Don't fucking bless me. Keep your mythology to yourself.

Why are we changing our clocks and not just our schedules?

What is a turn light? Is that like a turn signal or is it like a stoplight. Or us it their bastard love child?


ETA - why can't my phone understand that I speak colorfully? Why would I call something a basted love child? That makes no sense. That should be at the top of the list of things needing fixed.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

gun laws

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I think saying "God bless you" dates to the Black Death, when a sneeze could have indicated pneumonic plague (rather than bubonic, which gave its victims the characteristic blackened skin from buboes). Pneumonic was far more contagious than bubonic. Maybe "God bless you" was kind of shamanic term, a way of warding off the Grim Reaper? Just blue-skying here. ;-)

I'm with you on GOTTDAMN stupid DST. Stupidest thing ever.

Ditto on the red turn lights.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

I hate DST. Just move it forward an hour and keep it there.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I told my 5 year old the other day to say "excuse me" after he sneezed a plume in my direction that would make a Maid of the Mist captain reverse course. Mrs sphere looked at me like I had two heads before offering the obligatory blessing and issuing a lifelong pardon from the burden of excusing himself in such instances. Because that's the logical order of events after you coat someone in a slimy blanket of pathogens...

I love being the only one near someone when they sneeze, just to let the awkward silence of an absent "bless you" hang in the air. Gives them time to think about what a self-obsessed jerk I am, and maybe, just maybe, think about why they would think that for not blessing them.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

A stop light turn arrow for vehicles turning left across oncoming traffic.

There are two reasons for these. One, to allow turning vehicles the opportunity to turn when oncoming traffic volume would be otherwise prohibitive, and two, to allow vehicles to turn safely where visibility for oncoming traffic is poor (bend in the road, coming over a hill, etc.).

Some regions have a flashing red arrow, meaning turn when safe, after coming to a stop. Sensible for intersections that use an arrow for scenario one described above. There is no reason whatsoever to maintain a solid red arrow when your direction has the green light, with full visibility of oncoming traffic, or the absence thereof. At least five turn arrows in my daily commute do this. Not another car in sight, half a mile of oncoming roadway visible, but I'm not allowed to make the turn. It's absolutely maddening.

I treat them as stop signs now far more often than not. Everyone should. Make them obsolete. It's not like they'll ticket everyone.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

What started as a joke because when you sneeze your heart stops for a second or something , my wife and sister say “bless you love you”. Because that could be the last thing you hear.

My kids say it all the time so for awhile I was in the habit of saying it.

At work one of the girls who sit outside of my office sneezed and “bless you love you “ came out of my mouth. That was some seriously awkward silence until I explained.

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

“Basted love child” sounds like a boozy dessert!

My phone usually guesses wrong on using apostrophes with dates. If I write “five months” it almost alway defaults to the possessive, regardless of the usage.

While you've got your toolbelts out, you guys know the 'Metric System' exists right!?!?

Is this better?

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I miss YaHey

Sounds like your complaint is basically that you don’t get to go whenever you want. I mean, you could have the same complaint about regular non-turn lane red lights at non-busy intersections. Why do you have to wait for the green when you can see that there’s no traffic coming?

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Nope. Just want to go when it makes sense to go, just like every other car moving with the green light has the opportunity to go. Right hand turns don't have to wait. Straight ahead, no wait. Many intersections have a turn arrow that just goes dark after yellow, allowing people to turn when traffic allows. The problem is high traffic areas that only use those turn arrows to allow drivers the opportunity to turn before traffic starts flowing, then turn red thereafter for no sensible reason. Lights that serve that primary purpose, where oncoming traffic is clearly visible, should go dark or flash red to allow people to keep moving safely. It's bad design that causes needless delay.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

That's a tough topic that will never change. We would have a full on revolution if something drastic ever happened. I look at my own family as how tough this topic is. Democrats in every way except for gun laws. But we definitely have a problem in this country.

100% this. Thank you for your service.

We in the upper latitudes enjoy the extra sun in the evening don't we? I'd prefer if it was dark until noon then we had sun light until 9 every night. Leaving work at 4:30 in the dark gets old fast.

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Pactimo brand ambassador, ask me about promo codes

What we need is roundabouts. Of course, that will never happen. (not in the city anyway, I am seeing them in rural areas around Ontario more and more).

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I can cut lumber to the 16th of an inch.
Show me a carpenter who can cut lumber to the millimeter? -- and I'll show you a guy who's missing fingers.

You really don’t. When no one is used to them they become a cluster of people to scared to go. We have them in a couple places in Colorado, it’s always interesting watching people trying to figure out who’s turn it is.

One of our local traffic engineers has drunk the roundabout Kool-aid... they've definitely started sprouting up at more and more road projects around town. My wife is another one of those who will drive hell and gone out of her way to avoid them, but then she's a terrible and fearful driver, which only compounds the issue in self-fulfilling fashion when she encounters one instead of just getting used to them like any other common aspect of driving.

I've seen the data & so on about measurable throughput so I understand the advantage in system performance metrics at least in theory, although that often gets hamstrung when there are both conventional light controls and roundabouts in near succession so that they don't work as well as intended with the added 'clumping'; they definitely need to be implemented selectively to the extent they're part of a more integrated system design.

People's intransigence is why we never fix shit around here. Adopt the metric system like the rest of the universe? Mass hysteria. Traffic circles? Too lazy to figure that shit out (New Jersey being a shining exception: we mastered that shit). Sensible traffic solutions like flashing turn arrows? Billion car pile-ups. Pass a goddam budget in Washington? Crazy talk.

We just don't fix shit around here.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

No, you really DO want roundabouts. They are far superior to traffic lights for keeping traffic flowing. Even mini-roundabouts in tight, town junctions work well. Traffic lights are ignorant to what is actually happening in terms of traffic demand in each direction, leaving vehicles often sitting at a red light waiting for nothing. Roundabouts allow humans to process real time information and proceed when safe to do so.

They are also more environmentally friendly (less idling) and reduce fatal traffic accidents (people slow down for roundabouts and dont run red lights).

If you (one) can't figure out how to use them, you shouldn't be driving at all. They are not complicated in the slightest.

Our state did a study, round a bouts have something like 80% fewer accidents than traffic lights and cost way less.

DST was fun this year, whacked off 1 hour of the Trump presidency

Why do we still sell lumber in dimensional sizes that don’t match the actual sizes? Surely we could consistently plane down lumber to actually be 2” x 4”.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Fewer.

Fix that shit.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

GREAT FUCKING QUESTION.

You know where that isn't a problem? Countries that use the metric system.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Two reasons:
a) job security for tradesmen. No homeowner knows what "5/4 stock" or "boardfoot" means.
b) you wouldn't be 'planing down', to get to 2" x 4". See item a)

Oh I understand in generally we do want them. The problem is there is effectively zero training on how to use them and when they are placed sporadically people are idiots and don’t know what to do.

It was more of just throwing roundabouts in wherever turns into a shit show. Especially once you get snow on them. We go up to beaver creek to ski quite a bit and then have like 4 coming off the interstate. In general it’s not too bad but as soon as the lines are gone it’s a cluster.

We have a slew of them where I live and they are way better. As long as the engineers put in the correct amount of lanes for them.

Looked up the study, I don't know how well the study was conducted but results are very significant.


https://www.dot.state.mn.us/newsrels/17/10/30roundabouts.html




A few points from the study:

There was an 86 percent reduction in the fatal crash rate at intersections where roundabouts were installed and an 83 percent reduction in the serious injury crash rate.

• 69 percent reduction in right-angle crash rates
• 83 percent reduction in the left-turn crash rates
• 61 percent reduction in the injury crash rates

France was the same way 25 years ago. They hated them and thought they were the scourge. Then the discovered their merits and have since built over 32,000 over them. The UK has less (about 25,000) but about twice the number per kilometer of road (0.6). Carmel, IN has about 80 roundabouts, or 0.11 per km. The one at Columbus Circle in NYC was built in 1905.

Funnily enough, the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris requires those on the roundabout to give way to incoming traffic. Meanwhile some roundabouts on Reforma in Mexico City have cars passing simultaneously in opposite directions around the roundabout (I kid you not!).

So it shouldn't be hard for people here to navigate them. It's really simply if you paint the right markings and have a couple of signs saying, "give way to vehicles on your left."

Reforma:

Done.

Fewer.


Fix that shit.

The fewer said about that the better.

I think that’s the big thing you need to go all in on it. If you do that it forces people to figure it out and they get used to it.

The one from Mexico looks insane.

The statistics make sense though it’s significantly more difficult to barrel through a roundabout so any crashes would be at a lower speed. I almost got blasted by some lady talking on her phone a few months ago. Laid on my horn and she didn’t even move her head. People are just oblivous.

There are times where a left turn light is necessary -- those few situations where the car turning left cannot see oncoming traffic. In all other situations, there should be no left turn light, flashing or otherwise. You still have to yield to oncoming traffic when making a left turn when the light is green, so why the need for a flashing red.

My solution for years (after listening to Adam Corolla rants) has been to ignore left turn lights when I can see oncoming traffic and that it's clear to turn. I've never been pulled over for making a left turn on a red.

Because someone feels that the risk of crossing oncoming traffic warrants forcing you to stop to make an assessment of whether or not you're actually clear, instead of being allowed to make that call while barreling through the intersection. Given the number of times daily that I see idiots rolling through red lights, turning when they don't have right of way, changing lanes without looking, etc, I'm not sure it's such a bad idea to force you to momentarily stop to assess the situation before turning your car directly in front of potential oncoming traffic.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Except that there are plenty of intersections without any left turn light. In fact, in many places including high traffic intersections, that's the default.

I'd be curious if statistically those intersections have more accidents caused by people barreling through than intersections with a flashing light. (I don't think I've seen a flashing left turn light in California.)

Momentary stops, where there are lots of cars waiting to make a turn, cause back ups.

What slowguy said. The disappearance of the green arrow where a red arrow used to follow it would cause problems for enough drivers to be problematic for the rest of us. Stop, clear, go. Keeps everything moving safely and doesn't keep people waiting needlessly.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

How do you feel about flashing yellow arrows? We have a few of these in the area, and I hate them. But there is some support for them from an accident reduction perspective: https://streets.mn/...and-the-yellow-trap/

As I responded to Slowguy, forcing everyone who's making a left turn to stop backs up traffic.

As an anecdotal example, during the school rush hour, the signal at the intersection near my daughter's school has a left turn signal that is green for may 15 seconds, allowing perhaps 5 to 7 cars to get through. It then turns yellow, allowing an additional 2 cars. It then turns green for through traffic, which means cars wanting to turn have to yield but do not have to come a complete stop first. That usually allows another 5 to 10 cars through. If cars were forced to come to a complete stop, probably only 2 to 4 would get through. That backs up traffic.

Ever been backed up in traffic where the signal is out (or flashing red in all directions). The time it takes to get through the intersection increases significantly.

And there are lots of intersections, perhaps the majority in California, that don't even have a left turn signal. There are many that do, where the left turn green, will turn yellow, and then go blank, defaulting to the green for the through traffic. Doesn't seem to be a problem.

We had a roundabout installed two miles from my house. Six months in a lady was oblivious and crashed her car into the roundabout. Police interview from the local station said the vehicle flew 30 yards before landing. I drove by the site the next day, clearly see where she landed. Looked more than 30 yards.

Sure, you can't completely engineer away lunatic driving behavior, but at least by design the structure of a roundabout will set most potential collision paths at a shallower oblique angle ~ so even when there are accidents, the severity will be lessened (or is it 'fewerized'?)

Forcing everyone who turns left to stop might back up traffic, or might not, depending on how much traffic there is, how many lanes exist, whether there's a dedicated turn lane, etc. You can't really make sweeping statements about left turn lights based on not much more than how you think it might work at one intersection when you drop your daughter off at school.

For sure, some places have lights and traffic schemes that make little sense, or that might have made sense when they were installed but don't now that traffic patterns have shifted. However, left turns across oncoming traffic lanes carry a greater risk than going straight or turning right. It's not odd to require increased safety measures for that type of turn.


Sure. Because you've turned it into a four way stop sign, and everyone is supposed to take turns, and not everyone understands that, and it gets jumbled up, and people try to run their turn at the light, etc. That's not really the same thing.


Don't know where you live in CA, but that's certainly not the majority of intersections I've seen. And I've seen plenty of idiots who shove their way through on the full green turning left because they don't understand or care that they're supposed to yield on the green to oncoming traffic. I've also seen several of those intersections where different idiots force their way through on very late left turns as the light is changing, putting them at risk to oncoming traffic and crossing traffic from the lanes that are turning green.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

This whole discussion would be moot if 'they' would instead just install a fucking roundabout. Traffic flows safely. The end.

The problem I can foresee with replacing solid red arrows with a disappearing arrow is that cars following others into a left turn across traffic may not see the light change and in the absence of a flashing red, may presume the turn of the vehicle in front of them indicates they have the right of way, setting the stage for a t-bone accident. In places that didn't have a turn arrow to begin with it probably wouldn't be an issue, but at intersections where drivers are used to turning only when they have the right of way, I can see that going badly.

Flashing yellow makes sense, and I think I've seen both flashing red and flashing yellow used for that purpose. My guess is they achieve the same effect of safely allowing vehicles to turn when clear. I doubt the difference between flashing red and flashing yellow would result in any difference in traffic flow, or lack thereof.

Like you, I treat solid red turn arrows like stop signs now, at intersections where they only serve to facilitate traffic flow and not prevent accidents from limited visibility. I consider it in keeping with the spirit of the law if not the letter.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Multilane roundabouts do allow cars to barrel through at high speed when volumes are low because cars tend not to remain lane correct. Other drawbacks include:

They are typically much more difficult to negotiate for larger, articulated vehicles. Even smaller, single lane roundabouts are difficult for rigid buses.

With no signal component they are harder to cross for pedestrians in busier locations. Drivers don’t tend to look out for peds in the same way as when making a typical 90 degree turn.

Of much relevance to this broader forum, they are significantly more hazardous for cyclists. Don’t know what it is but cars tend to pay even less respect (if that’s possible( at roundabouts. Left turns on multilane examples take confidence. I’m a confident road cyclists but roundabouts make me nervous. At signalised intersections you don’t need to worry about the side roads. Roundabouts? Assume those on (in your case right) will give way to you at your peril.

Take up considerably more room so for established sites can be difficult to fit and may require costly service relocations.

They certainly do reduce certain accident types as quoted above, but they most definitely have drawbacks for other road users. It’s not just about the passenger car. They have their place, but they aren’t a cure all.

I don't care where they put it, just leave it alone already. Why are we still changing the clocks?

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"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix