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3D crosswalk in Iceland helps slow down speeding motorists

icelandmag.visir.is

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Re: 3D crosswalk in Iceland helps slow down speeding motorists

#91

Post by dbaupp »

chrisseaton wrote: post #65
DrScump wrote: post #57

In Santa Clara, California, there are several crosswalks at intersections not controlled by a traffic light. There is an ongoing problem with cars not properly yielding to crossing pedestrians (I mean, like, ever ). I almost got killed in one twice in one week. As a driver, I get rude treatment (and some near-collisions) when I stop for pedestrians. A pedestrian was killed in the one near Halford a couple of months a…

> In Santa Clara, California, there are several crosswalks at intersections not controlled by a traffic light. Isn't that what a zebra crossing is for? Give pedestrians permanent right of way so they can always go and don't need a light and everyone understands that they need to yield.

They're on multilane, high-speed roads (meaning a bridge/tunnel or traffic lights are the only actually safe solutions).

Re: 3D crosswalk in Iceland helps slow down speeding motorists

#92

Post by bnegreve »

swayvil wrote: post #76

I want the pattern for this. I suppose it's easy enough to make my own, but a pattern would be nice. I live on a street where people drive too fast.

Take this picture from above, that's basically the pattern.

http://icelandmag.visir.is/sites/default/files/styles/articl...

Re: 3D crosswalk in Iceland helps slow down speeding motorists

#94

Post by barsonme »

frik wrote: post #90
malgorithms wrote: post #10

There is an analogy here to the slippery-slope of attention-getting ads on the Internet. Once upon a time an ad was just a static (not even animated) banner of a certain size and shape. 468x60 was one of the earliest, IIRC. Advertisers invented new formats ("skyscrapers", "xl-leaderboards", "300x250", and so on), and also they got animated, and then they started expanding outside their areas, and so on; each new ad t…

Exactly. What really helps are speed bumps.

and roundabouts! physical obstacles always seem to work best, for some reason ;)

Re: 3D crosswalk in Iceland helps slow down speeding motorists

#95

Post by seszett »

zachkatz wrote: post #75
Swizec wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why even have roads by then? Emergency response vehicles? I imagine a flying fire engine could be quite difficult to use to fight a skyscraper fire. Also you need wide spaces between buildings to have light at ground level.

> Also you need wide spaces between buildings to have light at ground level. Tell that to almost anywhere in Europe: http://newworldeconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Shin...

In Europe (and Japan) though, the places with narrow spaces between buildings usually have low buildings as well.

There is much more light in most European cities, even in the business districts with high buildings, than at least the few American cities I have been to, like Montreal or NYC, because usually where there are tall buildings, then there are also wide spaces between them, see in Paris for example: http://paris-ladefense.com/sites/default/files/styles/raison...

There are indeed places that are more in the shadow in the old city centers, but nobody likes a place that never gets sun.

Re: 3D crosswalk in Iceland helps slow down speeding motorists

#96

Post by lloeki »

hanoz wrote: post #43
userbinator wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new LED car headlights (especially seen on luxury cars) are universally awful: distracting, blinding, and wreck your eyes’ adaptation. When they show up on a tall vehicle like an SUV it’s even worse. Headlight brightness is somewhat of a balance, between blinding oncoming traffic and not being able to see far enough ahead. Dark adaptation has its limits. (AFAIK it's actually HID lights which make up most of the r…

I'm amazed the trend in obviously too dazzling headlights has been allowed to get this far. I recently heard some industry expert defending them on the BBC saying, without a hint of irony, that they weren't brighter, they just looked brighter.

There's regulation that says they can't go above a certain threshold, so I'm inclined to believe it. Other things:

- The illumination is much more even and filling modern headlights literally cut an evenly lit polygon of light in 3d space, in old times it was much more raw and uneven. When coming into view, as your eye passes the edge of the light cone it receives the whole of it at once whereas previously the gradient was much more progressive. IOW they never go above the lumen cap, it's just even across the light port (thus indeed emits more candela) and falling like a cliff at the edge instead of decreasing towards the edge from the center.

- The light emitted is much more blue, which is harsher on the eyes, and even more so at night. As a most probably unintended effect this might help in combatting sleepiness, a sort of reverse f.lux, but too much and it's tiring and agressive. Try lighting up a 40W 2700K vs a 40W 6000K when going to the bathroom at night: the latter is harsh and blinding, even though they emit exactly the same amount of light.

Some old cars I've driven had yellow headlights and it was a pain to see anything, some semi-recent cars have 6000K and I hear aftermarket goes to 8000K which is beyond ridiculous. My car has 4200k stock HID, ballasted lights†, and I feel it's a nice, safe balance for everyone.

† ballast means their height auto-adjust so as to always be below eyesight of a crossing driver.

Re: 3D crosswalk in Iceland helps slow down speeding motorists

#97

Post by seszett »

sjwright wrote: post #82
malgorithms wrote: post #10

There is an analogy here to the slippery-slope of attention-getting ads on the Internet. Once upon a time an ad was just a static (not even animated) banner of a certain size and shape. 468x60 was one of the earliest, IIRC. Advertisers invented new formats ("skyscrapers", "xl-leaderboards", "300x250", and so on), and also they got animated, and then they started expanding outside their areas, and so on; each new ad t…

France (and quite probably other European countries) is an excellent example of this. Zebra crossings are so common that they're almost completely ignored by drivers. In Australia they're used relatively sparingly which makes their presence noticeable to drivers. You don't need to do anything clever, just make them sufficiently uncommon.

Belgium has as many pedestrian crossings as France, and drivers very much respect them. To the point sometimes of stopping for pedestrians that were not even trying to cross.

I think it's more a cultural thing than a problem with noticing them. I now try to pay as much attention in France as in Belgium, but in some places other cars will actually honk when you stop for a pedestrian. In some places in Asia or Eastern Europe they might even try to overtake you and actually endanger the pedestrian.

Re: 3D crosswalk in Iceland helps slow down speeding motorists

#98

Post by nileshtrivedi »

llukas wrote: post #25
kartan wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A year or two after a new, more intrusive format became ubiquitous, its performance would fall back to the old format's When Sweden changed driving side, that is exactly what happened. "The relatively smooth changeover saw a reduction in the number of accidents. On the day of the change, only 157 minor accidents were reported, of which only 32 involved personal injuries, with only a handful serious. On the Monday f…

This illustrates that if drivers feel less safe then they drive more safely and pay attention more. It is one of motivations for removing all signage so drivers feel less safe permamently. http://thecityfix.com/blog/naked-streets-without-traffic-lig... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/04/remova...

That seems similar to the economics concept of Sharpe ratio (Return divide by Risk). Behaviours will change till the time all opportunities in life offer equal risk-adjusted return.

Re: 3D crosswalk in Iceland helps slow down speeding motorists

#99

Post by megablast »

sjwright wrote: post #82
malgorithms wrote: post #10

There is an analogy here to the slippery-slope of attention-getting ads on the Internet. Once upon a time an ad was just a static (not even animated) banner of a certain size and shape. 468x60 was one of the earliest, IIRC. Advertisers invented new formats ("skyscrapers", "xl-leaderboards", "300x250", and so on), and also they got animated, and then they started expanding outside their areas, and so on; each new ad t…

France (and quite probably other European countries) is an excellent example of this. Zebra crossings are so common that they're almost completely ignored by drivers. In Australia they're used relatively sparingly which makes their presence noticeable to drivers. You don't need to do anything clever, just make them sufficiently uncommon.

Yeah, and you have to cross without one, because they are too far away. I wouldn't use Australia as an example of good driving rules. You are allowed to get away with murder in Australia if you are driving a car.

Re: 3D crosswalk in Iceland helps slow down speeding motorists

#100

Post by hellofunk »

SeriousM wrote: post #89
StanislavPetrov wrote: post #83

The best way to slow down motorists is a 3d speed bump. Not a 3d illusion of a speed bump - an actual speed bump. They have speed bumps littering the side streets in certain areas of Queens and Brooklyn. If you don't slow down, and take care, these large speed bumps will simply wreck your car - and they are much easier to install than these 3-d paintings.

I don't like speedbumps, but they work.

You're not supposed to like them; and really the only people that are inconvenienced by them are those going to fast anyway.
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