Comments on: Experimenting with the Elimination of Traffic Lights http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/05/04/experimenting-with-the-elimination-of-traffic-lights/ Covering the New York City Streets Renaissance Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:07:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Josh http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/05/04/experimenting-with-the-elimination-of-traffic-lights/comment-page-1/#comment-67425 Josh Tue, 05 May 2009 15:12:46 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/?p=6060#comment-67425 For context's sake, it should be pointed out that Ealing is more inner-ring suburb than urban. Its population density is about 14,000 per square mile, significantly less than Brooklyn or Queens or Hoboken, more than Staten Island or Nassau County overall, fairly comparable to New Hyde Park. For context’s sake, it should be pointed out that Ealing is more inner-ring suburb than urban. Its population density is about 14,000 per square mile, significantly less than Brooklyn or Queens or Hoboken, more than Staten Island or Nassau County overall, fairly comparable to New Hyde Park.

]]> By: John Deere http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/05/04/experimenting-with-the-elimination-of-traffic-lights/comment-page-1/#comment-67379 John Deere Mon, 04 May 2009 17:30:43 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/?p=6060#comment-67379 During the blackout a few years ago, every intersection I encountered there was a traffic jam because motorists didn't know how to cooperate. It was every driver for him/herself. And they certainly weren't cooperating with any pedestrians who wanted to cross. I actually had to momentarily cork an intersection so that a mom & couple small kids & an elderly woman could cross. While I generally believe that traffic signals get over-used to control the speed of traffic (which adds to incentives for cyclists to run red lights that are otherwise pointless), they still do serve a useful function of regulating traffic at busy intersections. There are too many "me-first" cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists for this idea (eliminating traffic lights) to work here. During the blackout a few years ago, every intersection I encountered there was a traffic jam because motorists didn’t know how to cooperate. It was every driver for him/herself. And they certainly weren’t cooperating with any pedestrians who wanted to cross. I actually had to momentarily cork an intersection so that a mom & couple small kids & an elderly woman could cross. While I generally believe that traffic signals get over-used to control the speed of traffic (which adds to incentives for cyclists to run red lights that are otherwise pointless), they still do serve a useful function of regulating traffic at busy intersections. There are too many “me-first” cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists for this idea (eliminating traffic lights) to work here.

]]> By: Rhywun http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/05/04/experimenting-with-the-elimination-of-traffic-lights/comment-page-1/#comment-67373 Rhywun Mon, 04 May 2009 16:30:28 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/?p=6060#comment-67373 RE: Urban highways It's amazing that people can look at a picture of the destruction of the downtown of a city like Syracuse and see nothing out of the ordinary. I guess it resembles the suburbs that everyone grew up with. Except in the cities, all that land given to parking lots and highways used to have productive buildings on it, rather than nothing at all; yet people just don't seem to care. Especially if only poor people live there any more anyway. RE: Urban highways

It’s amazing that people can look at a picture of the destruction of the downtown of a city like Syracuse and see nothing out of the ordinary. I guess it resembles the suburbs that everyone grew up with. Except in the cities, all that land given to parking lots and highways used to have productive buildings on it, rather than nothing at all; yet people just don’t seem to care. Especially if only poor people live there any more anyway.

]]> By: Mark Walker http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/05/04/experimenting-with-the-elimination-of-traffic-lights/comment-page-1/#comment-67367 Mark Walker Mon, 04 May 2009 14:39:04 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/?p=6060#comment-67367 My guess is that implementing this on a piecemeal basis won't be safe for pedestrians. Motorists and peds have, for better or worse, developed reflexes for a nanny-like traffic signaling system optimized for cars. Even when road users rebel against the system by disobeying the signals -- to be fair, drivers aren't the only ones who do this -- it usually occurs in a ritualized and predictable fashion, however deadly the exceptions may be. It's a bad system, but suspending the rules in a small zone won't turn off driver and ped reflexes and might expose peds to even greater danger. It's literally a matter of mixed signals. Modifications to driver behavior have to be encoded into the road surface in the form of speed bumps, bollards, narrower streets, and other forms of traffic calming. This would have more of an effect than a traffic-signal honor system in a world where some people have no honor. My guess is that implementing this on a piecemeal basis won’t be safe for pedestrians. Motorists and peds have, for better or worse, developed reflexes for a nanny-like traffic signaling system optimized for cars. Even when road users rebel against the system by disobeying the signals — to be fair, drivers aren’t the only ones who do this — it usually occurs in a ritualized and predictable fashion, however deadly the exceptions may be. It’s a bad system, but suspending the rules in a small zone won’t turn off driver and ped reflexes and might expose peds to even greater danger. It’s literally a matter of mixed signals. Modifications to driver behavior have to be encoded into the road surface in the form of speed bumps, bollards, narrower streets, and other forms of traffic calming. This would have more of an effect than a traffic-signal honor system in a world where some people have no honor.

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