
These guys are very brave. They stand up against the oncoming cars, and keep standing up against belligerent drivers.
I’ve fantasized about doing a similar thing here in New Jersey except in crosswalks and pushing a stroller full of cinder blocks in front of me.
Better strategy: precariously carry an open bucket full of red paint. Act distracted.
I appreciate the sentiment but if I were to go into this line of work I’d use a reliable tool for shredding tires to slow the cars down (nails? glass? improvised spike strips?) instead of my body.
No more, I’d think, than paying a ticket in the U.S. for going through a Stop sign gives one the right to go through Stop signs.
Caltrops. Ordinarily not, because cyclists & pedestrians, but I don’t think the caltrops would be their biggest worry there. You could paint the Caltrops red for peds at least. And possibly intimidation.
Seems like you could come up with a spiky thing with a protective cover that only depressed under something heavy.
The techno breakdown made my day.
High Energy!
55 gallon barrel in the middle of the “sidewalk” - optionally filled with water or rocks.
While kind of impractical the Czech Hedgehog would be effective in keeping cars of the sidewalk. It helped keep German tanks out of Moscow.
This is a nice change of pace from the Russian videos that show pedestrians hurling themselves in front of vehicles for the insurance. But clearly the fine is not enough to prevent people from doing it. 2000 rubles is just a little over $58.That’s less than the fine here for driving in the HOV lane without HO, and that’s an escalating fine structure the more often you do it … “Northern Virginia HOV Lane Fines: First offense: $125; Second offense: $250 plus 3 points on your driving record; Third offense: $500 plus 3 points on your driving record; Fourth offense: $1,000 plus 3 points on your driving record.”
I am astonished how many times you can hear the activists say pajalster and spassiba, even spassiba bolschoi.
I say hoorrah for them. Three times even.
If you respect the rule of law, it may seem a particularly sociopathic attitude, but the culture in Russia may be different. I couldn’t tell whether the driver baldly advanced this view.
Norther Virginia also tacks on fees in addition to fines for certain traffic offenses, but since i don’t drive, I don’t pay enough attention to tell you how automatic these additional fees might be. Last I heard, they were extortionate.
The world is full of people braver than I.
Here in Poland (Krakow) I don’t normally see people driving on the sidewalk - maybe jumping a corner when squeezing by - but usually if they don’t want cars parking on the sidewalk they need metal posts, chains, etc to keep the cars off.
Anyway, these guys are definitely braver than I would be - anyone driving on the sidewalk already has a sense of entitlement that isn’t going to be easily deflated by some plebs walking in the “I’m special!” lane.
That would be effective, even as zigzagging shrubbery. (Didn’t see any tanks in the video.)
Another design improvement might be raising the height of the sidewalk. At first, I thought the pedestrian lane was just described on the pavement, like the bicycle lanes are here. Then I saw the cars edging on and off the curb, with much less turbulence than most of the parking lot exits here would impose. How high are those curbs?
I can’t believe that’s the design of a path meant for pedestrians next to car traffic. It’s like Rob Ford has a Russian doppelganger.
