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Comment by maxerickson | Hacker News Reader

Is your position that the outcome is strictly a result of the marketing campaign?

As car ownership increased, it seems possible that norms would change a bit.

The way I see it, as a new technology builds momentum it starts to accumulate power in many ways. Control of the narrative is just one piece of that.

I think of it as a long term negotiation with society about what we are all willing to sacrifice for the conveniences of a new technology.

I don't think that negotiation ever ends, either. It just evolves with the tech. Robert Moses exuberantly covered New York City with highways during the mid 20th century. Each new bridge and highway he built induced demand for more cars. So, every road was clogged as soon as it opened. And his answer was always to build more roads.

Moses built a base of power that depended in part on revenue from toll booths. But, some of his projects were disastrous for communities and should not have ever happened. Because of his fixation on cars, and because of how he was benefitting from cars, he was unable to recognize that a city's transportation infrastructure must be balanced between different modes.

Personal cars are almost the least ideal form of transportation for a dense city and for intercity traffic. But once the power around a single technology becomes locked in, it can freeze the negotiation around it and the power structures can safely ignore any further resistance.

"Norms" are not equal throughout the world. I live in Zürich(but I'm not from here) where the city is not totally dominated by car traffic. They are actively trying to get rid of cars from the city centre.

I frequent the UK. They literally put up BARRIERS around crossings to make it difficult for pedestrians to "jaywalk". I can hardly believe it!

Is it your position that these differences are due to marketing?

Pedestrians can cross anywhere in the UK, except motorways. The barriers near crossings is likely to funnel nearby pedestrians to that one spot to cross, rather than spreading out, as it's usually at a traffic light or intersection.

Yes, I understand the point of the funnel. They are pedestrian hostile.

Ironically, they make it more difficult to “jaywalk” safely, as they block the easiest place to cross, forcing pedestrians to cross at a cross junction typically.

Railings give drivers the feeling that the road belongs to them, so they go faster. Pedestrians have to walk further, or they start climbing over the barriers. I think the UK has been gradually removing these barriers for the last 20 years.

Interesting note ... a 2017 review of 70 London sites where Transport for London removed railings found serious and fatal pedestrian injuries fell 53% in the three years afterwards compared with the three years before.

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/pedestrian-railings-removal-repor...

> As car ownership increased, it seems possible that norms would change a bit.

I remember a time when "internet addiction" was a thing.

Then everyone got smart phones and social media and now you rarely hear about internet addiction anymore.

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