- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- fuckcars
- bicycling
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- fuckcars
- bicycling
cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/33014897
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This will honestly be some guys excuse to get a lifted truck. Why can’t they just put in jersey barriers like normal civil engineers. Even crazier idea, actually design bike infrastructure instead of some awkward mini barrier in the middle of a road
I ride on this street fairly often. So let me tell you from direct experience: for Atlanta, this bike infrastructure is actually pretty damn good.
Ironically, the next bike crossing over I-20 further East, at Bill Kennedy Way, has Jersey barriers and urbanists are complaining about them because they’re done wrong. GDOT refuses to anchor them into the street properly (claiming bullshit about “maintenance problems” or something), so when cars hit them they get pushed into the multi-use path.
I wonder what the field of study is called that prepares people for this kind of traffic management/design job and whether is includes average driver/distracted driver/lowest common denominator design considerations. Putting new concrete barriers out without bright paint and reflectors surprises me; people driving their cars right up on them does not.
When my hometown put in their first traffic circle, they incorporated a pedestrian tunnel under one of the entry/exit points. Within the first two weeks, a driver got confused going around the circle for the first time, went over the edge, and dropped their car 8+ feet into the pedestrian tunnel. Fortunately, there were no pedestrians in the tunnel at the time and the driver was ok. They added a guardrail along that edge of the circle.
There were also people going the opposite direction around the circle from the intended flow. And drivers ping ponging between lanes as they went around the circle unsure what lane they should be in, including a cop car I personally witnessed doing it multiple days in a row. And cars that would just plow straight through the middle of the circle until they packed it with brick planters, flowers, and an art installation.
Even if 99.9% of drivers are attentive and safe, 0.1% is a lot of chaos and accidents. I would hope designing for that 0.1% gets a disproportionally weighty amount of attention.
For a country that is so incredibly carcentric, USA really seems horrible at driving cars, as someone (fortunately) looking in from the outside.
I think because it’s so car-centric lots of people have to be able to drive to hold a job or go to school. So it’s seen almost more like a “right”. Compared to my friends in London or Sydney were the view seems much more that proficiency should be worked towards and licensure earned.
There is probably some parallel to gun culture, though that actually is a “right” here. A person who has no business around weapons can still buy enough to kit a small army. Beat their spouse? Meh, they can still own guns. Road rage? Psh, that’s no reason to pull their drivers license or their guns.
Also, I was 13 when I got a license to drive. My state had the lowest age I am aware of for kids who lived in the country and didn’t have school bus service so they could drive themselves to school. So yeah, 13 years old and I drove a car from home into the city of 300k people to get to my school. The only accident I have ever been responsible for was wiping out a mailbox when I slid on some ice. Motorcycle license at 15 years old after a short written test and riding the bike about six city blocks. I’m technically a successful example of the low age limits and I think it was fucking stupid.
This is true, every time I drive just a few miles, i witness dozens of traffic violations. Rolling through stop signs, turning illegally into the wrong lane, running red lights, etc. When I was a teenager there were traffic cops, today you’ll see people break the law right in front of a cop and the cop does nothing.
Cop is busy watching tik took videos
I think it’s because it’s car centric the complacency set in so fast than their logical thinking can course correct. The whole place is made just for car and no other mode of transport, it train people to not ever think about others and doing thing their way, as driving are so easy it barely challenge anyone to make a conscious move.
There’s a lot of variation by locale, too. In Arkansas, for example, at one point the age to start driving was 15 and there were effectively zero other qualifications for obtaining a license.
I wonder what the field of study is called that prepares people for this kind of traffic management/design job and…
Civil engineering, and traffic engineering specifically.
whether is includes average driver/distracted driver/lowest common denominator design considerations.
Sort of, but not really. I’m sure there are some traffic engineers somewhere that do research on distracted driving, and their findings get turned into recommendations about signage placement and such. But I think most engineers actually doing the road design ‘assume’ drivers are mostly rational actors and are not overtly defensive in their design. Instead, they wait until crash data collected after the fact forces the issue.
