- cross-posted to:
- xkcd@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- xkcd@lemmy.world
Alt text:
This PSA brought to you by several would-be assassins who tried to wave me in front of speeding cars in the last month and who will have to try harder next time.
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This intersection looks fucking horrible. Is this how American streets are built?
Some of them yes, the real shitty version of this is the 65mph divided highway where you can reel they just plopped a highway down in a rural area crossing over a bunch of country roads so instead of spending a shit load of money on overpasses you get the pleasure of merging directly into a actual highway. I’ve never actually had a problem at one of those because they’re always in the middle of nowhere but you really get to test your cars acceleration when you find one.
There is also the stroad that is basically what you describe only with entrances to and exits from business parking lots every couple of car lengths.
I live in Tennessee… the scenario in the old is so common I saw it 4 times yesterday. It’s in every town, city, metro area here. There is no planning, no thought to motorists… They only apply a light once public outcry gets to the point where city officials can’t ignore it any longer.
The town my wife is from has an intersection like above. It killed ~30 people over the years before a traffic light was installed.
Am American, the intersection design itself didn’t register to me at all. They’re like this pretty often yeah
I’m so used to roundabouts and red lights. They’re annoying for the lone driver, but add a bit of traffic and they move everything along so much smoother.
This is almost literally the exit at my work on a country highway
Just a nice little roundabout would sort that shit. A nice train would sort it more, but y’know
Once had a motorist furiously shout, wave and honk his horn at me because he hadn’t checked his mirrors to see that his generous offer involved me cycling directly under the wheels of a bus. I live in London. It was a bright red double-decker. He hadn’t seen it.
If he didn’t see a bright red double decker bus, and he was behaving irresponsibly contrary to traffic patterns, he needs to have his driving privileges revoked.
Where is the light on this abortion of engineering
Dude please no, no more traffic light stop please
The amount of traffic light in my city is giving me ptsd
I will happily take an extra large roundabout.
Or “traffic circle” if you’re feeling fancy.
It’s taken more than 5 years but I feel like people in the city I just moved out of are finally understanding the ones in town.
Now almost nobody stops at them like an intersection. And i haven’t seen a crash from someone launching themselves straight over the center in months.
And i haven’t seen a crash from someone launching themselves straight over the center in months.
I never heard of that sort of case short from DUI, which shouldn’t be include in any accident statistic other than DUI. They’re really magical people that will make all sort of edge case happen.
But yes, love roundabout, it’s a really good way to make traffic flow smoother on a lot of junction, though the downside is you can’t have a traffic light near it. Traffic light is always the bottleneck of every jam in my city
/uj in these cases the left turn is usually low enough volume that whatever entity owns the intersection considers it not worthwhile
/rj A LIGHT?! YOU THINK YOU CAN TELL ME WHEN I CAN SAFELY CROSS A ROAD? THAT SOUNDS LIKE A VIOLATION OF MY FREEDOM IF YOU ASK ME!
In almost every case, it’s because the entity that owns it doesn’t actually have to use it daily, because then you know they’d fight to get whatever safety measures they can cram into it.
Last city I lived in had a new intersection put in with a 2 way stop (only one of the roads stops, and you have to yield to main road traffic)
After tons of minor accidents and altercations arising from disgruntled people having to swerve or slam on brakes, the city out out a statement saying basically they’ve done studies and it’s safer than other intersections so nothing will be done to it.
Two or three years go by and one of the city council people moved and now has to use that intersection.
Within a month it had stoplights installed without a word.
Could be a coincidence. Maybe they even had been planning that for the entire two or three years.
But I personally believe nobody gave a shit until an “important” person (you know, that high-stake, much coveted small town council seat) had to use the intersection.
The absolute state of U.S road infrastructure. Jesus.
We need one of the classic xkcd comics with ten examples of something, just this kind of junction in different countries.
The UK would have traffic lights and staggered pedestrian crossings.
“Don’t be polite, be predictable” words to live by on any road tbh
There’s an road with an intersection exactly like this that I commute to work on everyday, with the only difference being that it has a 35 mph limit.
Upon reflection though, when I have been in the leftmost car’s position, I have never ever turned left onto the three lane road. Still though, this road is not usually busy and you can easily see over the road division.
I have seen people floor it just barely in front of me when they turn to the left though, but that’s just because they’re impatient, not because someone waved them on.
Can confirm, US small towns with the mega giant superhighway going through it will have these exact intersection designs. A turn lane in a divided, but no accel space. Best bet is to yield / stop in the halfway point to check traffic before going for it.
Some absolute imbicile waved a child across straight into the path of a car outside a school just the other week. Thankfully only broken bones. A few months before that a resident on the same street drove straight into the back of my parked van. Their reasoning was that the windscreen was all fogged up. Drivers scare the shit out of me.
The lack of merging lane for those going out of that junction is weird.
This goes the other way too: don’t wave someone unless you’re completely sure it’s safe. I wish more driving schools actually taught things like this.
That’s why it’s commonly known as the wave of death.
