Quote:
Originally Posted by Caddylackn
People who speed tailgate other drivers doing the speed they want to drive so slower drivers do not pull out in front of them.
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Amazing. I wondered why those crazies were driving 5 ft behind the forward cars bumber at 74 mph. !! This makes sense. Also, great points about the higher costs of speeding - very true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caddylackn
I have been doing road design and Civil Engineering for years. You cannot Engineer out the stupidity of drivers or pedestrians or slow people who want to speed.
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Thank you for your civil engineering efforts to improve our built environment. You and your colleagues HAVE made a difference and we appreciate that. But yes the inevitable foolishness of a portion of our populace must dishearten you, all.
But I have noticed things like raised bump up red crosswalks make a difference.
Consider Netherlands (always consider Netherlands):
"In the Netherlands, the sustainable safety approach differs from Vision Zero in that it acknowledges that in the majority of accidents humans are to blame [emphasis mine], and that roads should be designed to be "self-explaining" thus reducing the likelihood of crashes. Self-explaining roads are easy to use and navigate, it being self-evident to road users where they should be and how they should behave. The Dutch also prevent dangerous differences in mass, speeds and/or directions from mixing. Roundabouts create crossings on an otherwise 50 km/h (31 mph) road that are slow enough, 30 km/h (19 mph), to permit pedestrians and cyclists to cross in safety. Mopeds, cyclists and pedestrians are kept away from cars on separate paths above 30 km/h (19 mph) in the built up area. Buses are also often given dedicated lanes, preventing their large mass from conflicting with low mass ordinary cars.
More recently the Dutch have introduced the idea that roads should also be "forgiving", i.e. designed to lessen the outcome of a traffic collision when the inevitable does occur, principles which are at the core of both the Dutch and Swedish policies.[33]
-- from Wikipedia entry on Vision Zero
PS I think this thread has morphed from aerodynamics to "general efficiency" and not sure how to deal with that.