(07-23-2015, 11:52 AM)tomh009 Wrote: [ -> ]Why is a four-way stop not possible there? Or even speed bumps, if the situation is really dire there?
It's likely not that it's not physically possible, it's just that it was turned down.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-...-1.3161061
Quote:The neighbourhood association began talks with the city over a year ago to find a way to make the intersection safer, said Burman. The city ruled out a four-way stop, and moving a mailbox and parking spot proved ineffective.
I suspect that a 4-way stop is not warranted by some set of technical metrics.
Personally, I'd be against a 4-way stop in this location. It's clear that Ahrens is the major street of the two, and as a cyclist it would be a pain to lose the speed you can get here. Too many superfluous stop signs also trains people to roll through them.
(07-23-2015, 12:08 PM)Canard Wrote: [ -> ]I am all for 4-way stops as a way of traffic calming - so long as it doesn't result in people frustratedly almost-stopping then flooring it because they were so annoyed. In a quiet neighbourhood this makes so much noise. Speed humps have the same problem - some people do slow down but then they just floor it again... or they just drive fast over them, because it's fun and you get some air!
I've read that, in the case of 4-way stops, they are not really suitable as "traffic calming" for just that reason. I'd never heard of that about speed humps- are these people somehow driving cars that don't belong to them?
(07-23-2015, 12:08 PM)Canard Wrote: [ -> ]A slower average speed is always better (especially from a fuel consumption standpoint - I'm admittedly a hypermiler), but I also don't like seeing people drive too fast through quiet neighbourhoods.
Chicanes and geometry-based traffic calming, perhaps, that naturally encourages people to drive slower and more carefully?
Sorry - I'm taking this way off topic, since this is supposed to be a walking thread.
I don't think it's off topic- traffic calming is one tool to make an area more friendly for walking.
Speed humps are wider and shallower that speed bumps, and don't require slowing to crawling speed; 20-30 km/h over the humps is typical, with slightly more speed between the humps. I suspect that bicyclists can deal fairly well with speed humps, although I have no experience here.
(07-23-2015, 01:40 PM)tomh009 Wrote: [ -> ]Speed humps are wider and shallower that speed bumps, and don't require slowing to crawling speed; 20-30 km/h over the humps is typical, with slightly more speed between the humps. I suspect that bicyclists can deal fairly well with speed humps, although I have no experience here.
Yeah, I don't really slow down for speed humps. But I won't often be riding at 30 km/h in town either.
In my Prius, I slow down for speed humps because the thing is so low to the ground.
In my diesel smart fortwo, I floor it* over them, because it is fun to try and get some air.
* - however, "flooring it" in a sub-40 hp Diesel with a laggy turbocharger results in a negligible speed increase.
Someone in the Cycling thread mentioned a good detour between Downtown and Uptown right now is Duke-Waterloo-Roger-Herbert is something similar. A lot of additional motorists are using streets like Moore and Waterloo with King closed.
Signage has been in place for a while pleading with motorists to "respect the inhabitants" and so on. There is also new signage (I keep forgetting to snap a picture) with a thirty kilometer per hour speed limit.
That's kind of funny to me as, of course, the speed limit there as everywhere else where it is not signed is fifty. I expect these are not legal limits but merely advisories. In neighbourhoods like this (residential, older and so not designed for high speeds and maybe cheaply redesigned to prevent them), I wonder if we might be able to pursue a 30 km/h speed limit, which is so much better for residents' health and safety, and walkability. Someone at city hall decided to put these signs up, so maybe this type of thinking is on their radar.
(08-27-2015, 07:40 AM)MidTowner Wrote: [ -> ]Someone in the Cycling thread mentioned a good detour between Downtown and Uptown right now is Duke-Waterloo-Roger-Herbert is something similar. A lot of additional motorists are using streets like Moore and Waterloo with King closed.
Signage has been in place for a while pleading with motorists to "respect the inhabitants" and so on. There is also new signage (I keep forgetting to snap a picture) with a thirty kilometer per hour speed limit.
That's kind of funny to me as, of course, the speed limit there as everywhere else where it is not signed is fifty. I expect these are not legal limits but merely advisories. In neighbourhoods like this (residential, older and so not designed for high speeds and maybe cheaply redesigned to prevent them), I wonder if we might be able to pursue a 30 km/h speed limit, which is so much better for residents' health and safety, and walkability. Someone at city hall decided to put these signs up, so maybe this type of thinking is on their radar.
Do we know that for sure? I always took those signs as ones the locals scrounged some cash together for. They seem over-formally worded, even for municipal signs, but don't appear at all official in how they are constructed and affixed (corrugated plastic usually tie-wrapped to hydro poles).
The Highway Traffic Act is actually quite strict in what is considered an official speed limit sign, so homemade signs have no legal bearing.
The signs I'm talking about are on Waterloo Street near Shanley, which has experienced increased traffic while King has been closed. They are orange and looked official to me, but Osiris has a point and I can not say for sure they were put up by the municipality. As I understand it, orange or yellow is an advised speed (as on highway on-ramps, for example) and not the legal speed limit. If they were put up by the City of Kitchener, it seems a bit incongruous to me. But, really, 30 km/h is what the speed limit ought to be on residential streets.
There are other signs in this neighbourhood (and others) that are clearly homemade, pleading with drivers to recognize that they're on a residential street where children might be playing. These make no attempt to set a speed limit or look official.
White signs are official speed limits. Yellow signs are warnings to help you stay in control, to prevent rollovers, etc. Orange signs are official construction area speed limits, letting you know both that there is construction, and that the normal speed limits you are used to in the area have changed.
Thank you! I suppose this is what this is then- a "construction area" speed limit as a result of traffic spillover from a construction area.
I don't know that I want to resurrect the discussion about municipalities plowing sidewalks, but some snow is predicted this weekend. Winter is approaching. Can anyone involved with TriTAG comment on whether the group will be renewing their campaign to get Kitchener and Waterloo to start clearing sidewalks? It's not too late to perhaps have a pilot set up for this snow season in at least Kitchener.