Carry a brick.
this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2026
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They need proper bollards.
it's cute and all, but the real reason they don't stop is because the authorities aren't enforcing that law effectively. the places where people stop crosswalks do so because they'll get a ticket if they don't.
this may raise awareness, but won't change behavior in the long run.
when i lived more in the city and didn't own a car i would make hard eye contact with drivers when crossing. my logic was that if they kill me I'll at least haunt their dreams with that look.
Cyclists have a name for that and I think it's something like "the life saving look". Usually used when changing lanes or at an intersection.
My goodness do we ever need this in BC
Some places know their drivers and have some serious barriers popping up.
I kind want to see what that does to a car that doesn't stop. Probably rips their front wheels off
There shouldn't be any barriers at railway crossings. Let natural selection win. Do we really want a future full of people who don't have the brains to give way to a train?
The barriers are to guard against the delays, traffic jams and paperwork a crash would cause.
It’s cute but this is from the same province that would rather blame immigrant drivers for road fatalities than the failing, inconsistent infrastructure and terrible driver training.
In Montreal, the drivers are bad enough that turning right on red lights was banned because we couldn’t stop killing pedestrians.
Montréal never banned right on red.
No right on red was the default, then most of Canada enabled right on red in the 1970, but Québec did not. Québec later enabled right on red by default in 2003, but Montréal (island) retained no right on red.
And RToR is bad everywhere. We'veknow it for a long time, but have jsut collectivelydecoded the cost was worth it. Here's an article from Victoira in 1981 talking about it https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107821508/times-colonist-victoria-may-5-1981/
Turning on right policy was never enabled in Montreal. And wtf you going on about blaming immigrant drivers? Source please, because this sounds like some divisive bullshit from the ROC.
Maybe immigrants from the US. I'd believe that they could be worse drivers.
Definitely not my opinion about immigrant drivers being a major source of accidents …our elected officials on the other hand…
Québec restreint l’accès à la possibilité de conduire pour les immigrants
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Yeah literally every time Quebec is brought up people say shit like that it's insane
Because Ontario doesn't test truck drivers, Quebec wanted to ban them.
On paper we test but it's really corrupt and companies are basically given x number of licenses.
I imagine this person took it to thinking they were mad that they are majority immigrants rather than living in Ontario and seeing how unsafe our roads have gotten.
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Many drivers won't stop unless they're forced to by a physical barrier, and some still won't stop. Ever seen those videos from Europe of bus lane bollards that retract when a bus approaches and pop back up again after the bus passes, and the cars wrecked on them? Those are much more solid barriers than these plastic things.
I can already hear the carbrainrotten screaming "But thats dangerous, what if i run into it" as if the danger wasnt their own fault for going too fast and not yielding.
They might get a few scratches from those flimsy flexible plastics but it's not dangerous.
They'll definitely compassion about the possibility for scratches screaming, "that could damage my property!" though.
Make them metal bars that rise up, like those that are placed at the entrance of some stores to deter vehicular raid. That will quickly make them re-evaluate.
Bollards
Thank you! Learned a new word.
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I'd be more worried about them coming back down on pedestrians.
Yeah ofc this specific implementation was just supposed to be an art piece i guess. In practice you just have to use those concrete pillars or ramps that come out of the ground.
In America, everyone would just start carrying a hammer, and any car that didn't stop would get a window or body panel smashed. They'd learn to stop real quick.
lol if you smash somebody's window with a hammer in America you will get shot
Yesterday, driving on a 55mph road in America, I'm the last car in line of cars, nobody behind me.
A truck with two young guys in it pulls out in front of me, going the same direction as me. They get on the gas but not quickly enough, and only up to like 50mph.
They easily could've waited an extra 10 seconds and let me pass, and been in nobody's way. But no.
I let off the gas and cover the brake, and I passive aggressively coasted up behind them, maybe one or two car lengths away. Too close to be safe, I won't stay there for more than a few moments. But to me, it lets them know they did something dumb and inconvenienced me. Not the best move but whatever.
Their response? The passenger looks over his shoulder, flips me the bird, while the driver simultaneously slams on his brakes, annoyed that I'm tailgating them, trying to get me to rear-end them.
I slam on my brakes, and they speed up and drive off.
I didn't pursue it any further, it's not worth it. Honestly, me riding up on them probably wasn't worth it. But it boggles my mind how crazy people are these days.
Years ago, I had a big toddler-killer sized truck tailgating me on icy roads because I wouldn't go over the speed limit. He had his brights on, absolutely searing my retinas because his truck was so tall.
I didn't brake check him. When I found a safe spot to do so, I just pulled over and let him pass.
But I couldn't help myself, when I pulled back onto the road, I flashed my brights at him from behind. A small screw you for tailgating and blinding me.
The dude locked up all four tires, skidded to a halt, got out of his truck and started walking back towards me with his arms in the air screaming "you want to ducking go?!?"
He was wearing military camo, might've been on reserve, there was a base in the area.
I just put my hands up in the air and shook my head no. After a moment, he yelled "that's what I ducking thought!" And gets back in his truck and tears off.
So yes, from a guy living in America... If you road rage here, you're chances of getting shot, or at least beaten up, are high. Better to let the idiots do what they want, and pretend it doesn't bother you.
Yup. I was travelling down there and passed a tractor trailer on the highway. This apparently pissed them off enough to tailgate me and eventually trying to run me off the road.
Y'all are insane.
You're a nation of poorly-educated emotionally-stunted uncivil toddlers with guns. And it's all Russia's fault.
That's giving Russia a bit too much credit.
Only enforcement will help. And consequences.
There are plenty of structural changes that can help.
Raised crosswalks are a major one.
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Except that it will take much more than this to 'motivate' any car brain here to actually stop. Those stopping for pedestrian crossings here are the exception. So much so that some towns "don't know what to do" about it and ask pedestrians to wave orange flags to cross busy streets.
Carry a closed umbrella and hold it out in front of you as you approach the crossing.
This triggers the car brain's panic button, since it would scratch their paint if they hit it, which is much, much worse than endangering a human.
I had to calm myself down when I realized how right you were and how fucked up that is.
I'm sorry if this uncalms you again, but I find it hilarious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ0HBd_u-Fs
Really shows that drivers do see you approaching a crosswalk but just decide to ignore you, unless you equalize the power imbalance.
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Imagine if all painted infrastructure did this haha.
Right at the end there it shows a side effect of this installation that by itself is useful in bringing the cars to a reasonable speed when approaching the crosswalk every time, not just when there's a pedestrian: the crossing is raised.
Off the top of my head I can't remember how common raised crossings are in Montréal, but they are effective. This demonstration is quite fun though, I was expecting a bunch of body guards to pop out and create a wall across the roadway and the instant fence caught me off guard.
Just For Laughs gags meets traffic engineering.
Raised crosswalks weren't too common in most burroughs of Montréal when I left, but alternative road surfaces for slower zones we're gaining popularity.
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