this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2023
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[–] atx_aquarian@lemmy.world 59 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Lights have to get smarter. Right on red is half the traffic flow in my area.* I always see so many situations where a green turn arrow would be appropriate, and yet the intersection is relying on the right-on-red rule instead, causing each car to pause when it should be flowing through. And even more situations where a light always stops the majority direction of traffic on what must be a fixed timer that poorly syncs with some upstream lights, because it always seems to turn red as a clump of cars arrives, even when there's almost always no cross traffic. Maybe right on red is more dangerous in some places, and we can get rid of it, but we have to replace it with some actual civil engineering instead of making traffic even worse.

*±100% margin of error, sample size 1

[–] LudwigvanBeethoven@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How the hell did you get 0.5 cars going right on red? Did a car just plow through multiple houses between going straight and turning right at an intersection?

[–] SoleInvictus@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Your -2 comment score leads me to believe some people didn't get your joke. I'll explain it, which we all know will make it funnier.

The previous comment mentioned their observation of half of the traffic moving through right on red and, later in parentheses, said this was based on n=1, i.e., based on the observation of a single vehicle. I'm 100% certain that was a joke.

The follow-up comment was also certainly a joke. They're pointing out that the commenter observed one car and then made the claim half of cars use right on red, so they're jokingly asking how exactly half of one car made it through.

Get it? Now stop downvoting the dude, stats are great, stats dad jokes are better.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Its acting like both a wave and a particle

[–] SheeEttin@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Yes, but with a ±100% margin of error, that means right on red traffic could be anywhere between 0 and 100%. I think it's a safe assumption that with n=1 it's one of those extremes, not fractional cars.

And today I learned that people should joke around more with statistics.

[–] Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

Totally agreed, and from the pedestrian side of things, civil engineering would be helpful too.

Our roads are too fucking wide for pedestrians. Give me some pedestrian islands and raised crosswalks.

I'm more interested in giving pedestrians a direct route that doesnt need to cross fast traffic.

fixed timer that poorly syncs with some upstream lights

This has gotta be the number one traffic issue in the US. Our timer lights are just garbage and we so rarely use sensor lights. Our traffic light setups always seem overcomplicated but not over engineered.

Pedestrian signals are slow too. Have to wait a long time to get the WALK signal, and its rarely necessary as it's already illegal to not let a pedestrian go at a crosswalk if you're turning into it, in my state.

[–] Wahots@pawb.social 17 points 1 year ago

Changing traffic laws will have some effect, but really we should be working on more lightrail and more high-speed trainsets. It will take time for housing and business to rebuild around stations, but it will simultaneously keep people safer, alleviate traffic, and reduce emissions. Nothing more satisfying than flying by traffic for less than the price a gallon of gas, especially if you live a decent distance from work or school too.

[–] corey389@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I'm My State when the lights turn green to take a Right the pedestrian light also gives the pedestrians the green light to cross. So we have cars turning right while pedestrians are crossing. How much safer is that. At least now when you take it right on red the pedestrians don't have the right to cross.

[–] STUPIDVIPGUY@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah you're supposed to yield to pedestrians yet there are no signs indicating so, it's so dangerous

[–] MeanEYE@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Equally safe as if a vehicle was coming from your right. You are suppose to yield to those participants in traffic. It's just that pedestrian can't hurt you so they are commonly ignored. But they have equal rights and laws like every other participant.

[–] MeanEYE@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

USA has ass-backwards system for getting drivers license. At least from I could find online. You get learners permit after passing written exam. That's not nearly enough. In my country you have to attend 20 hours (optional depending on existing licenses) of theory, then pass theoretical exam. Then you have a driving instructor assigned to you for total 40h (or 20h depending on existing licenses) in 1h sessions. You first start training court where you train to start, stop, turn and other driving maneuvers. When instructor deems you ready for traffic only then you get to drive with them in the car and having dual controls for the vehicle. Only when instructor deems you ready you are allowed to take the test for getting the license. And even on the test you first have to pass training court before you are allowed to enter traffic.

By the time you got learners permit you have at least 40h of driving in traffic which is significantly better than just passing written exam.

In my eyes, law is not the problem but experience and people paying attention. Phones, doing makeup, eating food and other things should be forbidden in car because it distracts you too much.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The US is too car-dependent to make a drivers license harder or more expensive to get. Less safety is the price we pay.

Yep, and we are generally not willing (as a society) to pay decent wages for things like teachers, so getting drivers ed teachers for all student drivers would be not possible. Private lessons would work but that would make it unavailable to a lot of less affluent people.

[–] MeanEYE@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Your roads are wider as well, which someone thought was a great idea for lowering number of traffic accidents, but in reality it only makes people drive faster and more reckless.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If someone is too stupid to learn to drive safely maybe we don't need them participating in society anyway.

[–] Reddit_Is_Trash@reddthat.com 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They are free to participate in society, just not drive on the roads. It's their fault if they can't learn how to drive.

We need to hold people to some standard. If they are incapable of learning how to drive, we should direct resources to those who are. It's time we stop catering to the lowest common denominators of society

[–] MeanEYE@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

When I was taking the test prior to my appointment was a girl who failed, and I kid you not, 8-9 times already. She was shaking out of fear. We had a common instructor so I overheard him tell her where she commonly makes mistakes. Basically her driving is fine but she doesn't follow signs one bit. She would drive fast in school zone or blow through stop signs. And I completely agree, some standards must be upheld. Just being able to get the vehicle moving is not a reason enough to own a license. You need to be able to be part of the system.

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[–] TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are at least 50 different systems for getting a driver's license in the US since each state issues its own license. Some states are far more rigorous than others. My home state has a system similar to what you describe only it includes an additional 40 hours driving with another licensed adult, in addition to the hours spent driving with a certified instructor and the classroom hours.

The state I live in now? Not so much. They basically just give out licenses to anyone who shows up, pays the fee and can show that they know what the different pedals do. Unfortunately this produces terrible drivers, as you would expect.

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[–] dynamojoe@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Sounds like Revenue Generation to me. Some out of town driver doesn't know about the local traffic law, gets cited for breaking it, and loses if they fight it.

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[–] PriceIsWrong@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Drivers are becoming hostile and idiotic by the day. What you'll also notice is when it is green, they will stop instead.

Need higher or more severe penalties if this is to save lives

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[–] ezchili@iusearchlinux.fyi 10 points 1 year ago (6 children)

We don't have right on red in europe. Can't imagine crossing the road to a median with it

[–] MeanEYE@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

We do have conditional turning lights though.

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[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

It's banned in NYC but not enforced, so it may as well be legal. Then again, barreling through a red light also isn't enforced.

[–] Number1SummerJam@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

They should ban slip lanes too

[–] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

Uhh not by default! The pedestrian crosswalks need to be hooked to the light, and timed better. When a pedestrian needs to cross (with the button), then no right on red—after the cars go. That way there isn’t a rush by anyone.

[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Drivers should not have the option to decide for themselves when they think it’s safe

I hate this sentiment. They don't want people to think for themselves.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Think they mean that most people don't have the necessary knowledge to determine whether a specific action or inaction is safe. Which is absolutely true.

[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I disagree. More often than not, people make the safe decision.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think we live on the same planet.

[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

And yet, less than 50% of car trips result in crashes. Ergo, people make the safe decisions more often than not.

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I don't think that's true at all and if it was we would have a way bigger problem to solve

[–] Selmafudd@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This seems weird. Do you guys not have arrows for turning traffic? Just one set of solid lights??

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 9 points 1 year ago

Left arrows are pretty common. Right arrows are extremely rare.

[–] Justas@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For context, I suspect this is what you mean:

Green arrow

These were common in EU before getting deprecated.

[–] Selmafudd@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Lol no wtf if that monstrosity.

I mean a second or even third column of lights that are left and/or right arrows.

[–] SheeEttin@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Generally no, there's one set of lights for each lane. And green circle means "you can go in any direction according to your lane".

There are lights with multiple columns, but they're rare. I can only think of one around here off the top of my head, and that's because it's on my commute home. It's part of a weird six-way intersection where I can take a right either on my green arrow or on the green circle along with the lane to my left going straight (but we share a red). (This is also signed "no right on red", but that's pretty common around here.)

Green arrow means it's a protected turn, i.e. oncoming traffic has a red.

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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think traffic laws is one of the few things where Canada is even worse than the US. It's outright retarded how traffic lights work here and it's a small miracle that we don't have casualties every single day on every single street

[–] PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

What's the difference? I grew up only a few hours from the border but have never actually been to Canada.

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