Plus if you’re walking in the road walk against the flow of cars not with. That way if a drunk driver (or just general asshole) comes swerving down the road you can see it and react.

Fuck around and find out is a pretty shitty attitude towards people sharing a street. Is that the excuse you will give a parent after injuring a kid that chased a ball onto the street? It isn't like this is a highway, people have homes on the street. The street is not exclussively for cars, cars just tend to get the most space and priority.

Walk on the street, fuck around and find out.

Maybe we need to bring back blóðhefnd . If a driver murders someone with their reckless driving, maybe they should live the rest of their life in fear that the surviving kin will do the same to them or their lived ones.

I don't disagree with you on a rational level, but on a human level, it just sometimes feels nice to walk a different route, to not be forced to walk in exactly a straight line, especially with a ridiculously narrow sidewalk like that.

And that's then where the opinion of cars comes in. I'm not supposed to do what I feel like, because some guy with a car decides to head on through. If I think cars are vital to humanity, I'll gladly do the rational thing. If I think cars are killing humanity, then sincerely fuck that noise.

I couldnt disagree more with you. If there are pedestrians nearby you drive slow and keep your distance regardless of where you drive.

The same goes for pedestrians, though. Don't walk where it's not safe, for everyones safety. Like the interstate. It's a shared responsibility.

This, however, is in the middle of a neighborhood where a ball and a kid could come flying at moments notice...

You can fit like 3-4 cars on there. Why not half that space and extend the sidewalk then? You could not walk next to each other on those or pass others, let alone someone in a wheelchair or with a stroller. Or better, have all the cars park outside of the residential areas and use the space for parks, playgrounds, and other leisure stuff.

Comments like this are part of the reason why the rest of us call your delusional state of mind "car brain".

I think it still very much depends where in Europe you do that

I do the same in Japan. Most residential streets don’t have sidewalks so we share them with cars, pedestrians and bicycles. Some of the bigger streets have quite wide sidewalks (one car lane’s width or more) so I would use those.

But in this photo, the sidewalks are minuscule. I especially understand the dog walker choosing the road instead.

I’m happy that my town has started to widen sidewalks and reduce the width of roads to promote more foot traffic in the downtown area.

It's been tried and tested. Human bodies barely slow a car down. It's much better to place something solid, like a concrete block