[TRTR] interesting reading

[Dan Gutierrez]

Neal,
I'll keep this short as I'm pressed for time today.  I'm very familiar with
the work of Monderman and Hamilton-Baille, who want to create very slow
moving "yield environments" with ambiguous priority, that favor travel at
speeds closer to ped speeds than vehicle speeds.  This doesn't just slow
motorists, it also slows cyclists to a crawl.  Here's a telling quote from
the first link: "However, it is not the cars which seem to be involved in
the greatest conflict, it is the cyclists and pedestrians who seem to jostle
for space. Driving around Drachten, vehicles approach roundabouts with
considerable caution - traffic approaches from the left, but cyclists come
from either side."
 .
Here's another important quote from the same article: ""Anybody who is new
here doesn't know what to do. They don't know who has priority, the car,
bike or pedestrian. It's all confusing, but because of that everybody takes
care," Mr Jamal said."
 .
Unclear priority, and/or priority violations are some of the main causative
elements in car-bike crashes in the US, particularly at crossing movement
areas.  Confusion is not my idea of a sound way of creating safe traffic
flows for bicyclists, peds and motorists, and runs counter to US traffic
principles and the principles of the Bike Ed program.  I should also point
out that we don't have main road priority laws as they do in the UK and much
of Europe, so removing traffic controls to fix that problem isn't an issue
here.
 .
I respectfully submit that the desire to remove traffic controls at
perpendicular intersections as an experimental development in another
country doesn't mean that the idea is anywhere near "ready for prime time"
in the US because our laws and driving customs are not the same as they are
in Europe.
 .
Roundabouts OTOH, which have BOTH clear priority AND yield type movements,
do serve as excellent "de-facto" traffic controls (even without yield
signs), and would be the right place to start, as in a demonstration
project, to show that the creation of a yield environment can work and/or be
expanded in your area.
 .
 .
- Dan Gutierrez -
Long Beach, CA
(562) 244-4145 Cell
(310) 336-3075 Office
(800) 616-4714 Pager
Dan.Gutierrez at Charter.Net

Organizational Affiliations
Local:
Long Beach Cyclists, Technical Advisory Committee Chair
Aerospace Cycling Club, Founder and Current President
South Bay Westside Transportation Mgmt. Assoc., Board Member

State:
CA Assoc. of Bicycling Organizations (CABO), District 7 Director
CABO Education Committee Co-Chair    http://www.cabobike.org/
Caltrans District 7 Bicycle Advisory Committee, Policy Chair

National:
League of American Bicyclists (LAB), Certified Instructor, LCI #962
LAB Education Committee Member        http://www.bikeleague.org/
Dual Chase Productions LLC, Co-Creator  http://www.dualchase.com/
Dual Chase video hosting at Cyclist View   http://www.cyclistview.com/

-----Original Message-----
From:	Neal Ogden [mailto:ogdennr at laplaza.org]
Sent:	Friday, November 30, 2007 2:26 PM
To:	trtr at lists.laplaza.org; Dan.Gutierrez at Charter.Net
Subject:	interesting reading

Here are few short articles to get you warmed up for our meeting
tomorrow.  (Articles thanks to Robin Collier.)

You will be fascinated, challenged, and maybe a little surprised.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/04/ntraffic04.
xml

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2006/10/14/mfl
ights14.xml

 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/traffic.html

 http://clippednews.wordpress.com/2007/01/10/call-to-eliminate-all-traffic-s
ignals-and-signs/

(Contains the quote: "Monderman's ideas were met with near biblical
outrage."  Reminds me of old right-turn-on-red sentiment.)