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Detroit, 5:20 PM
Sat Nov 7
15 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/13/09
It is the removal of signs and lights that give us a false sense of security. It involves close planning, promoting flow and communication between all forms of traffic. Roundabouts (by design) require you to slow down, thereby eliminating getting t-boned by someone who missed a red light.
Additionally, sitting dead still at (often entirely useless) red lights drives at least me rather batty, and leads to impatience and irritation which can cause accidents.
I have been telling people about the Drachten experiment for years, but I guess I can pipe down now.
10/13/09
10/13/09
They work very good just get some damn balls and do it.
10/12/09
Are his results culturally bound? Will the same or similar results occur in Mumbai? Rio? Los Angeles? Tokyo?
Bad science reporting irks me.
10/13/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
Having had the pleasure of driving on German autobahns and secondary roads, I can agree with a good deal of Bedard's reasoning. Attentive drivers make driving that much better.
10/12/09
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10/12/09
The difference in my perception of time while riding a scooter, where I'm allowed to keep moving for the most part, versus a car where I'm stuck IN traffic is enormous.
Even if its not faster, its still nicer to be moving rather than crawling to stop light after stop light.
10/12/09
10/13/09
Yes, traffic circles are a communist plot. Are you retarded?
Have you ever stopped at a red light and had to wait even though there was no cross-traffic? With traffic circles you merge in and dont' ever have to stop. If that's communism... bring it on.
10/15/09
10/12/09
The last 10 years have seen a woeful disregard for basic civil and traffic engineering. I used to think it was a "Kentucky thing" but when I visit the folks in Chicago, or travel elsewhere, the list of offenses is uniform and interminable:
- Pylons installed to prevent U-turns, or installed to prevent left turns across traffic. Newsflash: if traffic is such that these maneuvers are commonplace and need to be regulated, it speaks to *poor design and planning*, NOT a need for more control devices, which only serve to compound confusion and frustration and relocate stupid maneuvers and accidents a little further up the road.
- New outdoor shopping "pavilions" and "townes" (because "malls" are obsolete) with needlessly curvy access roads that meander behind and around and practically through structures and obstructive landscaping. Because making it difficult to see where intersections, signs, and secondary access roads originate from until it’s too late is a sure-fire way to foster a pleasant shopping experience. Thanks to this crap, I shop at Amazon.
- Speedbumps every 30 yards, where a few designated crosswalks should otherwise suffice. Who's more at fault for this: drivers who speed or pedestrians who jaywalk?
- Stupidly placed and enforced signals. Is this country serious about saving fuel? Then we should not have to sit for two minutes at a red light at a intersection which is completely desolate at 2am.
- Stupidly timed signals 1 - Yeah, everyone bitches anecdotally, but it’s true: you get stopped at one light and chances are you’ll get the rest of them. I’ll admit that taking a measured careful chance and speeding to beat the light has all but assured I made the greens on the rest of them. I don’t like doing it, but to save fuel and become one less vehicle clogging the road for the rest of them, I take the calculated risk. You wanna know what’s worse? No matter how blatant *I* may be, the person behind me follows through 90% of the time! What does *that* say about local respect for offending signals?
- Stupidly timed signals 2 - There is NO REASON a 2 mile commute should take THIRTY minutes, solely because one intersection has to cycle 3 times before you can make your way through it. And it’s not because there’s too much traffic – it’s because there’s too many signals in a 3-mile radius, and they all do the same damn thing!
The list goes on but I’d rant and you otherwise get the idea. Faced with all this nonsense, is it no wonder Road Rage is such a problem, and there’s such disregard for speed limits?
During Crash Week, a video was posted of traffic in Pakistan. Some scary stuff to be sure but what struck me the most was how everyone just seemed to accept it as the status quo and get on their merry way. We could almost do the same here if people would think and show caution and restraint.
But it won’t happen in this country. Because in spite of any and all caution and situational restraint, accidents do happen and humans make innocent mistakes. And innocent mistakes will always cost you dearly - Lawyers see to that.
10/12/09
I completely agree with you.
10/12/09
For some reason he never did that again...at least with me in the vehicle.
Who knows, maybe the lack of signs could work in a more sophisticated society...but I wouldn't count on it.
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
*approximation because i am too scared too look at the speedo
10/12/09
10/13/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
(BTW a large portion of signs are lawsuit avoidance tools - I am a traffic engineer by degree).
To many signs is actually a distraction; and causes wrecks on it's own.
10/12/09
I'm not sure the problem is too many signs, or not enough signs - I think it's just an uneven distribution of signs.
10/12/09
10/12/09
I for one am anxious to see how this pans out...