Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/02/pedestrian-safety-bricks-surprising-crosswalk-hack.html
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So, you’re threatening to throw the brick if they don’t stop for you? 
Is that the idea?
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Yes, I believe that’s the implication.
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I don’t know if that’s gonna work out how they think? Someone is gonna see someone crossing with a brick, get really pissed off that they’re being “threatened” and mow someone down… 
A brick could crack a window or put a dent in a car, but it’s not gonna stop said car from driving over you, with a sufficiently angry hot-head. I assume that at least some of us remember back in the summer of 2020, and how there were some incidents of BLM protesters getting run through, including in at least one case, on a highway by a big rig.
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I’m in Vancouver right now and finding the drivers so much more considerate than back in the UK. They give way, stop at junction, even use their indicators - it’s freaky!
The only aberration is the large number of middle aged ladies in white Teslas who don’t think rules about pedestrian crossings apply to them.
Cool idea about the bricks though.
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When you’re a vulnerable traffic participant, you’ve got to worry about both inattentive/distracted motorists and psychopaths. I can easily imagine the brick will help focus the attention of the former group.
You’re probably right that carrying a brick will incite the psychopaths, but distracted drivers probably outnumber them 500:1. You’ve got to play the odds.
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They could implement this with wrenches too?
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Somehow, I don’t think this will get the attention of the distracted drivers, since they’re already distracted… rather it seems like it could just compound the problem faced by pedestrians by setting off the easily enraged…? 
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That’s why I grab a shopping cart in the parking lot on my way into a store.
Distracted drivers might not care about hitting a squish pedestrian, but hitting a shopping cart has the potential to damage their car.
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Those bricks look a lot like they’re made of foam, and don’t sound bricky when clunked back into the box. Surely this was an April Fool’s prank?
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And has deniability. Smart!
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I see, my daughter is supposed to put the brick into the basket on the other side of the street, not her backpack. I’ll let her know right away…
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My dad literally did this in Vancouver, around 1940. Car hit him in a X walk, scraped him off on a construction hoarding. Dad grabbed a nearby brick and threw it through the car’s rear window.
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Someone did a study of the way cyclists were treated in traffic some years ago. They tried various sorts of high-visibility and reflective clothing. None of it improved the way motorists drove around cyclists.
The one thing that did help? Jerseys with the word POLITE in block letters across the back. It was hypothesized that people were misreading that as POLICE. People will see something if it’s in their interest to see it.
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Then perhaps that’d be more effective than this for pedestrians?
But honestly, the long-term solution that cities need to implement is finding ways to cut down on cars inside pedestrian/bike heavy areas. I’m primarily a driver, and would love to see swaths of major cities just entirely given over mostly to pedestrians and bikes within city limits. Much more pleasant for everyone, honestly. If drivers were forced to park and find other means of getting to desired destinations within a city (concert venue, restaurant, museum, historical district, what have you), it might also make them more considerate when they are driving…
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Horse riders here in suburban Manchester have hi-vis jackets with POLITE on them. I’m always impressed by how clever that is.
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This is a thoughtful and amusing prank, highlighting the daily violence done to pedestrians by vehicles, and pointing out the shock caused by a very small reversal of the threat of this violence.
Also, it’s basically just showing how quickly we’re getting to endorsing the tyre spikes idea.
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Cars are required to yield at a zebra crossing, just as in many US states the law is that pedestrians have the right of way.
I think the “take a brick, leave a brick” idea has some merit in locations where this seems to be forgotten, as brick wielding walkers would certainly be more noticed.
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