• AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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    11 hours ago

    In a civilised country, driving would be reserved for those capable of doing so safely and efficiently (the qualifications would be on a par with certifications for operating similarly powerful industrial machinery, and would not be graded on a curve to ensure a car-dependent society can function), but infrastructure would be designed so that one could live a full life without driving.

    • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
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      10 hours ago

      What’s worse is that WAY too many people have no option BUT to drive

      That’s exactly why it’s treated as a right. Can’t drive?Can’t live.

      • BmeBenji (he/him)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        10 hours ago

        Wow what a bummer that trains, buses, bikes, electric scooters, and every other mode of rapid, inexpensive transportation has been un-invented. Those would have been really useful literally every moment since they were first invented. If we had those we could treat driving like it was the most dangerous thing people do every day, which it is.

        My point is that driving is essential only because the people in power have unilaterally decided that it must be, and fuck them for that.

        • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
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          10 hours ago

          No, I get it, the problem the way we’ve chosen to build society, but now that it is the way it is, judges and juries are reluctant to ban someone from working and buying groceries for anything less than a prison sentence…

          Like it’s pretty crazy to me that the State (USA) can seize you car if you transport drugs with it, but not if yoU literally run over a human being. People with multiple violations and triple-suspended licenses still get to keep their cars.

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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        9 hours ago

        I wanted to make a joke about how the American brain simply lacks the part that enables manual locomotion, but our cities straight up do not allow for it. If I cycled to work, it would take me an hour to get there and an hour to get home. I’d love to live within cycling distance of work, but I don’t make enough money to rent in that area, let alone buy

        Our cities are deeply unwell, and I don’t think it’s possible to fix them

  • Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    Everyone has the right to drive, provided they can show the required level of skill and competence to do so.

    Unfortunately, unskilled and incompetent describes far too many drivers.

    • vodka@feddit.org
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      23 hours ago

      Nobody should have a right to drive on public roads, they should have a right to prove that they deserve the privilege, and the privilege should be revoked a lot more than it is today.

  • vapordays@leminal.space
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    1 day ago

    In addition to what a lot of others have said already, in a more egalitarian society most people wouldn’t have to drive

    And yeah, equal rights doesn’t mean anyone can just do anything

    • BillyClark@piefed.social
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      2 days ago

      Yes, and it’s especially obvious with the example of driving. Driving is a licensed activity where you have to pass a competency test before you’re allowed to drive without supervision.

      I’ve had the thought that a lot more things should be licensed with a competency test. Like, for example, I don’t know… This is just off the wall and completely random, but maybe a person who runs for President of the United States should have to pass the same exam that people take as part of the process of becoming citizens. Probably the presidential candidates should take a much harder test, but that would require a lot of oversight to make sure the test isn’t made to eliminate specific candidates.

  • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    everyone should have equal rights but me. i deserve special rights (a personal hole in the ground to crawl into for crying)

    • Aneb@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Honestly as a bicyclist I feel cars are way to powerful for regular people. Ebikes are great, fast and small

    • iocase@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      Trains and trams.

      God I wish… It costs me $250 a month for my car and I own the fucking thing (if you include maintenance costs) so I drive to work twice a day, five times a week, and try to get errands done during my return commute. I might drive once or twice on the weekend, and there are about 4.4 weeks per month on average. That means I spend $5.28 every time I drive. That is WAY MORE THAN TRANSIT COSTS!! Especially if we spent the money we spend on roads and cars, instead on trams or busses

      For reference I also pay for car centric stuff through my utility bills. 10-30% of my utilities might be effectively me paying for the externality of ripping up roads to replace buried infrastructure, that then needs to be paid for AGAIN using my taxes when potholes form over prior ground disturbance, and paid for AGAIN when the road fails early and needs to be ripped up to fix the subgrade.

  • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I was at my first gun show with an older friend who knew guns better than I did who I was following around to keep me from making any stupid decisions.

    There’s a table with a sign for “Constitutional Carry,” where they don’t think you should need a special license to concealed carry a handgun.

    My friend walks up to these two guys at the table, and says “Hey, just so you know, I hope you guys fail.”

    The younger of the two kind of bristles, but the older one, a dude with a long white beard, says “Oh, why?”

    My friend says “Because I worked in a gun shop for fifteen years, and I helped fill out more concealed carry applications than I can count and…” at this point she gestures around at the huge room behind us, “I wouldn’t trust 95% of the people in this room with any gun at all.”

    And the old dude behind the table smiles and nods his head and says “Yeah, that’s a fair point.”

    So anyway, that’s the day I bought a Ruger GP-100 in 357 Magnum.

        • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          “Wonderwall” is a song that’s very easy to learn on guitar so the meme is that bad guitar players will bust out a guitar and subject you to their bad rendition of the song at inappropriate times when nobody asked for a performance.

          • Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            15 years ago me and a buddy were shooting pool in a local bar, maybe a dozen total people in there. Some I finished taking guitar lessons last month douche was playing acoustic in there and it’s the same list of basic songs you’d expect. Partway through his set he was giving the usual platitudes, suggesting tips and saying we’re a great crowd, then says “So anybody wanna hear Your Body is a Wonderland?”

            At the same time we both casually said No.

            He was some college age kid in jeans, a white v-neck tshirt and a Glock on his belt…in a bar.

        • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          man with gun go “bang bang bang”. man with guitar goes “bang bang bang”. one with gun the other with instrument.

          1000004017

  • Underwaterbob@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    In the immortal words of George Carlin: “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?”

  • mushroommunk@lemmy.today
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    2 days ago

    Solid public transport would fix a lot of that but Ford and GM gonna Ford and GM.

    People go “ooh, a trolley car!”, when’s the last time you heard anyone go “Ooh, a Lyft”?

      • mushroommunk@lemmy.today
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        2 days ago

        I don’t, I actually got that from my friend who’s son is obsessed with trolleys right now. I’ll have to check them out of that’s a philosophy they jive with

        • PhatalFlaw@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Definitely do check him out, he’s dry humor about cities’ unique challenges and wins for mass transit. On Nebula or any of the YouTube variants

    • MintyFresh@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      As a bus driver, hard disagree! There’s people who will wait at a bus stop, wait in line to board the bus, and only then will they spend 5 minutes digging through their pockets or bags for fare.

      Or ask where the bus is going, expecting me to tediously list out all the places this bus goes, and when asked the very reasonable question"where are you trying to get to?" Become cagey and refuse to answer. Then ask the same vague and open ended questions.

      These people should report to the nearest artillery practice range asap

      • Axolotl@feddit.it
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        1 day ago

        Usually when someone asks “where the bus goes?” they mean the last stop of the bus, but maybe it’s just in my place idk

      • Rakonat@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Never understood why bus stops didn’t have little kiosks to buy a ticket there, like train stations do.

        • SorryQuick@lemmy.ca
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          1 day ago

          Too expensive. Most bus stations are basically just a sign, sometimes you also get an ad poster and a shelter. Bringing kiosks would imply setting up electricity and internet. When you could instead just make a phone app.

      • Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone
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        1 day ago

        Those are solvable problems though, there’s plenty of busses who don’t accept change already. You can add ticket ‘vending machines’ and have better signage for this.

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I like the ones we have around here waiting at the bus stops on our main boulevard which is a perfectly straight road you can see up and down for about a mile and a half in either direction, but who will stand out in the travel lanes and craaaane their necks in this ridiculous pose apparently hoping this will allow them to see the bus coming sooner.