Does Car Dependence Worsen Police/Public Relations? 

The more you think about it, the more you realize how much money loss and stress the car dependency causes

4:35 about that, you would’nt have much “drunk drivers” if one was actually able to walk/take transit to bars and pubs.

I'm looking forward for all the things surrounding urban planning, that I never thought of. Also tip: I recommend moving the microphone further from your pc, we can constantly hear the cooling

My local cops use bicycle ridership as a proxy for criminality and substance abuse. I've been stopped and questioned by police for nothing more than riding my bike to an early morning job. I've also been harassed by police for cycling even though I have a valid license, most likely because they associate it with the kind of low moral character that poses a threat to society.

sadly, most police forces have ticket quotas they HAVE to meet each month, because that's one of the only ways to collect taxes in these car-centric hellholes. car dependent city design is one of the most effective ways to make a city wildly unprofitable and bankrupt. Not Just Bikes has some amazing videos that go really deep into how/why, for those who like seeing the numbers

I thought about this when riding the light rail in Minneapolis. Originally being from New York, I am used to seeing police regularly patrolling on foot around the streets day and night, and in the subway. I only noticed when I was in Minneapolis that I only saw the police sitting in their cars, hundreds of feet away from stations. There is definitely a human element of having the police walking around like you, on foot, and not in their chaos-free surveillance box. I do not think it is a coincidence that compared to most other American cities, the NYPD generally has much better relations with the public.

I walk around my neighborhood park multiple times a week for the last four years, due to that activity I have met many people of all races and nationalities in my neighborhood on a friendly basis. If police would do the same thing for their foot patrols throughout the city throughout each state in our country they would develop comraderie with the citizens due to familiarity.

Every time I see downtown Chicago now I get pissed at how car-centric it is. Chicago is a beautiful city with great urbanism and for some reason they push pedestrians to the margins of streets and bridges. Streets should be opened back up to the people. Cars do not need to go down every block. Also get rid of the waterfront highway. Traffic will not reroute-- it will evaporate.

Before anything else, I do not agree with unarmed traffic enforcement in any circumstances, especially with the amount of guns in civilian hands in the US. With that said, I think car dependency also hurts the officers too. It insulates them from the community they serve, making them less familiar with the area and people they’re looking after. Additionally, admittedly, cars can be used as weapons, as seen with many suspects who have tried to run over or drag officers with their vehicles. Finally, one of the largest causes of line of duty deaths among law enforcement are vehicular accidents (them crashing their own car, another car hitting their car, getting run over by a car, etc).

You wouldn't need traffic cops if there wasn't traffic. Makes sense. However I do believe that it's only a bandaid fix for what amounts to a major wound in the system. It will require a 'surgery' of sorts to fix.

Hey! Totally random comment but I think I hear your AC in the background a lot. It doesn't interfere with the message in any way at all but if you'd want to make it less heard for cheap, you could try to record your audio from a wardrobe (provided your microphone setup allows for it). The hanging clothes act as a surprisingly good noise dampening apparatus and also helps with reverberation for basically no cost. Thank you for creating awesome content!

Watching this channel feels a bit like if Joe Pera started an urbanism channel (because of the tempo and tone of delivery, so calming :-)). Love it!

As a Dutchman, I don't really have a lot of negative encounters with the police since our police are a bit more normal, but I can imagine how being on a bike would make you less of a target for the police.

Thanks for stating the obvious. There is a connection between car dependency & police Brutality in N. America. I have noticed cops on bikes in the community they work are more human conscious & relatable to the ppl in that community because they interact more with those ppl without having to stop them or interrupt their day to day lives

Without cars and drugs in society, the police would have very little to do.

Your 100% right, and I think that needing to drive is stupid, I hate driving as well

There's, I think 117 deaths per 100,000 people in America compared to like Australia with like 20 so there's lots of work to be done. Here's a in the moment proposal what if when Congress says a state of emergency gun manufacturers can have loosen restrictions, so you can still get your ability to overthrow the government with your own guns to prevent tyrant governments, I think that's the point of guns right.

Cars are another weapon for cops to use, either to target a moving vehicle or pedestrian perp. In both cases, maneuvers like that put the public at risk, ie: running over protesters and unnecessary car chases. The former is actually a good microcosm of the car vs. person problem and has carried over to non-police officers as well, not getting charged for running over unarmed persons in their multi-ton metal speed machine under the excuse of "not feeling safe". Almost like that is a constant feeling when using car-centric modes of transit, even when in a car. Also, as an aside, even discounting car chases, cops are extremely distracted drivers given the amount of computers and chatter in their cars, and frequently get into accidents - the biggest killer of cops btw. Because of the cops' relationship with the media, it's not very well-documented (they're not going to self-report, after all). If we're going to get anything with increased surveillance as a means to try and curb dangerous driving infractions, we should at least get rid of squad cars to save money, the environment, and the lives of minority groups.

is it a joke, police is enforcing traffic laws? are you kidding me? so why are these killer drivers are speeding and being totally lawless, if you hit a pedestrian as a driver no one will charge you, instead they will find something against the dead victim. this a joke not a law enforcement

I think one of the biggest mistakes police departments made was stopping cops from walking a beat. And cops shouldn't be ticketing for a light out or something else minor. And I agree Mr. Davies....I could own a car again, but I don't. I think it's ridiculous. So much easier just to Uber when I have to. But I do work from home like many others so I was happy to eliminate the expense. $650 payment. $150 insurance and $250 for gas and for what? The 10 or times I needed it. I did the cost comparison and it saves me $350 monthly by eliminating my car. That's $4,200 annually now going into my retirement fund. And that was using UBER and LYFT ALOT.

Cars aren't the problem. Traffic stops exist all over the world but the US seems to have such awful outcomes. I don't live in the US but it astounds me that there are 18,000 police agencies across the country. That's potentially 18,000 different modus operandi. That is the core problem. Police training varies by agency and takes mere weeks in the US to become an officer compared to years in some countries. In Germany, it can take up to 4 years akin to getting a bachelor's degree. Furthermore, there are hardly any police regulatory bodies, with actual powers, that the public can liaise to address police accountability when things go awry. For example, England has the Independent Office for Police Conduct, not aligned to any force, that oversees the system for handling complaints. I'm not sure if similar exists at state level. Lastly, my home country of Zimbabwe went through a period of draconian roadside policing. A new guy came in power, issued mandates on how police should treat citizens on traffic stops and police behaviour changed in a short space of time. This is mainly because the policing system is centralised with a clear reporting mechanism for accountability. That said, the system is not perfect but the desire to be is a good step.

Additionally, if you are tasked with policing a city you don't have casual contact with people in cars so you end up having to pull them over on pretext if you suspect something is amiss, but you have close contact with those walking and riding bikes around you. Smiling and saying good morning to someone as you pass them is a lot lower stakes than a traffic stop. I agree that cars raise both the tension between the public and police as well as the risk for those policing.

Yes because once you get behind the wheel of the car and get on the road the state owns your ass!

I was talking about this the other day and then I find this video

I recently got fined 15 Euro by a police officer. I rode a motorised vehicle (electric scooter) on the sidewalk (missed the point where the bike lane moved to the road). Of course nobody *likes* to get a citation but it was, all things considered, a pleasant interaction. I saw the policewoman pull up on her motorbike, stopped, and she told me what I did wrong, showed understanding ("I wouldn't dare be on that road on such a vehicle either"), and told me how to prevent it in the future ("we won't pull you over if it's a busy road and you're using muscle power on the sidewalk, you must be on the road or bike lane if you're going to use the engine").

I never had problems with the police while driving, nor did my friends. I admittedly was very cautious about driving. And I checked my lights every day. This came about from the fact that I was a safety writer at a chemicals plant, where we kept blown-up facilities around for upwards a decade to remind workers to constantly check details. However, when using public transportation, I noticed that there was seldom security, nor police, on buses or in transit cars.

I currently live in Europe. Just before leaving the usa i got a ticket that i couldn't afford to pay at the that is bow 600 dollars. It constantly made me fear going to prison sbd put this huge financial burden on me. I think its crazy to think about the values of the founding farthers of the usa when we realize that we essentially live in a country with strict law enforcement for minor expenses all while being forced to drive this creates a big disparity between classes and leads to higher crime

Honestly, cars or no cars, the police's relationship with the public will always be less than average and it's well deserved.

Can we get a piece on the link between car dependence and criminality. Cars are just the ultimate accessory for committing a crime- you can go anywhere and blend in, you are concealed behind a steel cage, a car is a weapon as you could easily use one to commit a mass killing in an urban area, they go well with guns- look at how many drive-by shootings you get in places like LA and Chicago, they are great for kidnapping people, you can roll up, grab someone and turn the radio up and be away before anyone can react and because cars cause urban decay and stress, they make people more likely to commit crimes! There must be a link!

I got caught for walking too late at night. For real. I was walking in the dark in my community and a sheriff deputy shines bright spotlights on me and gets out of his cruiser and stops me and asks why I am walking at night. I said because I like to walk around the block when it is cool outside. I live in Florida so it is only cool at night. He asked for my I.D., he asked where I lived, he asked all sorts of questions. I had committed no crime so he let me go. My crime was taking a walk.

"Car dependence". How about a car being a residence .The only kind more and more Americans can barely afford .As stupid a society as any can be.

fear of the police because they might fine you for breaking the law? really? a lack of traffic stops (as seen in cities such as minneapolis, where you live) is a complaint from many

You under estamate how TV shows like Cops attract adrenaline Junkies

STROBE LIGHT WARNING BETWEEN 1:45 AND 2:29

Totally Agree!

I HATE DRIVING SO MUCH

I agree with it

For your point about innocuous causes. Many of these lead to the officer discovering more severe violations, which in turn sometimes end badly, because bad people tend to react in bad ways. I'm not defending the cops, I hate most laws as most are not rational, but most of the deadly encounters happens because of the person in the car doing something obviously wrong like stepping out of the vehicle against orders, or reaching for something, not because of the cop being aggressive or trigger happy.

Extremely enlightening viewpoint for which I now completely agree. Wow.

This was a really interresting aspect that I havent considered!

Step one: Focus more on turbo roundabouts.

Poor policing strategy is the problem,

The way to solve this is just dont drive bad

The air freshener thing wasn't true. The kid involved in that incident didn't have valid tags and he fought the police. It's no excuse for the police officer pulling the wrong weapon but you get what you pay for. The kid would still be alive if he didn't fight/don something stupid which is how most people end up dead on TC's.

Good thoughts here. I feel much more comfortable when I see officers on foot or on bicycles. This puts them at the same level as me, and I feel like I could talk to them if necessary. I do not feel well represented when they go speeding down my street in their SUV's.

We generate most of our departments cash to the city with traffic stops and parking tickets. So I'm fine cutting up to millions from the city coffers and thus cut programs for poor families and upkeep. You don't seem to have any problems removing funds so now put it back

Very confused on how we get on police for enforcing laws when we were the ones to knowingly break them? We knew we went 5, 10, 15 over, had a taillight out and couldn’t afford the ticket yet still did the action we knowingly knew came with a risk of a ticket..yet we blame the police for it. We get mad at police if they don’t excuse our actions. Is this from a lack of self accountability that is ongoing in our world? Where we call police a-holes for the actions WE did but then expect to turn around and hold them accountable like we just didn’t get mad at someone for holding us accountable. That would be a good video..

I think eventual police abolition is the best way forward but ending car-dependency on the way there would also help

Is this whole channel just painting a negative picture of U.S cities?