Albert Edwards Is Worried America Is ‘Gripped By An Epidemic Of Stoned Pedestrians Stepping Into Traffic’
SocGen's Albert Edwards is worried about an alarming rise in US pedestrian fatalities.
Specifically, he was recently "shocked" to discover that 2016 and 2017 were the most "deadly years for US pedestrians" in more than a quarter century. Fatalities among people just wandering around have apparently jumped more than 25% since 2012.
What accounts for this rather disconcerting phenomenon which, taken at face value, appears to suggest that walking down the street is significantly more dangerous
While in San Francisco stoned pedestrians are oblivious to traffic, I think nationwide the biggest cause of the increase in pedestrian deaths is people walking in front of cars while absorbed in their cell phones.
While the argument is valid for both cell and weed uses contributing to pedestrian-vehicle events, there are cultural issues at play in the USA. In a large part of the world the attitude and actions are “Humans before machines”. If a crosswalk is marked, vehicles are required to yield to the human regardless of the traffic control signal.
On the other hand, in the USA, the merging traffic yields to the through traffic.
Both are symptomatic of the Fed, and of the USA as a whole, in the 21st century – confused as to old Boomers complaining and those in the prime of their life wanting to get on with living well.