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Comment by grawprog | Hacker News Reader

I know it's not science, there's no data or anything. But, i've almost been hit as a pedestrian just under 10 times. Every single time it was by either a Mercedes or BMW sedan. My sister was hit by a BMW sedan driver, her back's been fucked ever since. Almost everyone I know that's been involved in an accident as a pedestrian has been hit by either a Mercedes or BMW sedan.

ETA: Seeing as I'm getting downvoted, might as well keep going they've also always inevitably hit and run, or been incredibly rude and scream at you as they almost kill you with their half ton of plastic and metal when they're not paying attention to the road.

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That's an extraordinary amount of times to be struck by vehicles. Are there any unusual factors at play? (You live by a highway, have difficulty walking, live in area with poor traffic enforcement, are visually impaired, etc.?)

Is it? He's describing "almost being hit." That's pretty squishy. I think most people who do a lot of walking or biking could come up with 10 "close calls" for some definition of that term.

Yeah, it's a very fuzzy definitions. By HN/Reddit well to do urbanite standards I've probably "almost" been hit dozens of times. By 1970s construction site standards I've probably never had a truly close call.

Nearly 100% of my close calls have been the result of miscommunicated intentions between me and drivers and none of them have been very close. I generally prefer drivers treat me as invisible and do their thing and I time my moves to not interfere with any of that so inattentive drivers don't increase the threat much for me.

the OP said almost been hit - I've almost been hit by vehicles while walking more times than that, usually because of a vehicle driver breaking the law. that happens a lot.

as far as almost being hit while driving, drive a small car and you'll find out how many large vehicle drivers just don't see you.

Ah, right you are. For some reason I mistakenly read that as him saying he had been actually hit almost ten times.

I'll note that even BMW fans write about how awful many BMW drivers are: https://bimmerlife.com/2020/10/31/study-bmw-drivers-are-the-...

they can (pun intended)

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