3 ways to make America's roads incredibly safe AND faster

[George]

In the last 2 years, in my city, almost all intersections were converted to roundabouts. The change is fantastic, the traffic got so much better it's unbelievable (of course - no traffic lights in roundabouts). Also, fatal crashes dropped as well. I was skeptic at first, but I'm all for roundabouts right now.

However, removing road signs and markings in a busy city is murder.

[Arainie]

The only way to make american roads safe is to only allow foreign drivers

[belfpala]

The only way to make american roads safe is to only allow foreign drivers

lol, ask any random New York City resident if that's a good idea and you'll probably get some combination of "Get outta here" and "Forget about it".

[Gheld]

Stricter drivers licensing standards is the only way to make roads safer. They are actually getting less strict in my opinion. When I got my drivers license the testing route was at least 10 turns. The testing course has been reduced to a mere 6 turns now. They are more interested in volume sales of drivers licenses than ensuring that the roads are safe.

[Deleted]

Stricter drivers licensing standards is the only way to make roads safer. They are actually getting less strict in my opinion. When I got my drivers license the testing route was at least 10 turns. The testing course has been reduced to a mere 6 turns now. They are more interested in volume sales of drivers licenses than ensuring that the roads are safe.

Alot of accidents are caused by people who if they focus could pass any amount of turns, but as soon as they have their license drive like lunatics. Either because they're distracted, they're drunk, tired or just plain speeding.

[Gheld]

Alot of accidents are caused by people who if they focus could pass any amount of turns, but as soon as they have their license drive like lunatics. Either because they're distracted, they're drunk, tired or just plain speeding.

Yes, so why not adjust driver licensing to look at more factors than just manual skill?

I would never hand a gun over to a mentally unstable person... Nor would I do the same with a car.

[EyelessCrow]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet, but the first article is from 2002. That was 10 years ago, and as far as I know this experiment was not further persuited. We still have trafic lights, speed limits, lines, cyclist paths, bus lanes, roundabouts etc in our cities and pretty much anywhere else in the country.

So one could conclude from that fact alone that it is in fact not the better solution.

That argument is flawed. The solutions listed in this thread would not be fully grasped by the average driver in 10 years because most have been driving the way we have for years and change in that short amount of time wouldn't happen. New drivers would be able to handle it and it would probably be helpful but this country has too many stupid laws and regulations for every damned thing that simply changing them and expecting people to grasp them in such a short time is an unrealistic expectation.

Or just make our cars fly.

Oh dear god...

[belfpala]

I was just standing outside my house watching traffic. I'll try to make a text diagram of the intersection I live on:

        |*^*|
        |*v*| 
        |*^*|
        S*v*| 
-----------------------
*********   ***********
=======================
=======================
*********   ***********
-----------------------
       OW*V*|
        V*v*| 
        |*V*|
        |*V*|

--- is the edge of the road
*** is parked cars and on the left-right road also lanes for bicycles
=== is lanes for driving
^v means two way
v v v means one way.
S is the stop sign (only for people driving south on the two way).
OW is the one way sign.

The left-right road is a main road, incredibly heavy traffic. The north-south one is a side street, mainly used by people who live around here, but also gives access to some local businesses so other people use it too.

I watched for about 15 minutes. it's amazing how well people cope with an "odd" intersection. In the couple years I've been living here, I've actually only seen one accident, and that was a driver going the wrong way up the one way and not stopping (there's no stop sign facing that direction... because it's a one way). Probably an argument against lack of signage.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

It isn't the actual round-about that is the problems it is the idiots entering and exiting them that are the problem! There are enough accidents at 4 way stops w/ ppl not being able to figure out who has the right of way let alone a round-about! They are horribly engineered intersections! "Punch the gas and cross your fingers!"

If you can't figure out who has right of way in a roundabout you need to go back to school.

[Shâréz]

That argument is flawed. The solutions listed in this thread would not be fully grasped by the average driver in 10 years because most have been driving the way we have for years and change in that short amount of time wouldn't happen. New drivers would be able to handle it and it would probably be helpful but this country has too many stupid laws and regulations for every damned thing that simply changing them and expecting people to grasp them in such a short time is an unrealistic expectation.

I'm talking about the Netherlands here, where the experiment allegedly took place, not the US. If anything, they have been increasing the number of signs, lines and rules in those 10 years.

Though maybe they have very gradually been reducing the number of signs, 2 weeks ago they were felling tree's on a local road here and because of that the entire road was blocked for several hours, yet there wasn't a single notification sign of this on either end of said road, nor was there a detour route indicated by signs.


Anyway, I agree with you on the new driver vs average driver; but you will always keep that issue

[Arainie]

Stricter drivers licensing standards is the only way to make roads safer. They are actually getting less strict in my opinion. When I got my drivers license the testing route was at least 10 turns. The testing course has been reduced to a mere 6 turns now. They are more interested in volume sales of drivers licenses than ensuring that the roads are safe.

A test route consisting of 10 turns is ridiculous, in Sweden our tests range from 15-30 minutes (depending on how well you do) in both city and country side areas , the age restriction is 18+ and up to 50% fail (depending on where you take it) on their first try. One way signs, following direction signs, double laned roundabouts and things are part of the test as well. I have some american friends who basically got their license by driving down a couple of straight roads with a few right turns and that proves nothing about if you're able to handle a car or even less cope with traffic or not lol

[Badpaladin]

I'm not sure I could agree with lack of road signs and lights until it's been proven in multiple towns and small cities. As for roundabouts, I see no good reason not to have them as the norm already.

[Deleted]

Yes, so why not adjust driver licensing to look at more factors than just manual skill?
I would never hand a gun over to a mentally unstable person... Nor would I do the same with a car.

Most of the people above are not raving lunatics. They're normal people who just act stupid behind the wheel.

[aztr0]

1 will not work in NYC. 2 may or may not... Columbus circle is still very congested area of Manhattan. I agree with 3, some yellow lights change way too fast. There is a light with camera in my neighborhood that changes to red immediately hitting yellow.

[Aninebabe]

except when the power knocks out the traffic lights the number of accidents of major intersections goes up... so not really sure how you figure having no traffic lights would help a major intersection...

Because we are used to rely on it? But when everyone knows there is no traffic lights or road signs, they are more aware of what is going on.
Ever driven on a country road with no country signs and you face another car? Guess what, you are way more observant and cautious and you slow down, cause you have to rely on other people, which is something we humans are bad at afaik, therefore no signs or lights = better and more efficient

[Badpaladin]

Well I don't think it's the cautiousness so much as the overall slower speed with the lack of anything on the roads. The cure to just about any accident is driving a little bit slower, and everybody does that by default when there aren't traffic lights or road signs.

[Wynnyelle]

Roundabouts are definitely nice, and they make things a lot easier when people aren't being stupid, but I honestly don't trust many of my fellow Americans to heed the right of way. Hell, people run enough red lights as it is. If there weren't any lights at all, people would go crazy inside roundabouts. I don't even want to imagine them in a busy part of town.

[jakeic]

Ever driven on a country road with no country signs and you face another car? Guess what, you are way more observant and cautious and you slow down, cause you have to rely on other people, which is something we humans are bad at afaik, therefore no signs or lights = better and more efficient

country roads are ridiculously dangerous considering how few people actually use them. ask anyone who lives out around a gravel road how fast they travel down them, and then ask them about how well you can see when coming into an intersection.

the signs are not the issue, it is the presumed sense of safety.

also, roundabouts and foot traffic don't mix well.

[Deleted]

Roundabouts are fine if it's a single lane, more than 1 lane is bad though, I can speak of experience since that's where my only accident in 10 years happened.

Someone on the inner circle went to the outer circle to turn at the next street, I of course gave him the right of way because I noticed him changing lanes ... the person behind me on the other hand expected me to drive onto the roundabout and just pumped his car into mine.


The things I would change to make it more safely are simple :

1. You can't pass a car on the right, paying attention to 1 side is tons easier than paying attention to 2.

2. When you pass someone you have to go to the most right lane to give way to faster cars unless you're the fastest.

3. Turn signals can't be red, they have to be orange. There should be a clear distinct difference between someone turning and someone braking.



These 3 things were the most annoying/dangerous things I encountered in the US, had/saw plenty of near-accidents because of these simple things that Europe does have.

[Wiyld]

One of the dumbest things I've ever seen... seriously.

I want to see you take 8 lanes intersections at 5:30pm, take away all the signage, lines and direction and watch the chaos.

Heres another thought, how do you establish right of way? When there is an accident who is at fault? Why would I bother stopping at a corner? Sure I might pull right out into someone but hey its cool, no one is at fault because no one had the right of way.

What do you people think all the existing roads and the laws that came with them simply existed prior to the invention of high speed transportation? You think we have them 'just because'? NO! They are an evolution of necessity. This is tantamount to saying 'we should remove all the controls from food safety because it would streamline the industry and make everyone safer because they would all be terrified of eating bad food'.

That brings up another point, you REALLY think the best plan is to make driving on public roads fucking terrifying? You all feel like it would be cool to go to work every morning, ready to piss yourself because god knows who is going to decide THEY own the road today?

If you want examples of how this does NOT work, look at Asia. I lived there I know how it works. They have signs... they have laws....and no one follows them. The old stereotype of Asians being bad drivers is..well... based on reality. In fact they aren't BAD drivers, they are simply not used to actually paying attention to, and abiding by traffic laws. Why don't they have astronomical traffic accident figures? Hehe, well thanks to that little Asian pride thing, most would pretend nothing happened then lose face. Want an example? I was on my way to school on morning, and a woman SLAMMED into the back of our bus with a little moped. Now, this wasn't a light tap, it actually crunched the rear end of the bus in a little. She got up, stumbled around a bit in shock, then fell over, got back up and limped to her moped, got on and drive it away. For all I know the poor woman went off and died on the next street.

Another example, the mountian I lived on had 1 road coming down it, 2 lanes, one each way. Well the Chinese have a saying that their traffic 'flows like water'. I.E. fills every available space. Well one day my mom was driving down the mountain, came around a turn, and was looking at THREE cars coming at her head on. Of course there was a wreck, and no one thought anything odd about the fact that they were filling every available bit of road. This was not a one off oddity, this was every day life.