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Cagers really are that "Stoopide"

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Cagers really are that "Stoopide"

Old 07-21-20, 10:45 AM
  #26  
burnthesheep
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Originally Posted by Notso_fastLane
At least here, the crosswalk countdowns are consistent. When the counter hits zero, the light goes yellow. If I'm far enough away, I'll actually use that to my advantage and start coasting since there's no way I'll make it through the intersection anyway.

This does have the effect of annoying the local leadfoots that aren't smart enough to recognize what a countdown timer is, but not my problem.
I see so often also people "race" to the red light. It just turned red and won't change in the next 20 seconds. But, it's a race to jockey for space then slaaaaammmmm on brakes.

Then I'm that guy driving past them at-speed as I predicted the light change and casually rolled up to the intersection. Then as they see you go buy the do a drag race burnout start to catch back up.
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Old 07-22-20, 11:35 AM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by Daniel4
But let's face facts. No matter what is done to improve safety, drivers are going to get annoyed. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the traffic lights are actually synchronized so you can actually drive right through them only if you drive at the speed limit. But who drives at the speed limit?

As for those count-down lights, when I see one count-down, I slow down a bit and prepare to stop. If I don't have to then I can go back up to traffic speed. If I do have to stop, then I've done good. That's why I think they are programmed that way to keep drivers alert. However, I also don't think other drivers may be behaving the way I do.
In San Diego, on G street, downtown, heading east to Hiway 94, the lights used to be perfectly synchronized (before the trolley came along and they overrode the lights to give the Red Car a priority).

The lights were synchronized at 27MPH, just below the speed limit, based on "perfect traffic flow." I heard/read a traffic engineer mention this somewhere, and yeah, it worked perfectly... if you were the lead car and left the west end of G street headed east, and held your speed perfectly, the lights would turn green just before you got to each one, and then you could drive right onto the highway. Of course, any variation would ruin your synchronization... such as someone slowing to make a left turn just in front of you, or pulling on to G and not picking up speed... so you had to be the lead vehicle to get it right.

If the lead car got it right, and the following cars maintained a controlled distance... this probably worked for a platoon of something like 5 cars... but it took driving discipline to get it right.

And yes, there were always the idiots that zoomed from green to red to go at green to get to the next red, that never ever realized that driving just slightly slower, all the lights would magically turn green just as they arrived. And of course they would jockey for position, and then on crowded days, ruin the synchronization for anyone actually driving just slightly under the speed limit, as they would not quite get off the green fast enough. Zoom and stop, zoom and stop... no awareness of what a subtle change could do... no doubt cursing that "every light is red."

Last edited by genec; 07-22-20 at 11:43 AM.
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Old 07-22-20, 01:30 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by genec
In San Diego, on G street, downtown, heading east to Hiway 94, the lights used to be perfectly synchronized (before the trolley came along and they overrode the lights to give the Red Car a priority).

and then on crowded days, ruin the synchronization for anyone actually driving just slightly under the speed limit, as they would not quite get off the green fast enough. Zoom and stop, zoom and stop... no awareness of what a subtle change could do... no doubt cursing that "every light is red."
Quite a few Manhattan avenues are famous for this. What's fun is that you can use it as a motivator when riding your bike. Just like keeping below a certain speed will keep you on the green wave, you will have to maintain a certain speed to stay in synch as well. I'm not 100% sure what it is, but generally I tell myself that unless I can stay at 25mph, I'm not gonna keep up (and that's not easy to do unless the conditions are just right).

And yes, there is a mind boggling number of fools out there that can't understand simple concepts like the timing of lights and the flow of traffic. Ignorance is poor gas mileage bliss...
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Old 07-22-20, 01:34 PM
  #29  
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They tried that experiment in Tucson in the late 90s. They advertised the hell out of it, all over the radio and TV. There were large highly visible signs along the side of the road that varied as the traffic flow changed that said "Traffic Lights Synced for 40 mph" where the number 40 would vary from 40 down to about 30 depending on traffic.

Didn't help, not even a little. The city left that system in place for a full year if I remember right before giving up on it.

People really are that stoopid.
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Old 07-22-20, 02:09 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by Notso_fastLane
They tried that experiment in Tucson in the late 90s. They advertised the hell out of it, all over the radio and TV. There were large highly visible signs along the side of the road that varied as the traffic flow changed that said "Traffic Lights Synced for 40 mph" where the number 40 would vary from 40 down to about 30 depending on traffic.

Didn't help, not even a little. The city left that system in place for a full year if I remember right before giving up on it.

People really are that stoopid.
Wow, an active system, advertised with signs and drivers could not figure it out. Amazing.

I am not claiming to be a perfect driver, but I honestly believe all my cycling over the years, which has dictated for my own personal safety that I need to observe and work with other traffic, has made me a more skilled driver. Again, I don't claim to be perfect, at all... just a bit more skilled than the average "go with green, stop on red" driver.
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Old 07-22-20, 02:15 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by genec
Wow, an active system, advertised with signs and drivers could not figure it out. Amazing.

I am not claiming to be a perfect driver, but I honestly believe all my cycling over the years, which has dictated for my own personal safety that I need to observe and work with other traffic, has made me a more skilled driver. Again, I don't claim to be perfect, at all... just a bit more skilled than the average "go with green, stop on red" driver.
Same. I put about as many miles on my bike/velo that I do on my car, but only because I use the car regularly for ~80 mile trips to the race track.

I also ride (and race) motorcycles, and almost every motorcycle rider I know is a better than average driver for similar reasons.

It's hard to say which segment of the population is the worst in Tucson, specifically, because for part of the year (winter) such a large percentage of the population is from out of state and the snowbirds are universally terrible drivers.
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Old 07-23-20, 07:30 AM
  #32  
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The most frequent stupidity I hear is drivers telling me to bike on the sidewalk, but the stupidest I hear is drivers telling me that cyclists have to yield to motor vehicles at intersections where the motor vehicle has a stop sign and the cyclist doesn't.
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Old 07-23-20, 11:10 PM
  #33  
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The NYC synch speed used to be 43mph and multiples of that. So, I think you're trying to hold 21.5mph to keep with green.
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