On Thu, 12 Apr 2018 08:29:50 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

Video is dramatic.

Never been to LA; looking at this and related articles it seems that
similar rageful inidents are on the upswing. We've had an increase in
car-pedestrian collisions locally. I am not sure if we've seenthe same
intentional harming by drivers but there have been a number of
well-publicized hit-and-runs. A few years ago a law was passed
requiring drivers to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, whether marked
as such or not. When walking I find that feels much less safe because
some cars stop and some don't. The law was well-intentioned and aimed
at reducing injuries, but it seems to have had the opposite effect.

There's been something of an upswing in car-pedestrian injuries in
particular. Car-bike injuries are less frequent and it's harder to
identify trends with (thankfully) few data points- just one such
accident increases or decreases the numbers by 20-25%. Good if we can
keep it that way.

https://tinyurl.com/stpaulcar-ped-bike

Looking at the LA story, it seems as though the driver left the scene
and then came back, speeding through a red light and striking the victim
as well as nearly striking others. Does that make it intentional under
the law (vehicular assault or something like that)? I know nothing
about California law.

I also question the vigil blocking the public throughfare. Seems to me
that the point of the vigil could be made without that. Dunno, I guess
I am inclined to support civil disobedience rather than civil
disruption. We had some of that a couple of years ago with a prolonged
Black Lives Matter protest in front of the governor's mansion. That was
fine and I thought effective as well (although I know many people who
were annoyed by it and thought it should have been suppressed after a
day or two, which I didn't understand- it's the protesters' time to do
with as they choose); subsequently blocking an interstate highway in
protest was not (that highway has a troublesome history within the local
black community, so I get why the action was taken but IMHO it was not
helpful to their cause to do so).