Robots in your bike lane, coming soon
#101
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The robot should also do a moderate tasmanian devil maneuver, along with the blinking & meep meep.
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#102
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Someone quipped that laws were made to support business first! Going to work one morning and had to go around the Channel 46 truck parked SQUARE in the middle of the MUP. Tech told me, "we will only be here awhile." Told him the 'coverage I could count on' was him getting OFF the MUP! Emailed both the local constabulary and the station. Cue the elfin' crickets.... Earlier this month, Stone Mountain City maintenance trucks parked on the MUP. This past year it has been a fiasco of camera crews (one covering a politician), maintenance and construction morons that have no time or need for laws....
#103
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Remember that being told to stop and cross only when it is safe is no way in conflict with the laws in civilized countries requiring drivers to stop for pedestrians who are waiting for such an opportunity. It's really only in situations where traffic is required to stop even if no one is there that proceeding without checking is workable. And checking is always advisable.
The key however is that in more enlightened places the crosswalk doesn't actually have to be painted - it is still there in effect at any legal place of crossing, even if not painted.
If you want to argue that not painting anything on the road increases safety, then you need a virtual pedestrian crossing law, too. Or else you need to paint crossings even though you don't paint lane lines.
It makes more sense for a pedestrian to work around traffic than traffic to work around pedestrians - that coming from someone who doesn't even drive..
Last edited by UniChris; 07-19-19 at 10:33 AM.
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#104
Cycleway town
Your insistence that pedestrians should/can cross a road in front of traffic, regardless of road type, in any 'civilised' country is wearing thin.
We do things here in a way that is safe, convenient for all, and works. Deal with it.
We do things here in a way that is safe, convenient for all, and works. Deal with it.
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That does that mean that pedestrians should walk into the actual path of the vehicles until they have stopped in accordance with either the law or courtesy.
regardless of road type
in any 'civilised' country
Last edited by UniChris; 07-19-19 at 10:31 AM.
#106
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There is a column for common sense.
Let's say there's slow moving traffic passing a crossing.
Now we do have some uncivilised drivers who will block it, not considering people/cyclists crossing. The vehicles do have right of way, but they're not going anywhere, so of course some will stop completely to give that gap. But we're talking bumper-to-bumper level. You know when that concept kicks in.
I'm trying not to be ignorant to how things are done elsewhere. But having such a varied array of systems wouldn't work here.
See, only 2/3 of people in England are English. Kids, anyway. I know that from schooling stats. We have so many foreigners here that everything has to be black and white. Otherwise it's like Africa, Poland, India and Iran all on one street. And assure you, someone's getting run over.
So this new town, which has so many answers to old town problems, and is an amazing place for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists, does have a rather simple uniform system in place.
We don't cycle on the roads. We're not London. We don't fill the Advocacy of Safety forum with dead cyclists because it just doesn't happen here. We don't have traffic jams. We can wait for a car before crossing because there's a gap behind it. Because we have no skyscrapers. Were not over-built. Traffic isn't gridlocked. We have parkland and wide open space all over town. All heavy traffic is on a separate bypass grid which we negotiate only via underpasses and bridges.
We don't have your problems, we don't use your flawed solutions to those problems. Ironically, the world can learn from us. I say ironically, because the town was built with America's grid town concept in mind. Plus the fact that America are not very switched-on to the rest of the world, are widely considered to consider themselves above us, and take little influence from the 95.7 percent of humans who, you should know, live outside the United States.
Me, I'm interested in how you do things there. But the idea of having a vast array of technicalities regarding the crossing of roads isn't doing it for me.
Let's say there's slow moving traffic passing a crossing.
Now we do have some uncivilised drivers who will block it, not considering people/cyclists crossing. The vehicles do have right of way, but they're not going anywhere, so of course some will stop completely to give that gap. But we're talking bumper-to-bumper level. You know when that concept kicks in.
I'm trying not to be ignorant to how things are done elsewhere. But having such a varied array of systems wouldn't work here.
See, only 2/3 of people in England are English. Kids, anyway. I know that from schooling stats. We have so many foreigners here that everything has to be black and white. Otherwise it's like Africa, Poland, India and Iran all on one street. And assure you, someone's getting run over.
So this new town, which has so many answers to old town problems, and is an amazing place for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists, does have a rather simple uniform system in place.
We don't cycle on the roads. We're not London. We don't fill the Advocacy of Safety forum with dead cyclists because it just doesn't happen here. We don't have traffic jams. We can wait for a car before crossing because there's a gap behind it. Because we have no skyscrapers. Were not over-built. Traffic isn't gridlocked. We have parkland and wide open space all over town. All heavy traffic is on a separate bypass grid which we negotiate only via underpasses and bridges.
We don't have your problems, we don't use your flawed solutions to those problems. Ironically, the world can learn from us. I say ironically, because the town was built with America's grid town concept in mind. Plus the fact that America are not very switched-on to the rest of the world, are widely considered to consider themselves above us, and take little influence from the 95.7 percent of humans who, you should know, live outside the United States.
Me, I'm interested in how you do things there. But the idea of having a vast array of technicalities regarding the crossing of roads isn't doing it for me.
#107
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In the case of actual zebra crossings there isn't much difference in their actual meaning, it's your rules for unmarked (but legal) crossings which are behind the times.
If the actual goal were simplicity, nothing would be simpler than treating all legal crossings not controlled by a traffic light or traffic agent the same way, as a number of jurisdictions actually now do.
Last edited by UniChris; 07-19-19 at 01:55 PM.
#108
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Well, hopefully not. But The Verge reports that a startup has recently unveiled plans to develop delivery robots for the last mile that use bike lanes instead of sidewalks. Because we obviously have even less political clout than pedestrians. I already have an issue with the e-boarders, uniwheel guys, random parked cars, etc. in bike lanes. Sure, let's add robots that may or may not see the primary users of the lane. Heck, we don't even know how well driverless cars are going to interact with us.
#109
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I understand your concern but you may be having a knee jerk reaction. Although it may seem like a bad thing on it's face but many of the other problems, (parked cars, careless users of the bike lane system and, in many areas, lack of bike lanes may be helped. A robot that is programed to use the lane properly is less of a danger than many of the obstructions I've seen carelessly navigating the bike lanes. One of the reasons I avoid bike lanes when possible are because of the ill informed or careless users of said lanes. Maybe the more frequent, proper use of the lanes will chase away the riff raff.😁 Maybe I could draft a robot or even temporarily attach for a extended tow.🤭
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It cannot be a good thing on its face! The part you are missing is WHEN these things start to outnumber cyclists. To the point where the bureaucrats start thinking seriously about just taking cyclists out of the equation! Domino's et all have real CASH to offer municipalities for the use of their bike lanes. What do you have to offer? Your outrage? Too late then. No, the time to get steamed is now, before the fat cats get a cent of bribe money ... ... damn, it may spitalready be too late ... dead cyclist walking ...
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Won't that be great to see? Two robots each sitting between the bollards and waiting for the other to get out of the way. Worse than the Chip-n-Dale routine the drivers around here do, trying to give me the right of way when I'm not expecting it. "after you!" ... "no, after you!..."
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Here you go. Won't be long.
This thing is actually pretty cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT3vfSQePcs
This thing is actually pretty cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT3vfSQePcs
#114
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I can just about get my head around how these robots would use the sidewalk system to get last mile access to local street addresses. I have less ability to comprehend how they might use the cyclepaths and trail systems that exist independent of the main street grid. The law is clear in Oregon. A driver spotting someone who even looks like they are about to enter the roadway must give them 50' of clearance. Sadly, adherence to this law is no longer enforced after it was first introduced. Many drivers found themselves ticketed when the pedestrian they illegally drove past was actually plainclothes law enforcement. You can tell the ones because they actually do give you 50' of room to cross, mid block if it comes to that. I never test it myself but I see others do it all the time. But the trails that cross active roads ... you have to be pretty darn quick. In an area where active road signals are 1/2 mile apart, you might be walking a 1/4 mile out of your way to the traffic light and then 1/4 mile back and that is just too much sometimes. If drivers aren't going to stop for a human being that needs to cross what are the chances they are going to stop for something that looks like an oversize bread machine on wheels? I'll say it again, there is no chance these things will get any traction in the U.S. as long as the Federal Minimum Wage remains at $7.25/hr. If that changes, then, maybe, but they will only be crossing roads that have controlled intersections. They simply do not have enough nous to navigate anything else.
#115
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We don't need no stinking robot....Self Riding Bike
#116
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I saw Chuck Jones, famous WB director and creator of the roadrunner, coyote and Pepe LePew, speak back in '95. He told the story of how they came up with the roadrunner sound. (I hear it as "meep meep, while others hear it as "beep beep".) There was a short many who worked in the animation studio at the time. He would walk around the office very fast with stacks of art work in his hand that obscured his vision. To alert co-workers as he rushed around the office he would say "Beeb! Beeb!"
Daffy Duck's voice was a mock of producer Leon Schlessigner, who had a lisp and was, according to Jones, a real a-hole. Jones was still an animator when the character was being created. Jones and a few others went to Mel Blanc and asked him if he could do Leon as a screwball duck. The day came for the first screening. Leon came into the screening room and said, as he often did, "Roll the junk." They all expected to be fired on the spot. Instead, Leon especially loved the voice, having no idea he was being mocked.
Daffy Duck's voice was a mock of producer Leon Schlessigner, who had a lisp and was, according to Jones, a real a-hole. Jones was still an animator when the character was being created. Jones and a few others went to Mel Blanc and asked him if he could do Leon as a screwball duck. The day came for the first screening. Leon came into the screening room and said, as he often did, "Roll the junk." They all expected to be fired on the spot. Instead, Leon especially loved the voice, having no idea he was being mocked.
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#118
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