Pet Peeves (again)

[kallend 2,027]

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Traffic lights. Especially traffic lights that stop you when no-one is on the cross street. But traffic lights in general are wasteful of energy, do not reduce accidents, and increase pollution.

Holy bejeezus and squeeze the Charmin...something I can agree on with Mr. K.!

Grrrrrr...sittin' at a light, wastin' gas, nobody within sight for a mile either direction...and Aggie Dave sittin' behind a sign just waiting for you to blow through the light....Grrrrr.

I ask you guys...why in the world cannot traffic lights be coordinated? Too expensive? WTH? Compare that one-time cost to the cost of the extra pollution created! The time saved! Maintenance cost reduction!

With the current price of gasoline, it costs about $0.10 every time a car is stopped from 30mph and accelerated back to that speed, and blows an addition 3 ounces of CO2 into the air. Multiply that by the numbner of times it happens and you have a huge waste of energy and generation of pollution. In Chicago alone it amounts to around 1000TONS of CO2 daily if each car is only stopped twice by a red light.

Finally, research by the US DoT has shown that accident rates are NOT reduced by traffic lights.

Traffic lights are primitive, inefficient and inappropriate for traffic control in the 21st century.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[rehmwa 2]

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With the current price of gasoline, it costs about $0.10 every time a car is stopped from 30mph and accelerated back to that speed,

Without lights, and a desire to not be smacked in the side by someone, I'd still have to slow down (and then reaccelerate) at every intersection to avoid accidents. So, how does eliminating traffic lights fix this?

Just have all intersections have stop signs in one direction so the cross traffic can stay at speed? That gets rid of less than half of your stops and restarts. Better.

Or is this just a roundabout thing?

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[shropshire 0]

Roundabouts can 't solve all of your junction (intersection) problems, primarily due to space availability to build them in towns & cities.

Re-phasing traffic lights (so that they don't change if no traffic is on one of the routes, say at night, for example) could reduce the problem but does little for the rush hour.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Squeak 17]

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Or is this just a roundabout thing?

No man it's "self regualtion"

surely you USof American are intelligent enough to be able to self regualte yourselves on the roads.
I mean, what could possibly go wrong

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[shropshire 0]

Roundabouts can 't solve all of your junction (intersection) problems, primarily due to space availability to build them in towns & cities.

Re-phasing traffic lights (so that they don't change if no traffic is on one of the routes, say at night, for example) could reduce the problem but does little for the rush hour.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[AggieDave 6]

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Re-phasing traffic lights (so that they don't change if no traffic is on one of the routes, say at night, for example) could reduce the problem but does little for the rush hour.

A large number of lights in urban areas use motion sensors now, instead of timers or those damned magnetic sensors that don't pickup motorcycles.

They only change when there's a reason to change and there's a preferred street that will stay green otherwise. All in all its pretty nice, especially at 4am when there really isn't any traffic.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[shropshire 0]

wow... them new fangled do-hickeys

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Squeak 17]

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Re-phasing traffic lights (so that they don't change if no traffic is on one of the routes, say at night, for example) could reduce the problem but does little for the rush hour.

A large number of lights in urban areas use motion sensors now, instead of timers or those damned magnetic sensors that don't pickup motorcycles.

They only change when there's a reason to change and there's a preferred street that will stay green otherwise. All in all its pretty nice, especially at 4am when there really isn't any traffic.

All of ours have pressure sensors, and outside of peak times work the same way, the stay green on the arterial, until a car triggers the sensor on the cross street

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[skybytch 273]

Group projects. I much prefer failing on my own over failing with a group.

History teachers who focus entirely on political history while ignoring cultural and social history.

The California legislator who wants to up the tax on beer by almost $2 a six pack.

[riddler 0]

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That works when you really really need a shower, but when you
really really really need to shower you can't drive or ride in a car without contaminating it :-)

Got this idea from the mechanics that have worked on my cars in the past. Take two large garbage bags and put one over the backrest and one on the seat - they slide to cover pretty well. You can use a paper grocery bag to put on the floor rest. Don't wear the seatbelt if it's really bad

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[HeadCone 0]

When a song contains the lyrics "without you" and it's sung more like "with ow choo" or any other lazy blending of syllables.

--Head

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Turn off the internet! Join Citizens United Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety!

http://www.citizensunitednegatingtechnology.org/

[Tuna-Salad 0]

I agree. Also people who tailgate. Such is the beauty of driving a 5 speed that I can slow down very fast with no brake lights.

Millions of my potential children died on your daughters' face last night.

[lilDevil 2]

1 When you call your bank and get someone in India.

2 Shopping center car parks and people who dump their trollys willy nilly, lazy gits.

3 Ignorance oh I could run with this

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" Cant keep a good woman down "
Angels have wings, but devils can fly !

[livendive 8]

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The fact that they made "irregardless" a word. It's regardless. But so many people said it incorrectly, that they made it a word.

I can't believe how many people don't realize they mean the same thing, with irregardless just being a retarded way of saying regardless.

I have a similar problem with flammable and inflammable. Entirely too many of my co-workers think the latter is the opposite of the former.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[livendive 8]

People who chew food with their mouth open. I eat quite well and am not the least bit jealous of whatever it is they're trying to show off.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[shropshire 0]

Being hit on by hot chicks all the time... enough already. I'm not a piece of meat

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[ryoder 1,590]

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One word for you chaps - Roundabouts. You folks need to get yourself some roundabouts

This is in Superior CO, (believe it or not).

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[shropshire 0]

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People who chew food with their mouth open.

100% agree
Actually, bad table manners in general... People who just don't know how to use a knife and fork.. Fork in left hand, knife in right and keep them there.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[ryoder 1,590]

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People who chew food with their mouth open.

100% agree
Actually, bad table manners in general... People who just don't know how to use a knife and fork.. Fork in left hand, knife in right and keep them there.

But what if I'm left-handed?

Hey! Speaking of left-handed, why do you guys drive on the...oh never mind.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[sartre 0]

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Being hit on by hot chicks all the time... enough already. I'm not a piece of meat

[shropshire 0]

Left handed folks are sinister.... get over it

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[JohnRich 4]

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the turn signal thing... I can't seem to get over how many people don't use their freakin' turn signals.

Furthermore, the turn signal should be activated BEFORE you start braking to make the turn. This gives the drivers behind you warning to start slowing down. But when you put the turn signal on after you've already started braking, it's too late!

[livendive 8]

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One word for you chaps - Roundabouts. You folks need to get yourself some roundabouts

This is in Superior CO, (believe it or not).

We're getting more and more of them in Washington State.

This one, near me, is proving quite confusing to drivers due to it being two lanes in all directions. Enough so that they had to make a web page and video about it. A person using the roundabout to turn left must use the "inner" lane. A person turning right must use the "outer" lane. A person going straight may use either. So a person turning left (inner lane) frequently cuts off or is cut off by an oncoming driver going straight using the outer lane. (Edit to add: "The white zone is for loading and unloading only. There is no stopping in the red zone..." )

The absolute stupidest roundabout I've seen is near the town of Roslyn, WA. It's in the middle of nowhere...actually a national forest. I'd guess traffic at maybe a couple hundred per day on the main road and less than 20 per day on the intersecting (terminating) road. It was built in 2005 to replace a normal T-intersection in which only the folks on the less busy street had to stop. I think someone just had excess budget they needed to spend at the end of the fiscal year.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[kallend 2,027]

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One word for you chaps - Roundabouts. You folks need to get yourself some roundabouts

This is in Superior CO, (believe it or not).

The US Department of Transportation is promoting roundabouts for safety reasons. AND they reduce congestion.

www.fhwa.dot.gov/crt/lifecycle/roundabouts.cfm

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kallend 2,027]

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Re-phasing traffic lights (so that they don't change if no traffic is on one of the routes, say at night, for example) could reduce the problem but does little for the rush hour.

A large number of lights in urban areas use motion sensors now, instead of timers or those damned magnetic sensors that don't pickup motorcycles.

They only change when there's a reason to change and there's a preferred street that will stay green otherwise. All in all its pretty nice, especially at 4am when there really isn't any traffic.

Around here we have a lot that are still on timers, but the ones that really irritate are the sensor equipped lights that have been programmed by morons. One in our neighborhood is triggered by traffic turning right from a side street. So a car approaches from the side street, triggers the light, but the light doesn't change until after the car has made its legal "right turn on red". So now all the traffic on the main street is held up for a minute while nothing happens.

We also have a lot of lights within 50 yards of each other but not synchronized, a sure prescription for gridlock.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.