Originally Posted by
flangehead
I don't get the sense that the US traffic engineering community has that same mindset, as it has a specs and standards tradition. Most times, the design is heavily standards-based, and I consistently get the reply that they have no choice due to liability. Using best practices for a good outcome is not the objective.
I've been (very slowly) reading Chuck Mahron's Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, and he points out that in the front of the holy standards and practices textbooks, it says that these are suggestions and the engineer should use their best judgement. Funny how most of them forget that bit.