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Welcome to hell; please drive carefully

2earth.github.io

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Re: Welcome to hell; please drive carefully

#21

Post by lbriner »

In my experience, the Puffin crossings are setup correctly precisely 0% of the time.

If you are going to pay presumably a lot more money for all of the extra detectors and electronics then they need to deliver 2 things as mentioned by OP: 1) They make sure that anyone on the crossing has time to cross rather than stopping traffic for a fixed amount of time (useful outside schools) and 2) If there aren't any people crossing, the traffic should be stopped for a short amount of time no worse than if they were just a normal Pelican crossing.

However.

Even when no-one is crossing or in some case someone crossed and is about 50 metres up the road, the crossings are still usually on red for a total of often 20 seconds, which is way longer than most Pelican crossings that are on red for usually 5 to 10 seconds max.

I don't know if no-one notices or cares but it is really annoying!

Re: Welcome to hell; please drive carefully

#23

Post by divbzero »

barbazoo wrote: post #12

I wonder how the environment impacts how well these crossings work. The road in the photo looks very narrow, an environment where drivers probably have to pay attention, maybe even slow down in general. In my neighborhood there’s one at a two lane road but the street itself is very wide so people generally drive very fast to begin with and are often distracted. Lots of conflict at that crossing even with LED flashers…

> The road in the photo looks very narrow, an environment where drivers probably have to pay attention, maybe even slow down in general.

I’ve seen roads in Japan where the lines marking car lanes narrow as you approach crosswalks, creating the impression of an environment where drivers should slow down.

Re: Welcome to hell; please drive carefully

#24

Post by 7952 »

lbriner wrote: post #21

In my experience, the Puffin crossings are setup correctly precisely 0% of the time. If you are going to pay presumably a lot more money for all of the extra detectors and electronics then they need to deliver 2 things as mentioned by OP: 1) They make sure that anyone on the crossing has time to cross rather than stopping traffic for a fixed amount of time (useful outside schools) and 2) If there aren't any people cr…

My biggest annoyance are the ones that wait for a gap in the traffic. And by the time it goes green you have already crossed. They seem to be configured to be irrelevant for any able bodied person. And completely ignore current traffic conditions in favour of some hard coded delays.

Re: Welcome to hell; please drive carefully

#25

Post by hgomersall »

7952 wrote: post #24
lbriner wrote: post #21

In my experience, the Puffin crossings are setup correctly precisely 0% of the time. If you are going to pay presumably a lot more money for all of the extra detectors and electronics then they need to deliver 2 things as mentioned by OP: 1) They make sure that anyone on the crossing has time to cross rather than stopping traffic for a fixed amount of time (useful outside schools) and 2) If there aren't any people cr…

My biggest annoyance are the ones that wait for a gap in the traffic. And by the time it goes green you have already crossed. They seem to be configured to be irrelevant for any able bodied person. And completely ignore current traffic conditions in favour of some hard coded delays.

Most around me seem to be in this mode. The traffic crawls past at pedestrian speed whilst a steadily growing group waiting to cross stand in vehicle fumes. There's a pretty clear principle here of flow conservation. If the light stopping traffic does not reduce overall flow then the light should change for pedestrians immediately. If the traffic flow is low, then a small reservoir is built up which clears immediately. If the flow is slow and saturated the gap that opens up can be refilled quickly. The flow range where the change actually impacts local vehicle flow is rather narrow (high, but not too high). Of course there are second order effects at associated junctions, but at that point maybe the first order interests of pedestrians should be prioritised.

Re: Welcome to hell; please drive carefully

#26

Post by WheatMillington »

divbzero wrote: post #23
barbazoo wrote: post #12

I wonder how the environment impacts how well these crossings work. The road in the photo looks very narrow, an environment where drivers probably have to pay attention, maybe even slow down in general. In my neighborhood there’s one at a two lane road but the street itself is very wide so people generally drive very fast to begin with and are often distracted. Lots of conflict at that crossing even with LED flashers…

> The road in the photo looks very narrow, an environment where drivers probably have to pay attention, maybe even slow down in general. I’ve seen roads in Japan where the lines marking car lanes narrow as you approach crosswalks, creating the impression of an environment where drivers should slow down.

It's a set of design features called Traffic Calming. It's widely used in New Zealand - using visual cues, narrowing, curves, obstacles and texture changes to slow traffic.

Re: Welcome to hell; please drive carefully

#28

Post by NooneAtAll3 »

I still don't get the argument against Pelican that it turns on Red+Yellow for cars when still showing Blinking Green for pedestrians

If that's a problem... then just don't do it? Turn on RY only after you show R to walkers

I don't see the point for a total redesign

Re: Welcome to hell; please drive carefully

#29

Post by 2earth »

collingreen wrote: post #22

This was great although I have to protest super-glue-exuberance ("gluexuberance") and instead suggest "ex-glue-berance" as a better portmanteau. ;) Thanks for the project write up and shaking up the Halloween costume mix a little.

Oh that is so much better! I'll to a footnote with credit.

Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed!

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