I have seen many cases where the road or the traffic control devices on it caused accidents.
In 1997, we had one intersection that produced twice as many accidents as any other location in town. I went to observe it. No wonder! At night, when the cross street had no traffic to call the cross street green on the actuated signal, the signal was changing from straight-ahead traffic in both directions to a turn arrow in one direction. Traffic moving east got yellow lights while traffic moving west still had green lights. Anyone making a left turn from the eastbound leg turned across westbound traffic that still had a green. The signal was reprogrammed to not allow that sequence.
There was a place on a state highway where drivers missed a curve in the road and crashed into a lower yard beyond the curve - but only at night. Investigation showed that the roof of the house on that lot, seen just beyond the shoulder of the road, looked at night like a continuation of the road. They put in a guard rail and arrow signs to fix it.
There was a place on a highway where the concrete slabs didnāt quite line up. It normally caused no trouble, but occasionally a small car without power steering was thrown off the road.
The top of a semi trailer shorter than the clearance marked on an underpass hit the underpass. The problem was that the approaches to the underpass were higher than the underpass and the road sloped down to the underpass on both sides. The cab was higher on one side and the back wheels of the trailer were higher on the other side. This raised the middle of the trailer high enough to hit the underpass.
In the 1970s, the state highway department placed the vehicle detectors closer to the intersection than engineering standards required because the detectors has a limit on how long the cable between the detector and the detector electronics box could be. The state would not spend the extra money to put in auxillary post-mounted boxes to hold the electronics boxes away from the signal control box. The result was high speed truck crashes because the trucks didnāt have enough warning to stop safely.
Because of a budget cut, the interchanges originally planned for a divided highway were not built. Instead another state highway crossing the divided highway was left with a dogleg in it, forcing all traffic using that other highway to merge into traffic on the right, weave across two lanes, and make a left turn about a quarter mile later.
What I hate are the rotating MENUS to get the function you want on the display before you can change the setting. You have to LOOK at the menu to do this. This means you have to take your eyes off the road.
When I am moving at speed and drive into skunk effluent, I donāt want to mess with a menu to shut off the fan or to recirculate the interior air. I want a control I can move now that doesnāt do anything else.
Yup, thereās a road like that, which I have to travel every time Iām at work, driving commercial trucks, on a road test. I donāt drive a semi, but I have a class B, and many of the vehicles I drive are just as high as any semi with the trailer. It always makes me nervous, because I know Iām clearing, but I donāt know just how close it actually is. I guess on my road, the approach isnāt as steep, as on the example youāre thinking of
Speed limits can be low for reasons other than the road not being safely traveled at a certain speed. Lots of driveways with limited visibility is one reason. The residents canāt safely enter the road from their driveways because of high speed traffic that you canāt see until itās too late to stop. Gentle curves with no visibility is another.
The curve itself can easily be taken at high speed but you canāt see whats just around the bend.
āCarburetors have basically been illegal for automobiles since 1990.ā
āExtremely strict emissions requirements have made carbs de facto illegal.ā
Twice stated that carburetors are illegal with no mention that carbureted vehicles are still being driven legally. When I make a mistake I am the first to admit it.
I remember back in 1950 when my Dad traded his 1939 Chevrolet for a 1947 Dodge. The 1939 Chevrolet had a manual choke and the Dodge did not. I wondered how one started the engine when the engine was cold. The 1939 Chevrolet had an emergency crank which the Dodge did not have. I wondered how the Dodge could be started if the battery was dead.
Gee, Sarge, I thought it was so BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that old vehicles were grandfathered, that there was no need to mention it explicitly. In fact, I had no idea what your beef was, until you spelled it out.
ā¦but yeah, nobodyās ripping carbs out of Model Ts, LOL.
When I make a mistake I am the first to admit it.
Fair enough: I made the mistake of assuming you could follow along with me, āunderstandingā that my comments were directed at MANUFACTURE OF NEW vehicles, and not forced retrofit of older ones. I now admit it: I was wrong to assume that youād be able to do that.
ā¦but, like I said, the legal precedent now exists so that they possibly could force ex post facto emissions, if they wanted, and most gearheads didnāt āpay it no nevermind,ā as it didnāt directly affect them.
@Troubleshooter Re the overpass you spoke of, I have seen many cases of semiās hitting the overpass because it was marked with the legal hight when it was built & after years of repaving was no longer riight due to the thickness of the new pavment & was never remarked.
And there was one in Indianapolis where they were told the low height and told to use alternate routes and they hit it anyway.
I saw one solution to the problem. They hung a long sign across the road suspended from the top. It said:
IF YOU HIT THIS SIGN, YOU WILL HIT THAT BRIDGE
------ Larry Robinson Bloomington IN midimagic@sbcglobal.net
Sometimes I donāt use the display at all while using my phoneās GPS app.
When Iām going somewhere on my motorcycle where I havenāt been before, I turn off the screen and put the phone in my jacket pocket. Then I listen to the GPS instructions though my ear buds under the helmet. It actually works out better not having to look at the screen at all, because on a motorcycle, itās easier to see everything around you.
About 30 years ago a tractor trailer almost made it under a local bridge. The driver and police were scratching their heads when a teenage farm boy walked up and said: " I would just let some air out of the tires".
