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Nah, spoken like someone repeatedly humbled by the complexity and detail of domains other than my own. “I can drive a car therefore I understand traffic design

Nah, spoken like someone repeatedly humbled by the complexity and detail of domains other than my own. “I can drive a car therefore I understand traffic design better than traffic designers” is obviously an absurd statement when you just say it outright instead of condescendingly implying it. > HN commentator revolutionizes traffic design with groundbreaking insight: consider the sight lines

wat10000 1y ago
I doubt anyone is even analyzing most of these intersections. Low-traffic residential streets just automatically get a stop sign regardless.
8note 1y ago
you can also be humbled by how little thought goes into a lot of car infrastructure. eg. rather than picking a speed limit, and building the road to encourage that speed limit, american engineers will build the road, then set the speed limit by how fast people typically drive on it
- wat10000 1y ago
  Pretty sure it doesn't even go that far most of the time. Around here, there seem to be a few simple rules based on the road's intended use and the area it's in. Lower-traffic residential streets are 25MPH, as are somewhat busier streets in dense areas. Other roads that connect more distant places are 35MPH. And that's about it. One road I frequent has a broad section with parking on both sides, one lane in each direction that would be plenty wide enough for two cars abreast, and a center turn lane. And then there's a narrow section barely wide enough for one lane in each direction, with densely packed houses whose driveways connect straight to the road, and a hill that sharply limits visibility. People tend to go 25MPH in that section and 40+ on the wide section. The limit in both places is 35. About two miles away there's a major connector with 3-4 lanes each way, divided by a median. People often go 50 there. The limit is, you guessed it, 35.

wat10000 1y ago

I doubt anyone is even analyzing most of these intersections. Low-traffic residential streets just automatically get a stop sign regardless.

8note 1y ago

you can also be humbled by how little thought goes into a lot of car infrastructure. eg. rather than picking a speed limit, and building the road to encourage that speed limit, american engineers will build the road, then set the speed limit by how fast people typically drive on it

wat10000 1y ago
Pretty sure it doesn't even go that far most of the time. Around here, there seem to be a few simple rules based on the road's intended use and the area it's in. Lower-traffic residential streets are 25MPH, as are somewhat busier streets in dense areas. Other roads that connect more distant places are 35MPH. And that's about it. One road I frequent has a broad section with parking on both sides, one lane in each direction that would be plenty wide enough for two cars abreast, and a center turn lane. And then there's a narrow section barely wide enough for one lane in each direction, with densely packed houses whose driveways connect straight to the road, and a hill that sharply limits visibility. People tend to go 25MPH in that section and 40+ on the wide section. The limit in both places is 35. About two miles away there's a major connector with 3-4 lanes each way, divided by a median. People often go 50 there. The limit is, you guessed it, 35.