Troul 

Thanks for implying I was referring to such false information.

The robot should also do a moderate tasmanian devil maneuver, along with the blinking & meep meep.

pdlamb

Ball bearings in their valve caps? Give them four flat tires and see if they're going to get to the next traffic accident for a live update.

UniChris

Omitting lane lines might slow drivers down, but omitting crosswalks and then not re-creating them virtually in the way the laws in many other places do, is just uncivilized.

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.

Flashing lights draw extra attention, but they don't change the legal obligations of drivers. Technically, putting in an actual timed traffic light limits pedestrians, as drivers now have an excuse not to preemptively stop to allow crossing until the light changes state; granted, drivers are more likely to fulfill their obligations at a timed traffic light than they are at a crosswalk, even one with flashing lights.

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.

Only if a society is still prioritizing convenience over safety. Where simply giving pedestrians priority doesn't work for the volumes, you put in a traffic light with actual phases.

MikeyMK

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.

UniChris

Not what I said. I said that there are lots of cases where traffic is required to stop to allow this, either because of specific markings, or because the law in that location paints a virtual marking everywhere it is even legal to cross.

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.

Here you are just making things up in total fabrication. I specifically said where it legal to cross. There are plenty of places where crossing is illegal, and plenty of road types it is not legal to be a pedestrian on or near at all.

That's the one part you got right.

MikeyMK

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.

UniChris

Having actually been reading through them, your laws on this are far more complex (if sadly more car proritizing) than ours.

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.

Cycle Tourist

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.🤭

Leisesturm

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 already be too late ... dead cyclist walking ...

Cycle Tourist

Wow. Sounds pretty bleak. I guess I've learned to adjust to the changing landscape with a little more aplomb. In spite of the present political landscape I've resisted being quite so pessimistic. Cheer up. We may get killed by a inattentive driver.🤔

abhijitpat

There's about 25 of these little guys in my wife's school in Northern VA. They need assistance while crossing. Apparently, the also. cannot handle the chaos of pedestrians and cars. They go into manual mode

myisland

Fun to disassemble.

Riveting

We don't need no stinking robot....

Leisesturm

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.

Chinghis

I am so happy I watched that until the end.

livedarklions

That'th dethpicable!

indyfabz

My step brother, who eventually ended up in the entertainment industry, got to meet Mel Blanc. Blanc made him a personalized answering machine greeting tape in the voice of Porky Pig.

Troul 

Th-Th-The, Th-Th-The, Th-Th... That's all, folks!

NeilBurt

I Don't get it, how is a grocery store robot linked to cycling?