Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Light Traffic

senseable.mit.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 124 posts

Re: Light Traffic

#21

Post by rcarmo »

ColanR wrote: post #16
rcarmo wrote: post #14

There's been a marked tendency to replace intersections with roundabouts and shared spaces ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space ) in many places, including the outskirts of Lisbon (as well as a few legendary mazes in Britain). There was even a BBC report on the latter (which I can't find right now, as usual, only a follow-up: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33303031 ). Drawing a (admittedly inaccurate) parallel wi…

re shared spaces, from the wikipedia: > Hans Monderman and others have suggested that, by creating a greater sense of uncertainty and making it unclear who has priority, drivers will reduce their speed, in turn reducing the dominance of vehicles, reducing road casualty rates, and improving safety for other road users. clearly, Hans Monderman has never driven in Mumbai, India.

I think that shared spaces make sense in small towns, university campuses, and other contexts where traffic flow is low due to the inherent context (and, above all, where pedestrians can support each other).

But for modest to high volume traffic, roundabouts are better (although if the traffic flow is constant, you usually have to place the crossings a bit further away from the center of the roundabout, which makes it a little harder on elderly pedestrians to go fully "across" since they have to walk the extra distance).

Re: Light Traffic

#22

Post by rcarmo »

avip wrote: post #20
rcarmo wrote: post #14

There's been a marked tendency to replace intersections with roundabouts and shared spaces ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space ) in many places, including the outskirts of Lisbon (as well as a few legendary mazes in Britain). There was even a BBC report on the latter (which I can't find right now, as usual, only a follow-up: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33303031 ). Drawing a (admittedly inaccurate) parallel wi…

Roundabout throughput drops when traffic load increases. They are useful (and great) for low volume traffic/suburbs.

Many towns add them precisely because it regulates traffic flow near homes.

Re: Light Traffic

#24

Post by plandis »

zten wrote: post #11
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is kind of funny because pedestrian crossings already kind of work like this in China. The car will never ever stop for you, rather, it will adjust its speed and swerve slightly to avoid a collision (if expected, if unexpected, then its a totally different game). Likewise, the pedestrian is expected to move in a consistent direction and adjust their speed to avoid being in the way of a car. The result is that car…

Oddly, this is a cyclist behavior that is very widely admonished as being pedestrian-hostile.

In most places in the US it is unlawful for cyclists in the road not to follow traffic law. It is pedestrian hostile in the sense that people don't expect it because it is unlawful.

Re: Light Traffic

#25

Post by tomxor »

purplejacket wrote: post #18

For fucks sake, where are the pedestrians??

> For fucks sake, where are the pedestrians??

You're watching it wrong: It's a dystopian future in which all humans died out after years of being forced to take part in a city scale version of frogit with perma-death against autonomous vehicles.

Re: Light Traffic

#26

Post by rcarmo »

IndrekR wrote: post #17

This is a good video example of how manufacturing works in lean factories. By reducing or avoiding inventories, fetching from temporary warehouses and machining stops (traffic lights here) you can often increase the production rate significantly.

Look up "kiva warehouse robots". You'll spend an hour fascinated by modern warehousing :)

Re: Light Traffic

#27

Post by icebraining »

avip wrote: post #20
rcarmo wrote: post #14

There's been a marked tendency to replace intersections with roundabouts and shared spaces ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space ) in many places, including the outskirts of Lisbon (as well as a few legendary mazes in Britain). There was even a BBC report on the latter (which I can't find right now, as usual, only a follow-up: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33303031 ). Drawing a (admittedly inaccurate) parallel wi…

Roundabout throughput drops when traffic load increases. They are useful (and great) for low volume traffic/suburbs.

If you have such a high-traffic road, shouldn't you use interchanges instead anyway?

Re: Light Traffic

#28

Post by seanmcdirmid »

zten wrote: post #11
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is kind of funny because pedestrian crossings already kind of work like this in China. The car will never ever stop for you, rather, it will adjust its speed and swerve slightly to avoid a collision (if expected, if unexpected, then its a totally different game). Likewise, the pedestrian is expected to move in a consistent direction and adjust their speed to avoid being in the way of a car. The result is that car…

Oddly, this is a cyclist behavior that is very widely admonished as being pedestrian-hostile.

You mean in the USA. In a cyclist-friendly country like the Netherlands, it is considered completely normal even by pedestrians.

Re: Light Traffic

#29

Post by perennate »

w0de0 wrote: post #3

What about pedestrians? For me, a future in which vehicles have more control of our public spaces is worse than the present, no matter the efficiency of the arrangement. Many American cities are notorious for being designed for the automobile, not the human. Let's not double down. More Ramblas!

Cyclists are also not considered.

Maybe the intersection looks like this once you add pedestrians and cyclists: https://vimeo.com/106226560

Edit: also worth checking the earlier discussion from a couple years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11336009

Re: Light Traffic

#30

Post by tinco »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #28
zten wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oddly, this is a cyclist behavior that is very widely admonished as being pedestrian-hostile.

You mean in the USA. In a cyclist-friendly country like the Netherlands, it is considered completely normal even by pedestrians.

That it is normal doesn't mean it's not pedestrian hostile. I catch myself cycling over-aggressively. For example, everyone knows that pedestrians have right of way on a zebra-crossing. Good luck with that in The Netherlands. Cyclists will simply not give you right of way, they'll swerve around you, ignore you, and generally make you uncomfortable.

The Netherlands is a cyclists country in much the same way as the U.S. is car country, pedestrians are second class.

Post reply on HN