Reinventing the street system

[Schrödinger's Cat]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0912/p07s03-woeu.html

A small town abolished traffic lights with some success. This got me thinking about the practicalities of traffic lights. I don't think we should make every street a "free-for-all," but to save time and decrease environmental pollution I think streets should maximize on round-abouts (for small areas) and replace most stop signs and stop lights with "stop when occupied." Filter systems tend to work. Whenever a stop light goes down, people will cooperate to get through. Accidents usually occur at stop light malfunctions because people are accustomed to the lights.

Speed restrictions, especially on highways, also need to be looked at. Regardless if you're going 100 or 60 MPH, you're probably dead in a car accident. Now, driving on roads must be upheld as a privilege for careful drivers. If you're drunk and driving, you should have hefty consequences - no driving for a year would be nice. You could also register this person and check their home to make sure they aren't driving.

[Dean]

Interesting choice of sources...

[Sendo]

Coming from a town that built a host of ungodly roundabouts in intersections that shouldn't use them, living over three times as much land due to pork barrel spending from a corrupt town board, I can say I hate the damn things. You can't even cross the streets anymore on foot. It's one thing when you're community was designed with them in mind. But they're stupid afterthoughts 9 times out of 10.

I'd rather see trolley lines be built than the blacktop monstrosities called roundabouts.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

Interesting choice of sources...

Don't be deterred by the name. The CSM is one of the most reliable mainstream presses.


Coming from a town that built a host of ungodly roundabouts in intersections that shouldn't use them, living over three times as much land due to pork barrel spending from a corrupt town board, I can say I hate the damn things. You can't even cross the streets anymore on foot. It's one thing when you're community was designed with them in mind. But they're stupid afterthoughts 9 times out of 10.

I agree. Round-abouts are shit for small roads, and they take up too much room in neighborhoods. Stopping when occupied and going in order just makes sense. I can't tell you how many times I've slammed my breaks just because a stop sign was hidden by some awkward turn or brush.

However for medium-sized roads I've found round-abouts to be very practical, especially for three-ways.

[Holden Caulfield]

after reading the title i feel the need to add that Carlisle Council decided to put the main road through the city in between the Castle and the Cathedral, and even removed some of the castle wall to get the road in. There are many many other places that road could have went...

pretty retarded for a town that aims to be a tourist hotspot