You must log in or register to comment.
If it’s not, I’ve been given a new mission from up on high.
“Press ye every walk signal, both ways, on every single street ye walk on. Though ye may be turning right at that corner and not even crossing that that intersection, still press ye the buttons.”
Oh cmon don’t do that. Make liberal use of the button when you’re actually crossing obviously, but don’t waste everyone else’s time if you’re not crossing (and emissions, cars require more energy to accelerate than to cruise, especially combustion engine cars).
I once saw a jogger push the crossing button on one of the busiest roads in the city and then continue on his way without crossing. I kinda respect that kind of mad-lad behaviour. :)
Even from the picture, that’s clearly not 100 cars for a four-way intersection. 12, maybe.
100 (25 per side) would be a massive queue.
I don’t understand what he wants the pedestrian to do. Not cross at all? Wait until there’s no traffic?
Jaywalk.
But if they move in a J formation, they won’t successfully cross the street
IRL Frogger
I see people press the button and wait when there’s clearly no traffic.
Press button, stay in the lines, if worried about success of your personal injury suit :)
Yes, because you have a red light, you stop, press button and wait for green. At least that’s what I’ve been teaching to my kid, maybe I’m wrong?
Well, if there’s a pedestrian traffic light, that’s the legal thing to do
Also the speed limit there might be 45 miles per hour. Crossing 6 lanes of traffic without a light may be impossible even if there is no traffic when you start!
I think he just wants pedestrians to just not exist at all or maybe die trying to cross while traffic is flowing.
Frogger.
Clearly, the pedestrian should get a car, and OP just happens to work at a used car lot.
Well he’s a blockchain guy so maybe he wants everyone to rent or lease used cars via some DeFi car lending app.
And when everybody’s driving they’ll complain there is too much traffic and the roads are now clogged.
I’m guessing he wanted the person to wait until it changes for the cars or something
You don’t push the button because you’re concerned about delaying cars.
I don’t push the button because I trust my own eyes better than a walk/don’t walk signal, and I can usually find a good opening faster than it takes for the signal to change to ‘walk’.
We are not the same.
You’re not finding any openings without pressing the button if there really are 100 cars crossing in the span of 30 seconds.
This is rage bait, right? What is this guy saying btw, when 10 car drivers are making 200 people in a light rail wait because traffic lights are completely car centric?
I guess the pollution from idling cars… dunno.
What’s with the assumption that the pedestrian getting to their destination is less important than all the drivers? If a bunch of people get held up a long time for a smaller number of people, blame the city planners.
Class warfare
Oh you mean like a bus full of people sitting behind a 1995 camary?
Yeah, if the busses are used a lot they should get their own lanes and other special considerations.
As long as I’m adding another comment, I should mention that it’s usually not the city planners fault. It’s interest groups leaning on elected officials to lean on the city planners, who would design safe and efficient cities if left to their own devices.
You’ve got it backwards. Give them their own lane and priority at signals etc. Then they will get used a lot.
More realistically they have to work in parallel. The NIMBYs will easily destroy a bus service that inconveniences all the drivers if nobody is riding it yet.
as they should, the government needs to not discriminate again their existing infrastructure unless they have a real replacement (as far as I am aware no place actually has public transit that replaces cars properly)
What’s with the assumption that the pedestrian getting to their destination is less important than all the drivers?
The pedestrian is probably poor.
Not to mention the fact that to cross to the opposite corner, a pedestrian often has to press two buttons and wait for two sets of light changes. Drivers only have to wait more than one when there are too many cars.
While also sitting on cushioned seats in a closed off, air-conditioned space. The lazy bastards can fucking wait for me to mozy on by.
I’ve always found that really stupid. Just have two buttons, one for the diagonal and one for the crossing. And if you press the button for the diagonal, it stops all lanes of traffic so you can cross diagonally. Like, you can’t tell me it would take less time having to stop the lights twice for you to cross one way and then cross the other, then it would be to just stop all the lanes of traffic momentarily while you cross diagonally.
i’d like to see it the other way around, drivers have to get out and run over to press the beg button. At least they will be getting some exercise.
That’s a 6 lane road. You must be perpetually on steroids to think that would be normal.
Stroad, it’s a stroad. It’s why I hate North America.
A left turn lane, a right turn, and a through lane is normal? Anything else allows endless backups. Pedestrians prevent cars from turning right and left, and oncoming prevents cars from turning left, and than no one can go straight either.
It’s usually 2 lanes each way only 100m or so before the intersection and it widens to this configuration. A single lane road still usually has one type of turning lane at all intersection as well.
What are you even complaining about?
This is what you describe:
This is how i think the intersection on the image looks like:
The difference seems small, but the amount of lanes after cars crossing the street is a big deal.
| < | ^ | > |
If the outer lanes are only for traffic turning left or right, at the other side of the interchange there should only be one lane left. That is not how this interchange looks to me.
Why would you need three incoming lanes, though? Three outgoing makes sense temporarily, but you only need a single incoming lane if you’re going to go back down to two total, and the OP has three incoming.
I see three right hand lanes there (as in, the side of the road closest to the camera has three lanes for a single direction of traffic), which means that it’s 6 lanes by default and widens to somewhere between 7 and 9 at the intersection, depending on turn lane configuration. That is unless you want to assume an unbalanced configuration where there are three lanes in one direction and only two lanes in the other, which frankly I consider unlikely.
I said there was 3 lanes on each side?
A right turn, a left turn, and a through lane.
Those 3 close lanes would merge back into 2 100m from the intersection. It allows free flowing traffic. It allows a through lane, a lane for vehicles to turn right into as well.
That’s not how any intersection I’ve ever seen works, you don’t have more outgoing lanes than incoming straight through lanes.
No, it should not be normal. While we still have cars in cities (which we categorically should not), we must at the very least make sure there is no more than one lane in each direction, including most intersections. “Endless backups” are unavoidable with cars in any case because of a combination of basic geometry and induced demand. We should instead optimize for the safety & speed of other road users, literally all of which are more efficient than car drivers.
A left turn lane, a right turn, and a through lane is normal?
No. No it’s not. That’s a design for a major artery, not for every single street with shops on it. If you grew up in the United States, and haven’t traveled, I’m afraid to tell you that you’ve never seen good road infrastructure in your life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motonormativity
It isn’t normal to have six lanes (>80% of available land) to be exclusively for vehicles. I mean, it is normal in North America but it really shouldn’t be. The problem is two of those lanes could be a bicycle path with a tram line to allow for a lot more throughput while creating space for people to walk around and loiter which then provides increased opportunity for local business’ to create sales and boost the local economy. This would also have a knock-on effect of decreasing congestion (backups) because when there are other, viable transportation options, more people will choose not to drive. With less traffic, local trades and shipping companies will also experience greater productivity with less time spent idling, which also means less air pollution which in turn reduces strain on the medical system. Not to mention all the money saved by people not buying gas, insurance, doing maintenance, etc. (which can then be put into other industries instead of being tied up in transportation).
As well, with stroads like in the OP, all potential customers just go right past to strip malls outside the urban centre that are essentially only accessible by driving. If they do stop at places along a stroad like this they usually park, do whatever it is they need to do, then leave asap because it’s not a nice place to be with all the traffic noise an noxious gasses. With the intersection in the OP specifically, one can imagine a sort of town square where people can sit with their family and have dinner or whatever else. Instead, it’s a few acres of asphalt that raises the local temperature by a few degrees while creating a massive obstacle for pedestrians, especially if they have to cross diagonally. The heat especially makes it a really shitty place to walk through and can even be dangerous for elders or people with weakened respiratory systems. These facts, and the almost non-existent pedestrian infrastructure creates a negative feedback loop where more and more people are using cars to get around because of how awful it is to walk anywhere leading to more focus on vehicle infrastructure, and more people driving cars.
Using only personal vehicles to get anywhere is not a scalable transportation solution and greatly hampers economic growth outside of specific industries (that are usually related to vehicles). By providing other transportation options to people by using land that would ‘normally’ be used for parking or right/left turns (especially intersections), more economic opportunity is created, business’ that rely on transportation (shipping, delivery, plumbers, electricians, etc.) will become more efficient as traffic is reduced and people that live in the area will become healthier.
I mean, overall it’s just good for the economy to provide more options and not pave the entire place with asphalt.
This is is about pedestrians having to cross all 6 lanes at that spot while cars rush past. I don’t care how good it is against congestion.
Next you’re gonna tell me they should ignore the friendly button, walk 100m and cross where it’s “only” 4 lanes anymore.
What are you even complaining about?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad#Disadvantages
There’s also some very nice YT videos explaining the problem and better solutions.
“I never walk further than my driveway, so I don’t see a problem.”
I sure never have, yep.
There, not surprisingly, is way to have nature and infrastructure, who would have thought? Not you apparently.
God forbid that someone would want to walk somewhere in cities, right? Let those assholes walk in forests like normal people. They can do all the walking they want there, then get back in the car and drive in the city like the founding fathers intended.
Why would a road prevent that?
You don’t think I didn’t walk to that park from my house?
You’re assuming a hell of a lot, and slandering me with fake quotes as well, based off your assumption I’m apparently some cave dweller that can’t walk?
slandering me with fake quotes as well
you’re one more hard headed post from actually hurting yourself.
Stroad, n. A road on steroids
Streets are intended for stops. Homes, driveways, shops. Low speed. Walkable.
Roads are intended for travel. There should be very few turnoffs, no surprise entrances, etc. Roads are intended to get you onto streets. Generally medium to high speeds.
Stroads combine the worst of both to make death traps, accidents, and make walking difficult, uncomfortable, or impossible.
Judging by the pic, it’s maybe 6-7 cars so 2-3 minutes of human life destroyed. A little uneven but not terrible.
If that road had 100 cars passing every 30 seconds, there’s no able, adult male going to Frogger himself across six lanes.
Nor a mom pushing a stroller, a person w/ a cane, etc
Although, surprisingly, he did mention those as exceptions.
What makes me mad is when people press the button and then jaywalk immediately anyway. If you press it, you should have to wait just like the drivers will.
What makes me mad is pressing the button and then having to wait an additional 5+ minutes for the ped signal to change because it needs to finish the current green phase for cross traffic and an advance left turn phase before letting peds go.
I’m not a civil engineer, but based on my experience with traffic lights pushing the button doesn’t actually alter the order of operations for the lights, it just makes it so the next time there is a natural gap in traffic that would allow for safe crossing, the crosswalk light turns on. So it doesn’t affect drivers at all. I’m still not a fan of jaywalking unless the road is REALLY clear.
That said, I’m always Jay walking when I go somewhere :P
This is how they seem to work in the US. Coming from other countries - where you know all vehicles have a red light when pedestrians have green - it’s fucked up. Same with green turn signals for vehicles, actually. I don’t know whom thought that made sense…
I do it because it pisses you off. I even press the button when I have no intention to cross the road. Chaotic neutral energy.
Close to my home there is two lights on either side of a busy roundabout. Have seen highschoolers coordinating pressing the crosswalk buttons to maximize the mayhem. One part of me thinks they dont get enough beating up, and another part of me thinks "for the lulz! "
But the whole point of roundabouts is to not have to use traffic lights and let the traffic flow through the intersection.
I would imagine they’re crossing lights…
The fact those buttons can cause mayhem is a flaw of the manufacturer or the people who set it up though. But if they expected little pedestrians i can imagine they overlooked this.
This guy is going to shoot a pedestrian for pushing crosswalk signal buttons and claim he’s stopping a serial killer.
Raises a good point. So we should destroy those cars to make way for trams.
Trams that never brake because of the collective loss of efficiency that might happen. It’s like the trolley problem except there’s 50 people on the trolley and the amount of money lost by them being collectively late for work is worth the loss of life.
Ohh yes, +1 vote for the trams of death.
I can’t stoppher capin’ the economy just won’t let me.
Rvturn. (This was stopped because the trains kept killing children playing in the street)
Add a giant “cow catcher” to the front of the tram, reinforced so that even the car brain with the most oversized pickup is at the same risk as the rest of us
