Some people are protesting mask use. Very angrily I might add. Despite ample evidence that they are working to slow spread of deadly, novel viruses, they don't like them. They call it tyrannical, authoritarian, loss of freedom etc. and they want everyone to know about it.
I've taken a different tack. You know those signs that say "no right on red"??? Or the red left turn arrow, even though other lights are green and no cars are coming in the opposite lane? Everyone obediently follows those arbitrary, worthless traffic laws. If there are no cars or pedestrians in the way, I run these every single time. Freedom.
Worthless? Yes, worthless. A 1995 review of national and state data by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that right turns on red had a negligible impact on the risk of traffic deaths. Stopping and listening to the bureacurat who screwed in that sign is the ultimate SHEEP move. You just wasted 2.5 minutes of your life for no good reason.
Those 2.5 minutes add up. If you're commuting to work every day and you've got a right turn to make at a traffic light that happens once per day, that 2.5 minutes is 12.5 hours per year. You've wasted the equivalent of watching 6 full length movies obediently following an arbitrary and unnecessary road sign. And there are 6 cars behind you held up for the same reason. Eons of collective time wasted.
Sheep. Time is our ultimate currency. We only have a limited amount of it. If you're out there protesting masks but you're sitting and whistling along to a Garth Brooks' tune while waiting for a green left turn arrow, you need to re-evaluate what freedom means. Masks don't cost time. Masks don't cost health. Masks don't cost lives. They are a huge inconvenience and I don't like them, but on the priority scale they are waaaaaaay down on the list. The cost to society of not allowing a right turn when no cars or pedestrians are in the way is much, much higher.
Someone organizes a protest against 'no right on red' signs and I will attend and protest loudly and if the attendees are the same folks who are "NO MORE MASKS" in front of the hospital emergency room, then I'll rescind my criticism of your fake freedom fighting.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2018/11/01/dc-wants-eliminate-right-turn-on-red-some-intersections-will-it-really-save-lives/
@wildgrass saidObviously a lot of laws are safe guards.
Some people are protesting mask use. Very angrily I might add. Despite ample evidence that they are working to slow spread of deadly, novel viruses, they don't like them. They call it tyrannical, authoritarian, loss of freedom etc. and they want everyone to know about it.
I've taken a different tack. You know those signs that say "no right on red"??? Or the red left turn ...[text shortened]... tation/2018/11/01/dc-wants-eliminate-right-turn-on-red-some-intersections-will-it-really-save-lives/
Common sense and due dillegence in most situations should be enough.
But, often, it is not.
Hence the abundance of laws.
Protesting against something like traffic lights is, truly, a waste of energy. Sometimes you’ve just got to go with the flow.
You want to protest something really worthwhile? Check out how camera and sensor information is getting used and combined. Most local governments have to probide that information.
And do that same request in three years time.
Just look at the difference.
That is what you should worry about. That is your freedom on the actual line.
@shavixmir
Sign seen in the pedestrian zone of a German city:
"Sensible people don't ride their bikes here.
All others are forbidden to."
If everyone were sensible and exercised due care and diligence, we wouldn't need many laws.
@shavixmir saidI'm with you on traffic cameras. But the go with the flow move for 'no right on red' signage is to ignore them. This relieves congestion, saves time for everyone behind you, and does not negatively impact anyone else.
Obviously a lot of laws are safe guards.
Common sense and due dillegence in most situations should be enough.
But, often, it is not.
Hence the abundance of laws.
Protesting against something like traffic lights is, truly, a waste of energy. Sometimes you’ve just got to go with the flow.
You want to protest something really worthwhile? Check out how camera and sens ...[text shortened]... ok at the difference.
That is what you should worry about. That is your freedom on the actual line.
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@wildgrass saidCongratulations, you just murdered a cyclist you predictably "didn't see, honest officer, I was paying attention, I promise."
I've taken a different tack. You know those signs that say "no right on red"??? Or the red left turn arrow, even though other lights are green and no cars are coming in the opposite lane? Everyone obediently follows those arbitrary, worthless traffic laws. If there are no cars or pedestrians in the way, I run these every single time. Freedom.
Cagers are all the same. None of them gives a flying copulation about the lives of lesser beings such as cyclists and pedestrians. Just yesterday I was almost run over twice.
@shallow-blue saidIt sounds like your problem is poor city planning and or bad drivers, not insufficient signage.
Congratulations, you just murdered a cyclist you predictably "didn't see, honest officer, I was paying attention, I promise."
Cagers are all the same. None of them gives a flying copulation about the lives of lesser beings such as cyclists and pedestrians. Just yesterday I was almost run over twice.
In the OP I referenced data from the National Transportation Safety Board who collected exhaustive nationwide data on this and found that these signs have a negligible impact on pedestrian/bike safety. In one analysis the no right on red actually is worse for pedestrians because when turning right on red you normally inch and look to make sure nothing is coming, but if it's green you're at full speed. Here's the data:
Approximately 84 fatal crashes occurred per year during the 1982-1992 time period involving a right-turning vehicle at an intersection where RTOR is permitted. During this same time period there were 485,104 fatalities.
Thus, less than 0.2 percent of all fatalities involved a right-turning vehicle maneuver at an intersection where RTOR is permitted. FARS, however, does not discern whether the traffic signal was red. Therefore, the actual number of fatal RTOR crashes is somewhere between zero and 84 and may be closer to zero than 84.
Bikers and pedestrians should be safe. No Right on Red does not help.
I was a bike commuter for 10 years in a city that planned appropriately. Cars were permitted to turn right on red and I was never in danger. Now I'm a driver but I've never been even remotely close to hitting a pedestrian or biker. It sounds like your city was planned poorly, but that has nothing to do with the lack of excessive and unnecessary road signage.
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@wildgrass saidBad drivers. Yes. Entitled cagers. Like you.
It sounds like your problem is poor city planning and or bad drivers, not insufficient signage.
I Never mentioned signage. All I mentioned is my experience with your kind of self-centered, uncaring drivers.
I was a bike commuter for 10 years in a city that planned appropriately.
I've been a bike commuter all my effing life, and still am every single day.
Your. Kind. Of. Driver. Is. Just. Evil.
Now I'm a driver but I've never been even remotely close to hitting a pedestrian or biker.
That you know. Trust me, the cyclists you very nearly killed do know, and remember.
@shallow-blue said
Bad drivers. Yes. Entitled cagers. Like you.
I Never mentioned signage. All I mentioned is my experience with your kind of self-centered, uncaring drivers.
I was a bike commuter for 10 years in a city that planned appropriately.
I've been a bike commuter all my effing life, and still am every single day.
Your. Kind. Of. Driver. Is. Just. ...[text shortened]... biker.[/quote]
That you know. Trust me, the cyclists you very nearly killed do know, and remember.
I Never mentioned signage.
That's what this thread was about. The signage does not work and yet it is obediently followed by sheep. Yet again, you seem to have glossed over that very important point to make unfair and incorrect inferences about me personally. Why in the world would you think that ignoring something that doesn't work as intended has any effect on public safety? The data strongly support that these signs don't endanger pedestrians.
I logged over 10,000 miles on the road as a bike commuter. I'm sure you have logged a lot more (as you seem so eager to point out) but I rode those miles without any unsafe altercation with a vehicle. If you are having multiple incidents per day with motorists, you must live in a city that is poorly designed to integrate bikers. I don't see any other explanation.
The signs don't work. That's the point.