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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

#111

Post by dsego »

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 Split, Croatia they have these zebras across multiple lanes, without traffic lights or a central island (those are the ones they paint yellow now). These are the most dangerous. Even when you want to yield to a pedestrian, you have to be careful, because when you stop, the pedestrian is now obscured by your car, and other cars usually just speed by, or even go around you. The only cars in Split that actually yield to pedestrians before they step onto the road, are the ones with Zagreb plates, their driving culture is better.

About the overhead signal, why isn't it a regular traffic light? Here they just put a regular red/yellow/green traffic light that's operated by a button, no confusion.

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

#112

Post by Fnoord »

userbinator wrote: post #30
llukas wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

One only has to look at huge crowded Asian cities, where signage is present but effectively ignored, to see that removing signage doesn't really help. The accident rates are just as high if not more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...

Keep in mind that's traffic death, not accidents. Accidents are dramatic for everyone who's involved, and that is quite a lot of people: first and foremost the victim (with which exact damage? Anything permanent? Not taken into account by these statistics). Also, the suspect, the insurance company, innocent bystanders who are held up and need to be rerouted, and ultimately the taxpayer.

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

#113

Post by StavrosK »

prophesi wrote: post #18
StavrosK wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which I think you’d want in Iceland Why Iceland more than other places?

They're in range of the polar night, and headlights are mandatory to be on at all times. It can be a dark place.

Sure, but there's night everywhere at some point, it's just longer in Iceland sometimes.

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

#114

Post by Tomis02 »

drunkonvinyl wrote: post #24

Helps to have a concept of scale here. This is a tiny town in the remote fjords in northern Iceland. The speed is likely caused by tourists looking around and not paying attention, so grabbing their attention will probably work in this case. Starting point in maps street view - zoom out and walk around the town for 5 min - you'll gain a better perspective on what's going on here: https://www.google.com/maps/@66.07396…

>The speed is likely caused by tourists looking around and not paying attention

I suspect it's Romanians, as they're really bad drivers. For example, in Romania drivers will not stop at a crosswalk to let you pass unless you stare at them for a few seconds to make eye contact, and even then it depends on their mood and how hurried they are. They're basically a menace on the roads.

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

#115

Post by jschwartzi »

lozenge wrote: post #103
vostrocity wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a road with high traffic speed and not enough visibility of pedestrians waiting at the side of the road, most motorists won't yield

What about a pelican crossing? Red yellow and green lights for cars like at a junction, activated by pedestrians pressing a button. Wikipedia says these only came to the US in the year 2000, which seems ridiculous.

People still blow past them, in my experience. The only real way to make roads safer for pedestrians is to remove all the cars.

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

#116

Post by Razengan »

Swizec wrote: post #60
Razengan wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if every crosswalk in the world is replaced with this 3D version, we'll see a temporary boost in safety, but in the long run it may return to normal and in my opinion, our world will be uglier. Although the illusionary crosswalks shown in the article aren’t really ugly , and even advertisements, like the cute mascots and dazzling neons of Tokyo, can have a certain beauty to them, I agree that most garish attention-…

> 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.

Yes, and much better to have that wide space provided by parks or natural land than a drab eyesore like roads, no?

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

#117

Post by GordonS »

BoorishBears wrote: post #109
hellofunk wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That's not true, my car scrapes on them at practically any speed. People with slightly higher cars than mine scrape because they try to brake, forcing their suspension to compress, then go over the bump. There's so much ceremony to going over a speed bump that I think plenty of people not going that fast are inconvenienced. whether that inconvience is worth the net benefit is a separate issue.

Same hear, Nissan 350Z scrapes most speed bumps even going as slow as is possible.

Also, they don't work for a lot of cars - I see lots of cars (presumably without stiff suspension) fly over the things at quite high speed. It seems that at certain high speeds, if you straddle them just right, you don't have to slow down at all.

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

#118

Post by GordonS »

jon_adler wrote: post #93

In the UK, we have "New Layout Ahead" signs everywhere. Once erected, they seem to stay in place forever and increase noise. Is there any evidence that these are beneficial?

Not just new layout signs - we seem to be bombarded with signs!

Seriously, some places there are just so many signs that you couldn't possibly take in the information they provide in time. And the majority of the information they provide isn't useful.

One of the things I hate the most are the digital signs that are springing up everywhere. These things are expensive, and >99% of the time they are distracting me with pointless messages about watching my speed, not drinking and driving, not driving while tired etc. Such a waste, and surely causing more harm than good.

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

#119

Post by kwhitefoot »

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…

Part of the problem with motorists not yielding at zebra crossings is because many pedestrians are not aggressive enough and behave as though the car has right of way.

What seems to work for me in most situations is to walk up to the crossing while making eye contact with the driver and not slowing down or breaking step until it is clear that if I go further I will be run over.

The driver must then decide whether or not I really mean to walk out in front of him and most don't really want to run me down so they stop.

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

#120

Post by merraksh »

dsego wrote: post #49

In my city a lot of new crosswalks have white stripes on a bright yellow background, a lot of them with blinking LEDs. In several places even the sign has a flashing light. Nobody will stop on an ordinary zebra crossing anymore, it doesn't even register. As for the interesting patterns to draw attention, they tried it in a different town in my country near a school, painted the stripes with different colors. Didn't l…

Only tangentially related, but here's a piano-inspired crossing in Warsaw, Poland: http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Poland/East/Mazowiec...
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