San Franciscans and New Yorkers have a lot in common when it comes navigating the mess of threatening autos on the streets. In my neighborhood near Polk Street, I've recently noticed a lot more aggressive drivers skirting the law, blocking crosswalks, failing to yield, and honking for no good reason.
In this latest Streetfilm from my colleague Clarence Eckerson, Streetsblog publisher Mark Gorton hits the streets of New York to illustrate how rampant the violations are, every day, every hour, in nearly every corner of the city:
Gorton points out that most drivers are not bad or mean people, but few seem to realize how their conduct behind the wheel inconveniences and endangers pedestrians. It's a level of rudeness and carelessness that we tend not to tolerate in other spheres of life, especially when you consider the risks involved in piloting a multi-ton vehicle. New Yorkers can get brusque or nasty on the subway, but you rarely see straphangers engage in behavior that poses an immediate danger to the people around them. So what is it about driving a car that lets people disregard the safety of others?
