So… what do you think about the state of our roadways today – and Tom Vanderbilt’s interesting findings?
What are your suggestions for making our roads safer and less congested? Or… is the situation hopeless, and we’re doomed to being mired down by the lowest-common-denominator troglodytes on the road today?
Share your thoughts right here – so we can all work towards each of us getting home on time, and in one piece!
Increase the price of fuel. Keep increasing it until there are fewer drives, making for fewer accidents.
I have always felt that many people pay too little attention to the importance of speed limits. Speed limits are set not just for safety or the possibility of better fuel economy, although those are factors. With handling and stability of modern cars we could probably drive at much greater speeds if there were no other factors to consider. What is perhaps more important is traffic volume and flow. Speed limits are chosen to facility smooth traffic flow. Too many cars traveling too fast results in increased congestion which increases the chance of collisions.
It’s like pouring water down a drain. The faster the water is poured the more it tends to back up into the sink. If you pour it at a rate that is suitable for the size drain it will flow out with no problem.
Just relax, Put James Taylor on the stereo singing…
(Chorus)
Damn this traffic jam
How I hate to be late
It hurts my motor to go so slow
Damn this traffic jam
Time I get home my supper’ll be cold
Damn this traffic jam
Well I left my job about 5 o’clock
It took fifteen minutes go three blocks
Just in time to stand in line
With a freeway looking like a parking lot
- Chorus -
Now I almost had a heart attack
Looking in my rear view mirror
I saw myself the next car back
Looking in the rear view mirror
’Bout to have a heart attack
I said
- Chorus -
Now when I die I don’t want no coffin
I thought about it all too often
Just strap me in behind the wheel
And bury me with my automobile
- Chorus -
Damn…
Now I used to think that I was cool
Running around on fossil fuel
Until I saw what I was doing
Was driving down the road to ruin
increasing the price doesnt work!in england we pay the equivalent of $10 a gallon!!and traffic is increasing year on year.if we had petrol at 10 times the price,only the rich would be able to drive,and that would be unfair.
When gas prices rose above $4 per gallon, the total miles driven in the US dropped by about 4%.
Speed limits are chosen to facility smooth traffic flow.
No, they’re not. Speed limits are intended to dumb down the driving environment so that the “lowest-common-denominator troglodytes” can cope. Even so, many still can’t. We learn about them in accident reports in the news. Much of the problem arises from the negligible value placed on driving well for its own sake.
Too many cars traveling too fast results in increased congestion
You mean the way to go faster is to slow down? Try selling that idea to NASCAR drivers in the Daytona 500.
If you prefer not to drive fast, that’s fine. But please don’t invent spurious reasons why no one else should.
No, they’re not. Speed limits are intended to dumb down the driving environment so that the “lowest-common-denominator troglodytes” can cope. Even so, many still can’t. We learn about them in accident reports in the news. Much of the problem arises from the negligible value placed on driving well for its own sake.
So it’s the the people who drive slow that cause all the accidents? Maybe we should break that news to the insurance companies so that they can correct their premiums to give lower rates to drivers of high performance cars. Maybe all those NASCAR crashes were actually done on purpose so that they aren’t actually “accidents”.
Even if I was born yesterday, I didn’t live the whole day through without knowing a cop-out when I see one.
You mean the way to go faster is to slow down? Try selling that idea to NASCAR drivers in the Daytona 500.
You would be surprised to learn just how much pacing is done in long distance auto racing. In order to finish first, first you must finish. An extra 10~15 seconds of going zero mph in an extra pit stop can really blow your average speed.
It sounds contradictory but I have found that slowing down doesn’t really slow me down if you take “mph” literally, that is “miles per hour”. I just spend a lot less time going zero miles per hour while waiting for red lights to turn green. I would be rich if I had a buck for every aggressive driver who sped past me only for me to catch up with him a few miles down the road while he was stopped at a red light.
You mean the way to go faster is to slow down?
In a sense, yes. The problem is not a high average speed, but in all the drivers hurrying up to get somewhere fast who encounter something that slows them down (slower vehicles, construction, accident, bad conditions, etc.). They have to slam on the brakes, which results in a domino effect way up the line. It’s the irregular speed that is a hazard and a nuisance. Smooth driving at a constant (but lower) speed can get you there just as quickly as fast/slow/fast/slow. The morons aren’t just the slow ones – it’s also the fast ones whose speeds are all over the place.
So it’s the the people who drive slow that cause all the accidents?
No, it’s the people who drive badly that cause all the accidents. A good, fast driver is still a good driver and a bad, slow driver is still a bad driver. The difference between them is that a good driver has the skill and judgment to drive fast safely whereas a bad driver doesn’t. What infuriates me is the notion that everyone should slow down to the pace of the most inept, lazy slob on the road. We should, instead, be pressuring the slobs to improve.
Maybe we should break that news to the insurance companies so that they can correct their premiums to give lower rates to drivers of high performance cars.
I don’t know about your insurance company, but mine bases rates for liability insurance on your driving history, not on what you drive. Collision and comprehensive cost more for a Ferrari than for an old Honda only because the Ferrari is more expensive to repair and the total amount at risk is higher.
NASCAR crashes
Those guys crash because, to win, they have to live on the ragged edge of control. That’s not appropriate for public roads and not what I’m talking about. On the other hand, it’s not necessary to creep along like an arthritic snail.
I just spend a lot less time … waiting for red lights to turn green.
Good drivers try to schedule their arrival at the next light when it is green. Bad drivers don’t pay attention.
Most of my daily commute is on interstate highways. There are always slowpokes scattered all over the road. Until traffic volume gets moderately heavy, there is room to get around them. If the slowpokes would keep up or at least stay to the right and out of the way, faster traffic would flow freely and there would be no congestion.
I have figured out that the optimum time to leave for work is 40 minutes before I’m due there. Although I can still arrive in time if I leave only 30 minutes before, my time on the road is longer because traffic is heavier. Leaving 50 minutes before doesn’t work very well either. (I have never figured out whether this is because of a mini-burst of people with an earlier work schedule or if I’m being held up by people who leave extra early so they can drive slower.) Fine tuning your schedule this way is another mark of a good driver.
To continue with the sink analogy, slowpokes on the road are like a partial clog in the drain.
Some thinking on how to deal with the tractor-trailer/private auto interface.
Should we plan on increasing private auto use or mass transit?
This is just like a computer architecture problem. How do you get data from one place to another quicker without causing collisions? Planners should just ask computer manufactures - they already have the templates, they just have to be adjusted for quirky humans.
Let’s start with less congestion, more throughput. Two options:
- A wider bus (a computer bus, not a greyhound bus, which is a bus for dogs?.. anyways)
- A more efficient bus
- A faster bus
#1: More lanes (duh). Somehow city planners skipped planning 101 and didn’t learn that people drive cars to get to and from work (and all those mega sports stadiums). So, few roads were added to match building growth. Yes, they cost money. But how much money is lost by having people sit in traffic?
#2: Technology. Smart express lanes that use those tollway passes that know who you are (well at least your car), and where you are going at that time of day, and day of the week. Programmed over the web, you can set your routes and the roadway can put you on the best path to getting there with the least congestion. Without the pass, you can still drive on the slow lanes, but for a little extra - bingo, your there. This shouldn’t be that hard, just make sure not to hire the guys who worked on the DIA baggage system. 
#3: Technology. Cars that communicate so that the speed limit can raised with the cars computer assisting the driver with emergency braking. Faster speeds with the same follow distance = more throughput. This exists and just needs to be put into practice.
Safer
The roads ARE safer for the most part. We have better barriers, better exit and entrance ramps, and cameras to make (some) people think about running red lights. Some do need more (or even any) paint / flags for better lane visibility in rain or at night, a cheep fix.
The cars are MUCH safer. Airbags (xN), traction control, stability control, ABS, tire design, side impact barriers, etc.
The drivers… well, they are not safer, they are worse. Why?
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Cell phones (which IMHO should not operate for anything but 911 while moving in the city).
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Lack of driver skill - thanks to cars that camouflage bad driver input, until the limit is reached, then…
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Minimal training (almost none). Why can’t we require EVERYONE to pay for, and take a car control course? Using a training car without ABS, traction control, stability control, etc. would go a long way to explain the physics to the average citizen, something I think most of them don’t fully comprehend or appreciate.
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Minimal testing before granted a license. Heck, the written part may not even in American (aka “English”)!! There should be a mandatory bi-annual driving test with emergency situations and to demonstrate car control would go a long way in at least making people think about how they drive. Those who fail, retake training - at their expense! If you don’t pass, find/pay someone to give you a ride.
My $.05
How about reduced driving? While I agree that more efficient use of the roads should be part of any plan, we also should consider the other side of the coin Let’s fact it, we all drive too much.
Combining trips
Living closer to: Work, Stores, Family etc.
Learn to walk, or ride a bike.
None of the above involve any investment (maybe buying a bike) and they all will save money. They also may make us healthier and save money.
The latest information out (today) indicates that along with less driving there have been less accidents. Deaths in particular are at the lowest since before Kennedy was president back in the 60’s.
We have been driving less, and saving money. Of course driving to and from work gets quite boring, so this past weekend I drove about 260 miles to attend a VW get together. Once there, our club went on three spirited drives on the twisty Ozark roads (lots of fun).
I agree with you that it would be a good idea to ride the bike (or walk) more, unfortunately it is rather unsafe to do so here due to a total lack of bicycle paths (back to that planning issue again). Just riding 4 miles to the auto parts store a few weeks ago was anything but fun or safe.
How about we all use common sense and common courtesy? (fat chance!)
Common sense would go a long way toward an answer.
Posted by: common sense answer
Vehicle “accidents” is a misnomer. Today’s "accidents’ really need to be referred to what they really are - purposeful events intended to cause bodily injury and property damage. Vehicle violations need to carry stiffer penalties. Speeding, and like traffic violations are terrorist acts; premeditated, grossly negligent, and willful conduct in violation of public safety . Running a red light is tantamount to attempted homicide. Vehicle and roadway design and safety features makes it nearly impossible to cause injury and damage. People have to purposefully cause it to happen. Prosecution should reflect this intent of the individual to act as a terrorist. People need to understand that they are operating a deadly weapon of mass destruction, and drive as though, at any time, a tire could burst, or other mechanical failure, and they must have the vehicle under control at all times.
There is no such thing as “accidents.”
Your defination of terrorist and weapon of mass destruction sets us on the path towards a police state.IMHO
I rather doubt that most people really intend to do harm, but there is certainly a fair percentage of arrogant drivers who drive very aggressively and feel that they have a right to do so. There are an equal number of self-appointed enforcers who refuse to go with the flow. Both types are antagonistic and impede pleasant traveling. Driving is such a part of our culture that there’s unlikely to ever be consistent strict enforcement of laws, nor enough police to do so. Until our society as a whole embraces civility on the roads nothing will change. But to assign malevolent motives would seem to be radical. Also, only a VERY insignificant % of crashes are due to mechanical failure