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Cambridge officials not keen on installing crosswalks that look like large floating blocks of concrete to drivers
By adamg on Sun, 11/18/2018 - 10:17pm
The Cambridge Civic Journal reports city officials have concluded so-called Icelandic crosswalks would cause more trouble than they solve in East Cambridge, because the optical illusions might cause some drivers to swerve to avoid them.
In one formal study, between 10-14% of drivers swerved upon seeing the markings, perhaps believing them to be real raised objects in the roadway. Swerving would not be a safe maneuver for either the driver or other users on the road.
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Comments
Where I grew up
when you needed to calm traffic you make sure the local tarmac is up to the task of blowing out a shock or two if the driver makes the decision not to slow down.
What?
Maybe go back then. Youre advocating for cyclists to destroy public property. Property which they use and in a lot of cases don’t pay for.
Ludicrous
How many cyclists bike exclusively? Many also own cars and pay gas and excise taxes. Even when they don't own cars, they pay income and property taxes, both of which go towards road construction and maintenance.
LOL
I pay property and income taxes and don't have a car. Can I get my "road money" back?
Drivers don't pay for roads. We all do.
lol
Those aren't road taxes. Vehicle registration, vehicle sales tax, vehicle excise tax, and a tax on gasoline to approximate road mileage usage are what pays for the roads.
Wrong
Local property taxes, federal income taxes, and state income taxes ALSO pay for roads - like 50% of the total.
They do pay for some of the roads
But, its maybe 50% at best - with the rest of funding coming from the general funds (Federal/local).
Everything you consume
Everything you consume travels on roadways , either above grade rolling on rubber , or below grade in the ground. It is a conveyance of society. Even the airwaves of the precious internet are serviced by access through the highways and byways to overhead machinations. You are here, you got utility out of your road money !
Motorists don't pay the true cost of driving
And your cars destroy public streets. Where do you think potholes come from, kids riding bikes?
It's plows
Snow plows and freeze cycles cause potholes, not cars. Of course, plowing snow benefits cyclists and drivers alike, so opting to not plow the streets to prevent potholes isn't a good option.
Yes but its really about poor maintenance
https://www.pothole.info/the-facts/
Of course plows and freeze cycles cause potholes, however cars still contribute to that. And once again, due to the lack of motorists paying the true cost of driving, its not funded enough to maintain and address said potholes.
And you're fooling yourself if you think bike infra is getting clear of snow. Its not removed from bike lanes or the parking spots, parking spills over into the bike lane and it forces us into travel lanes. So no, its not a benefit to us and of course I never suggested not plowing roads but ok.
If we didn't have the snowplows to remove snow from the roads,
things would be way worse. Pot holes come as a result of extremely cold weather, which can be, and often enough is, followed by a thaw, which causes the pavement to buckle (frost heaves), and fluid builds up, which creates the pot holes. The plows don't cause them.
I missed the part where they
I missed the part where they said anything about cyclists.
Cyclists would not want a bumpy roadway. Bumps are much worse on a bicycle than in a car.
Here, too
There's a gaping sinkhole in the right lane of Storrow Drive inbound, in the shadow of an overpass.
one wonders
how swerving to avoid the mirage is an option on narrow residential streets, but then you just remember that drivers are killing us in Boston and it makes sense
One would be stupid
The other is stupid.
What the hell is this?
Just curious.
There are links in the original post
That will explain what the hell this is.
I read the info links.
That's an interesting idea.
Links?!
What are these "links" you speak of? Who are you people? How did you get in my house?
They were on the original post, statler.
:=)
It would only last a day
Within a short time the paint would be worn down to the point of ruining the effect.
Cute but impractical idea.
That's Massachusetts Myopia talking
In this far-off mythical country called America, state DOTs use road paint that is both retroreflective and doesn't wash away with the first rain.
Shorter version: These are
Shorter version: These are too safe so we won't use them.
What they didn't take into account
is that in East Cambridge, only 10-14% of drivers actually stop at stop signs. Everyone else just blows through each intersection while staring at their phones.
I'd rather a distracted driver side wipe a car than T bone a cyclist.
A swerving car can hit a
A swerving car can hit a bicycle too.
So are 86 - 90% of drivers
So are 86 - 90% of drivers getting through intersections on pure luck? Or are the stop signs unwarranted?
Yikes
I once slammed on my brakes to avoid an unintentional optical illusion. Had there been anyone behind me, it would not have ended well. This is a clever idea, but actual implementation would scare the bejesus out of me.
You should be scared
You're operating a literal hydrogen bomb death machine. It may look like it's parked in its spot right now but totally not fake Science! shows that it has a 30% chance of having murdered a pedestrian, and 130% chance of having shot, hanged, drawn, and quartered three cyclists within the last half hour. Those numbers go up by a factor of a Brazilian when you drive to the grocery store, and up by an Argentinean when you drive to work!
Okay, buddy
Maybe decaf is an option you should explore.
See, that's a sane reply and it gets upvotes
I wonder why
I'm just guessing
But it could be that people think you're a lunatic who should chill out a little.
I didn't get it either
And I usually get jokes that require a little bit of thought. I was the first kid in the class to laugh sophomore year of high school when the English teacher pointed out the impotence joke in Macbeth.
Idiotic
These crosswalks are idiotic. Why were they even considered for a second? Talk about inviting trouble. Drivers are distracted (or often intoxicated) enough without seeing imaginary crosswalks floating above the ground.
Crosswalks are necessary.
Crosswalks are necessary, in order to make cars and bicycles stop for pedestrians. Not having crosswalks would make for complete anarchy, if one gets the drift.
Ironic that they care so much
Ironic that they care so much about this, when Cambridge is full of poorly marked raised crossings that are especially hazardous for a two-wheeled vehicle that doesn't notice it in time.
Huh?
Are you talking a speeding motorcycle?
A motorcycle or scooter going
A motorcycle or scooter going the speed limit, even under the limit, could be upended and toss the rider if they don't brake in time. Suppose it could probably happen to a cyclist traveling at a good clip. And quite often, there's no reason to brake if the posted speed isn't reduced or there's nothing to stop for (red light, stop sign, crosswalk).
No
If it's a raised crossing there are signs, paint, and more signs indicating the hump. Not to mention that it's a crosswalk. This is not some parking lot speed bump either, it's a fairly long, low, and shallow slope that can't make you fly into the air unless you're speeding.
For example:
https://goo.gl/maps/CECCGu5kWtH2
Suppose it could probably happen
When monkeys go flying out of my nethers, perhaps.
I ride motorcycles and scooters and bikes - never a problem if you watch the speed limits and markings.
If you hit a poorly marked
If you hit a poorly marked raised crossing while going the speed limit, it can damage the suspension of a 4 wheeled vehicle and potentially cause a severe accident with a 2 wheeled vehicle. Many of them are poorly marked - road markings have worn off, warning signs are obscured by tree limbs or not there at all. At night in wet conditions with the glare of oncoming traffic, they can be practically invisble.
And it's perfectly legal to travel the speed limit over these things, provided there's not a crossing pedestrian, red light, etc.
Look more closely at some of them and you'll see all sorts of deep scrapes in the asphalt.
Enough speculation
I have never heard of this happening and there are numerous such bumps - not just in the Boston area, but all over the fracking US and world!
Time to put up or shut up: provide examples and links, please!
Otherwise, look more closely and we see some moron who doesn't like speed limits to be physically enforced and is making shit up.
Wait
Cambridge didn't do something obnoxious and obstinate?
Full moon?
Why stop with simple optical
Why stop with simple optical illusions? Go full Escher with the crosswalks and see what happens.
Notice how the car blows
Notice how the car blows through the intersection without slowing one bit, right around the :56 mark.
No car was there at 0:56.
No car was there at 0:56.
At 0:59 a car drives down the right side of the street (going away from the point of view), through the crosswalk. Not an intersection. No question of any pedestrian to yield to - one had just crossed right-to-left (going away from the car), nobody coming from the left curb, nobody waiting at the right, no vehicular traffic waiting on or coming out of the side street on the left after the crosswalk, no posting that would have the car that is in view STOP or SLOW.
Ok, Mr. Literal. I said
Ok, Mr. Literal. I said AROUND :56 so people would have a few seconds to see the car at :59. 3 whole seconds is that confusing? And if it's not an intersection, what do you call the crossing of all the other streets right after the crosswalk? And if the point of the illusion is to make a car slow down, it didn't seem to have any effect.
Full-on Escher gets my vote
The idea of a car swerving out of a crosswalk sounds ludicrous. Obviously it’s a crosswalk.
My kid walks to school in East Cambridge and has to keep his wits about him. Glad there are crossing guards to help.
The painting trick is awesome for the area on Cambridge St. where the new middle school is being built, hopefully ready for next year.
Bozo Filter for Bad Drivers
1. install crosswalks like this
2. note vehicles that swerve
3. pull drivers over and send them to the RMV for retesting including vision test - ticket for speeding if necessary
Swerving is an absolute marker for "driver should not be on the road" - one should be going the speed limit and able to brake in time to avoid "obstacles".