4 ms·
Confessions of a Recovering Engineer[0] covers the issues that are causing this. They are quite complex, and counter-intuitive to the way streets have been desi
by milkytron 5y ago
Confessions of a Recovering Engineer[0] covers the issues that are causing this. They are quite complex, and counter-intuitive to the way streets have been designed after WWII.
Traffic engineers aim for speed and volume on roadways (point A to point B), but they also do the same for streets, which should be more focused on the surrounding environment and the neighborhood, a destination for some locals. Why would we want to maximize traffic volume and speed in a neighborhood where people are out and about? For safety, we should be slowing down speeds on streets. Speed is the primary factor in whether a collision will result in death or injury.
But the speed a driver will go is dependent on the how risky it is. Most people will exceed the speed limit, because roads have been designed to be safe at even higher speeds than the speed limit. Throw some obstacles near streets (trees, parked cars, sharp turns with blind spots, kids playing outside nearby), and usually people will slow down at least a bit.
If we want safer streets, we need to make it riskier to speed. An interesting statistic provided by the book was that insurance companies found that Massachusetts was the state most likely to involve car crashes per vehicle mile traveled. But another study showed that Massachusetts has the least amount of fatalities from traffic collisions. Because the roads are hard to navigate with many variables all around, increasing the risk of speeding. The states with the highest fatality percentage were mostly in the midwest where roads are long, straight, and safe to speed on.
We need to slow cars down. Drive safely everyone, or better yet, don't drive.
[0]https://www.confessions.engineer/ https://www.confessions.engineer/
- GeorgeTirebiter 5y agoSeems to me that if cars were invented today, they would be immediately banned. Imagine any other product that kills as many as cars do (in '20 cars killed 38,680 and guns killed about 20K in USA).
- s1artibartfast 5y agoInteresting thought, I wonder if the same would be true for alcohol, nicotine, fatty foods, and sugary beverages. This doesn't negate the parent thought, but I think speaks to the risk tolerance of society.
- rbanffy 5y agoThe only reason heroin is illegal is that it was invented after alcohol. And this is not a defense of heroin.
- milkytron 5y agoIf cars were invented today, we would not have the infrastructure to support them. We were able to build massive car infrastructure as a result of the economic expansion following WWII. We built out our environments to a huge extent in order to support car dependent lifestyles. If cars were invented today, I would hope there would be discussion as to whether or not that infrastructure should be built, and if we would have the money to support. As of now, tons of maintenance costs are associated with our sprawl, and many communities are saddled with debt that they'll struggle to repay. We probably would limit them to niche needs, and only build out enough infrastructure to support our needs. Making every street and road accessible to cars would be a huge undertaking, as it was then.
- captainoats 5y agoLook at photos of the US from before the introduction of the automobile. It looks very similar to today because of the similar form factor horse and carriage has to a car or truck. Minus the interstate highway system, things would look nearly the same.
- milkytron 5y agoYeah the layout is mostly the same, but the costs for a dirt/gravel/cobblestone road are much less and there wouldn't be as many roads out to the middle of nowhere. There would have been decades of building density in the hearts of cities, something which is lacking now.
- Karrot_Kream 5y agoLots of other developed countries that don't incentivize suburban development just don't develop roads in lower density areas. Roads with lower LOSes often are just gravel roads or sealed dirt roads instead of leveled and graded concrete the way it is in the US. That's the problem when it comes to affordability here; the actual usage of these low-density roads isn't worth the cost of maintaining them.
- pgodzin 5y agoExcept that almost every city was denser before, with buildings now replaced by highways and surface parking lots
- pshc 5y agoIf they were invented today they would have speed limiters built in and wouldn't be capable of going >100 mph fresh off the lot, for one.
- cratermoon 5y agoGuns. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/17/guns-are-now-killing-as-many-people-as-cars-in-the-u-s/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/17/guns-... But the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act[1] specifically excludes gun makers from being liable for their product. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_of_Lawful_Commerce_in_Arms_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_of_Lawful_Commerce_...