Subject: Brain-Dead Road Engineering (was: driver's ed. is a joke)

From: [email-masked] (Rushton)
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 19:19:06 MST

[email-masked] (J. Hale ) writes: 
>> It's just too damned easy to get a license in this country.  

 [email-masked] (Robert M Paller ) writes: (Re: driver's ed. is a joke:)
>I agree 100%. After visiting Germany last year and travelling the
>Autobahn in both a car and on a motorcycle at speeds of 90mph+, I no
>longer feel safe on American roads. Not only do we need to be retrained
>on driving, DOT needs to do major work on the roadways and signs.

>In Germany there is not such thing as a blind corner, they use mirrors
>where ever they feel it is dangerous to pull into traffic. Thus there
>is no need to have your car dangerously set in traffic to look for
>oncoming cars.

Of course in America we are blessed with such brain-dead engineering as 
left-lane entrances and exits.  The left entrances are probably the worst.  
Here you have a bunch of people **merging into what is normally regarded as 
the fast lane!!!**  So you get all these people that would normally be 
cruising by in the left lane at a higher speed doing their little non-signaled 
maneuver into the far right lanes (and sometimes the shoulders, killing people 
who are changing flat tires.)

Add to that all the folks from out of town driving around trying to search for 
some section of the city w/o decent street signs.  We also have a number of 
"disappearing lanes" that are not marked at all.  All of this goofiness adds 
up to accidents, deaths, and confusion.  How many years have we been building 
roads?  And we still haven't figured it out?

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From: [email-masked] (J. Hale )
Date: 17 Jul 1995 01:59:06 GMT

>roads?  And we still haven't figured it out?   

Add to that the huge grooves created by trucks.  Those grooves are a
hazard when changing lanes; they can wreak havoc on an unwary driver. 
They're a hazard when attempting to stay centered in a lane; often the
grooves are just slightly farther apart than the average width of a
car.  In the rain the grooves are doubly hazardous; standing water
collects in them and the results are obvious.  
    The roads definitely need to be fixed (or at the least thought
through before building), but I think that educated drivers would be
better able to handle any potential dangers and that is where we need
to concentrate for the time being.  Repair of the current roads should
continue, and as we can't fix all of the left-lane entrances we need to
learn how to deal with them.  Why is it that noone in our legislature
has proposed a solution to these problems (like the newly elected
governor(?) in Ontario).
    But...that's just my opinion...I could be wrong....

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From: [email-masked] (firebug)
Date: 17 Jul 1995 03:01:41 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
>left-lane entrances and exits.  The left entrances are probably the worst.  

Other not-quite-thought-out designs include highways with short or
practically no on ramp, especially when combined with the common design
feature of having to follow a sharp curve to get on (like 135 degrees to the
left, and then 110 or so degrees back to the right).

Left lane exits are great for causing problems if you're getting on the
highway on the right and your exit is the one on the left, 30 seconds away.
With heavy traffic and traditional American courtesy, following distances,
and attention to the road, it can be nearly impossible to make two lane
changes in that time.

>roads?  And we still haven't figured it out?   

The most annoying thing that you can find in an unfamiliar town is a left or
right only turn lane that isn't labeled until it's too late and you're
trapped in. Or worse is when someone -else- is trapped in and he decides
he's getting out any way possible.

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From: [email-masked] (Rushton)
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 19:19:06 MST

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From: [email-masked] (firebug)
Date: 17 Jul 1995 03:01:41 GMT

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From: [email-masked] (Isaac Wong)
Date: 21 Jul 1995 17:57:58 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Rushton) writes:

|> Of course in America we are blessed with such brain-dead engineering as 
|> left-lane entrances and exits.  The left entrances are probably the worst.  
|> Here you have a bunch of people **merging into what is normally regarded as 
|> the fast lane!!!**  So you get all these people that would normally be 
|> cruising by in the left lane at a higher speed doing their little non-signaled 
|> maneuver into the far right lanes (and sometimes the shoulders, killing people 
|> who are changing flat tires.)
|> 
|> Add to that all the folks from out of town driving around trying to search for 
|> some section of the city w/o decent street signs.  We also have a number of 
|> "disappearing lanes" that are not marked at all.  All of this goofiness adds 
|> up to accidents, deaths, and confusion.  How many years have we been building 
|> roads?  And we still haven't figured it out?   

Not only in the US, that's quite true also in Canada. Esp. in Montreal, some
road signs are installed and visible only after you've gone to the highway
exit. "Is that sign saying Montreal downtown??" "Ooops, No! No! AHHH..sh**!
too late!" 
Left hand exits are also common in Quebec. "Next exit is the one... take the
right lane.....No! No! It's on the left!!"

In Australia, the road signs are all installed well ahead of time (that depends
on the state). From my experience, Australians drive more safely. (Of course,
there are some exceptions) The highways in South Australia have a speed limit
of 110km/h, 10km/h faster than those in Ontario Canada. Their highways are 
built safer, too.

-- 
Isaac Wong, [email-masked] | FORD -- Fail Or Repair Daily
Computer Systems Engineering       | FIAT -- Fix It Again Today
Carleton University, Ottawa        | What does BNR stand for?
Bell-Northern Research Ltd. (BNR)  | "Brain Not Required."

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From: [email-masked] (Seungho Cha)
Date: 24 Jul 1995 08:37:46 -0700

>|> cruising by in the left lane at a higher speed doing their little non-signaled 

well, here in Los Angeles, everybody drives in left lane, even when
all other lanes are clear.  you gotta use right lane to pass.  so,
entrance in right lane seems to be a bad idea here. 8-)

-- 
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' o/                                   |>
  |    .  o                            |            Seungho Cha, Ph.D.
  >\.                                ( | )          Computer Science