Daft Road Planners - Or Whoever Thought It Up :red Card

[kme]

Latest idea for slowing down traffic :red card

As you approach a roundabout, your side of the road, and the other side, "spread out" - yes? Creating a triangle of land between them?

As per:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=624&tbm=isch&tbnid=ZJdn6djVTdaXfM:&imgrefurl=http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/northampton_will_be_the_rounda.html&docid=z9yj_3rATC9bzM&imgurl=http://media.masslive.com/breakingnews/photo/120109-northampton-roundabout-drawingjpg-03848f202cb16ced_large.jpg&w=432&h=269&ei=BnInUojlFYSk0AWv5oGgCw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:34,s:0,i:193&iact=rc&page=2&tbnh=177&tbnw=270&start=17&ndsp=23&tx=162&ty=72

Now; suppose someone was to install 2.5 metre high fencing down the centre of that triangle.......as you approach the roundabout, you lose sight of ALL traffic on it to your right. So you have to come to an almost complete standstill, before continuing - even if there is no traffic there.

~What daft idiot sat behind a desk thought THAT one up????? In the days of increasing fuel prices, and whinges about pollution - we force everyone to slow to a crawl, then speed up again - for no good reason I can fathom.

Grrrr. Rant over

 

[MeFil]

I remember watching a programme about risk. They were talking about unmanned level crossings. If I recall properly they removed all the sight obstuctions from around the level crossing because it was thought it would reduce accidents. In fact accidents increased. They then installed fencing, blocking the view of the tracks, and the accident rate was dramatically reduced.

Theory being that people take more risks when they can see what's coming. If they can't see then they slow down to check.

Wonder if that's the theory behind the madness..

 

[ProDave]

Must be the same one that like to put traffic lights on roundabouts.  And not even part time traffic lights, so you have to stop even if driving late at night and there's not another car in sight. :C

And the same one that thinks putting periodic constrictions in the road forcing it down to a single lane making one set give way is a "traffic calming" measure.  Yes that really does make me feel calm.  :shakehead

And did I mention speed bumps?

And the one that took a staggered crossroads with two give way junctions that always flowed freely with hardly any queues and stuck traffic lights on both junctions. Last time I was there you could regularly queue for 10 minutes.

When I lived darn sarf I remember a set of traffic lights in town that periodically used to break down, and how the traffic flowed so much better when the lights were out of order and people just treated it as a give way.

And you have to have a 30mph speed limit now in the countryside in some places if there's a house within sight (binoculars may be used to check for nearby dwellings to confirm the requirement)

But on the subject of safety, there's the school of thought suggesting if you removed the drivers air bag, and replaced it with a sharp spike in the middle of the steering wheel, drivers might take a little more care.

 

[Jono Pashley]

Latest idea for slowing down traffic :red card

As you approach a roundabout, your side of the road, and the other side, "spread out" - yes? Creating a triangle of land between them?

As per:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=624&tbm=isch&tbnid=ZJdn6djVTdaXfM:&imgrefurl=http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/northampton_will_be_the_rounda.html&docid=z9yj_3rATC9bzM&imgurl=http://media.masslive.com/breakingnews/photo/120109-northampton-roundabout-drawingjpg-03848f202cb16ced_large.jpg&w=432&h=269&ei=BnInUojlFYSk0AWv5oGgCw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:34,s:0,i:193&iact=rc&page=2&tbnh=177&tbnw=270&start=17&ndsp=23&tx=162&ty=72

Now; suppose someone was to install 2.5 metre high fencing down the centre of that triangle.......as you approach the roundabout, you lose sight of ALL traffic on it to your right. So you have to come to an almost complete standstill, before continuing - even if there is no traffic there.

~What daft idiot sat behind a desk thought THAT one up????? In the days of increasing fuel prices, and whinges about pollution - we force everyone to slow to a crawl, then speed up again - for no good reason I can fathom.

Grrrr. Rant over

Aye, they turned a relatively free flowing roundabout into a absolute pain in the backside. I dont remember it being a accident blackspot or anything like that but then councils like wasting money on junk and playing with roads im sure a certain main road in swansea city centre has been dug up for months religiously each year

 

[Andy™]

probably some idiot who has never been in a car in their life

bit like those idiots in london 'we must make trucks safer for cyclists.' erm, dont try and undertake / stay in their blindspot, especially if they are turning. natural selection at work, leave it alone...

and traffic lights on roundabouts do work, and work well, but only in some very limited situations. like 5% of roundabouts that have them

oh, and maybe put some dotted lines on roundabouts to keep people in the correct lane. more than 1 lane heading into a junction / roundabout and people get confused. escpecially if its different coming the other way

and on the plus side, the great north run is next weekend. so the annual pot-hole filling by south tyneside council has started. unfortunatly, only the actual route will get anything done to it, the rest of the roads will be left as normal. infact, i woudlnt be surprised if they removed tarmac from a decent road to fill in the run route...

 

[septiclecky]

Unless it was the way it was displayed on my laptop when did we start driving on the right hand side of the road?

 

[Evans Electric]

There are dual carriageways in this city where , as you approach the roundabouts, the bushes in the central reservation continue all the way to the island so you can't see the traffic coming from the right without slowing right down .  

This is obviously done on purpose to slow traffic  but its bloody annoying. 

 

[ProDave]

Years ago when I lived darn sarf, I very occasionally drove into London, and there were some amazing junctions on the North Circular where you came to some traffic lights with three lanes into the junction, but only 2 out the other side. what ensued could best be described as a scrum.

 

[Evans Electric]

Ah  we have one of those Dave !!    If leaving Brum by heading for J5  of the M6  you are on a 3 lane carriageway passing the Jaguar Works but as you approach the next traffic island the third lane   dissapears............when busy its a nightmare.      Then after same island  you are on the left hand lane which also just runs out into nothing and you need to shove yourself into the lane to your right . 

Talk about road planning .

 

[Doc Hudson]

Unless it was the way it was displayed on my laptop when did we start driving on the right hand side of the road?

If you look closely at the image I think the text is mirror writing as well. Why is it that many people especially the elderly and women struggle to understand the priority at a mini roundabout. If the roundabout is clear they stop. If there are cars on the left hand approach road they stop, even though they have priority over them. As for boy racers in hot hatches with loud music playing, they do not know what a mini roundabout is, because they have never stopped at one ever.

Doc H.

 

[steptoe]

its an image from the grand ole USofA  :slap

 

[Andy™]

and then there are the idiots who drive too fast in fog... obviously not driving at a speed appropriate for the conditions

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-23970047

 

[apprentice87]

Disappearing lanes eh!!!! We have LOADS of them here in newport. In fact, most roundabouts and junctions have them. Some junctions will have two lanes clearly marked straight ahead, and on the exit of the junction there is only one lane. Most rounabouts here have two lanes on the approach marked for right turns, the middle one and the right one, but then on the exit, only one lane, soo if you are driving a truck. just when the tractor unit is "bent" compared to the trailer, you have an even bigger blind spot....

Ok, so say you want to turn right.. You go in the leftermost [is that a word?] lane, and then you find someone on your right as you try to exit the roundabout leaving you nowhere to go. Say you choose the right lane, same thing will happen.. I have always said if i have an accident [NO NO NO!!!!!!! they are NOT accidents now, are you stupid, people have INCIDENTS now, Doh....] i will sue the highways authority..

Traffic lights eh!!! Ha ha, there are junctions near to where i live, ok two and a half miles away, where they used to have traffic jams nearly 100 yards long!!! the council fitted lights, and now the queues stretch the 2 miles to past my house.... We have traffic lights here, where they are on red, with nobody moving, for FAR longer than any of the lights from any direction are on green, so say in a 5 minute period, cars might be able to move for 2 minutes, and nobody at all move for 3 minutes, maybe longer...

john..

 

[Jono Pashley]

Similar issues coming into Hereford on the A465....always queued back to the tesco roundabout until at least 10:30 in a morning because of the redicluous traffic layout