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+--- Thread: General Road and Highway Discussion (/showthread.php?tid=335)
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RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - danbrotherston - 03-25-2020
(03-25-2020, 05:20 PM)tomh009 Wrote: And guys popping wheelies (on motorcycles) in DTK ...
Yeah, just saw that, and more strangely saw a group of four cars driving very aggressively down Ontario right before.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - jeffster - 03-26-2020
(03-25-2020, 06:15 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(03-25-2020, 05:20 PM)tomh009 Wrote: And guys popping wheelies (on motorcycles) in DTK ...
Yeah, just saw that, and more strangely saw a group of four cars driving very aggressively down Ontario right before.
Interesting.
I took a drive today, going towards New Hamburg and stopped at the second light as it was red, and this dude in a little car almost rolled it as he didn't stop at the light and made a right turn on the street. Something you'd see in the movies.
And while on the 401, a bunch of police had pulled drivers over, for speeding I assumed, based on the number of tow trucks in the area.
My thoughts on tonight were that society is starting to fall apart. This covid-19 is going to bring out the worst of people and may make Mad Max seem like a church picnic.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - SammyOES - 03-26-2020
(03-26-2020, 01:55 AM)jeffster Wrote: My thoughts on tonight were that society is starting to fall apart. This covid-19 is going to bring out the worst of people and may make Mad Max seem like a church picnic.
There's tons of good happening out there too. (Just like always). If anything I'd argue it brings out the best in more people than it brings out the worst.
Even the "hoarding" types stories are mostly hype. Obviously there's a very small minority that are actively hoarding/profiteering but that's a very small part of the story. The shortages on the shelves are more about people stocking up a reasonable amount given the circumstance.
Let's say the average amount of food/essentials that people stock at home is around 1 week then at a random point in time people will be distributed from the low end of that (need to go shopping tomorrow!) to the high end (just got back from Costco!). Given the circumstances two totally reasonable things happened: People decided they needed to increase their average amount of supplies (more time at home, less eating out, want to reduce number of grocery trips necessary, etc.) and people decided they needed to be at the high end of what they want to stock. These are all things that we want people to do.
So of course that's going to mess up store inventories! Add in some supply change disruptions, and it's just a massive logistical problem that's going to take time to settle out. There's no great evil hoarding happening. People are generally pretty reasonable and we're living through crazy times.
Anyway, a bit of a tangential rant, but the "mad max" type comments always bring out my "People aren't nearly as bad as they're made out to be" rants.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - ijmorlan - 03-26-2020
(03-26-2020, 09:03 AM)SammyOES Wrote:(03-26-2020, 01:55 AM)jeffster Wrote: My thoughts on tonight were that society is starting to fall apart. This covid-19 is going to bring out the worst of people and may make Mad Max seem like a church picnic.
There's tons of good happening out there too. (Just like always). If anything I'd argue it brings out the best in more people than it brings out the worst.
[…]
So of course that's going to mess up store inventories! Add in some supply change disruptions, and it's just a massive logistical problem that's going to take time to settle out. There's no great evil hoarding happening. People are generally pretty reasonable and we're living through crazy times.
Anyway, a bit of a tangential rant, but the "mad max" type comments always bring out my "People aren't nearly as bad as they're made out to be" rants.
This is my impression too. I think we’re a long way from anything falling apart.
Now if the water or electricity cuts out and stays out, that is a different matter. But I’m pretty sure those are classified as essential and those workers will be continuing their maintenance activities so they should be OK.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - KevinL - 03-26-2020
A lot of this is certainly due to people now doing all their consumption at home - not just food, but other basic supplies like TP. I imagine there are now oversupplies of things destined for workplaces, and some supply chains are reworking to account for that.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - danbrotherston - 03-26-2020
(03-26-2020, 10:23 AM)ijmorlan Wrote:(03-26-2020, 09:03 AM)SammyOES Wrote: There's tons of good happening out there too. (Just like always). If anything I'd argue it brings out the best in more people than it brings out the worst.
[…]
So of course that's going to mess up store inventories! Add in some supply change disruptions, and it's just a massive logistical problem that's going to take time to settle out. There's no great evil hoarding happening. People are generally pretty reasonable and we're living through crazy times.
Anyway, a bit of a tangential rant, but the "mad max" type comments always bring out my "People aren't nearly as bad as they're made out to be" rants.
This is my impression too. I think we’re a long way from anything falling apart.
Now if the water or electricity cuts out and stays out, that is a different matter. But I’m pretty sure those are classified as essential and those workers will be continuing their maintenance activities so they should be OK.
The US has so far experienced a run on toilet paper, and then a run on guns and ammo, and are experiencing runs on banks: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/business/coronavirus-cash-shortage-bank.html.
I'm not saying society is breaking down (and certainly the US is in a vastly more concerning situation than Canada), but in history things seem inevitable and obvious, you'll often wonder how people didn't see it coming, but in reality, in context, it's very hard to see coming. If society were to break down, you wouldn't know it till the water stopped running, even if historians looked back and said, look at all these signs, how did people miss it.
That being said, society on our roads broke down long ago in many places, so....that's really no change. (Just to bring it back to the thread topic).
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Rainrider22 - 03-26-2020
(03-26-2020, 01:55 AM)jeffster Wrote:When I drove to work this morning the OPP had four cars on the side of the highway eastbound. It was clear to me they were going to have an officer on an overpass doing the lazer then calling the vehicle out. I think now that the traffic is light, they will step up enforcement.(03-25-2020, 06:15 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Yeah, just saw that, and more strangely saw a group of four cars driving very aggressively down Ontario right before.
Interesting.
I took a drive today, going towards New Hamburg and stopped at the second light as it was red, and this dude in a little car almost rolled it as he didn't stop at the light and made a right turn on the street. Something you'd see in the movies.
And while on the 401, a bunch of police had pulled drivers over, for speeding I assumed, based on the number of tow trucks in the area.
My thoughts on tonight were that society is starting to fall apart. This covid-19 is going to bring out the worst of people and may make Mad Max seem like a church picnic.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - danbrotherston - 03-26-2020
(03-26-2020, 11:02 AM)Rainrider22 Wrote:(03-26-2020, 01:55 AM)jeffster Wrote: Interesting.When I drove to work this morning the OPP had four cars on the side of the highway eastbound. It was clear to me they were going to have an officer on an overpass doing the lazer then calling the vehicle out. I think now that the traffic is light, they will step up enforcement.
I took a drive today, going towards New Hamburg and stopped at the second light as it was red, and this dude in a little car almost rolled it as he didn't stop at the light and made a right turn on the street. Something you'd see in the movies.
And while on the 401, a bunch of police had pulled drivers over, for speeding I assumed, based on the number of tow trucks in the area.
My thoughts on tonight were that society is starting to fall apart. This covid-19 is going to bring out the worst of people and may make Mad Max seem like a church picnic.
While that is good to hear, given how many people drive distracted, despite how the police seem to take that very seriously, it seems like the effectiveness of their enforcement at any level is limited. Even in places like Waterloo where the police haven't actually decided to not enforce the HTA like TPS did in Toronto.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - jamincan - 03-26-2020
(03-26-2020, 11:02 AM)Rainrider22 Wrote:(03-26-2020, 01:55 AM)jeffster Wrote: Interesting.When I drove to work this morning the OPP had four cars on the side of the highway eastbound. It was clear to me they were going to have an officer on an overpass doing the lazer then calling the vehicle out. I think now that the traffic is light, they will step up enforcement.
I took a drive today, going towards New Hamburg and stopped at the second light as it was red, and this dude in a little car almost rolled it as he didn't stop at the light and made a right turn on the street. Something you'd see in the movies.
And while on the 401, a bunch of police had pulled drivers over, for speeding I assumed, based on the number of tow trucks in the area.
My thoughts on tonight were that society is starting to fall apart. This covid-19 is going to bring out the worst of people and may make Mad Max seem like a church picnic.
When did you go to work? For me at around 7:30 there were three police cars spaced out on the side of the EB 401, all with their lights on. It definitely didn't seem like the usual setup they have for catching speeders.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Rainrider22 - 03-26-2020
6 am.... Thats interesting..... If they pull off to the side of the highway though they have to have their rear lights on.. It would reduce the effectiveness of speed enforcement.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - danbrotherston - 03-26-2020
(03-26-2020, 11:49 AM)Rainrider22 Wrote: 6 am.... Thats interesting..... If they pull off to the side of the highway though they have to have their rear lights on.. It would reduce the effectiveness of speed enforcement.
The law requires advance notice of speed cameras? There are a large number of people with an apparent significant interest in limiting the effectiveness of police HTA enforcement---I won't comment on their motives. But either way, this does not surprise me.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Rainrider22 - 03-26-2020
They arent using speed cameras. They are not permitted. They have an officer on an overpass who captures the offending vehicle on a laser. That officer then advises the cruisers ahead of the car speeding. He then provide the speed and distance away when the speed was measured for evidence.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - danbrotherston - 03-26-2020
(03-26-2020, 01:44 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: They arent using speed cameras. They are not permitted. They have an officer on an overpass who captures the offending vehicle on a laser. That officer then advises the cruisers ahead of the car speeding. He then provide the speed and distance away when the speed was measured for evidence.
I understand that, the point I was making is that advertising that there will be speed enforcement is common, and the point of advertising it is to reduce it's effectiveness; there are plenty of people who seek to reduce the effectiveness of enforcement.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - ijmorlan - 03-26-2020
(03-26-2020, 01:49 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(03-26-2020, 01:44 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: They arent using speed cameras. They are not permitted. They have an officer on an overpass who captures the offending vehicle on a laser. That officer then advises the cruisers ahead of the car speeding. He then provide the speed and distance away when the speed was measured for evidence.
I understand that, the point I was making is that advertising that there will be speed enforcement is common, and the point of advertising it is to reduce it's effectiveness; there are plenty of people who seek to reduce the effectiveness of enforcement.
And whenever this discussion comes up, there is usually some smarty who points out that people drive slower where they know the officers are doing enforcement. “Isn’t that what you want?” Completely ignoring, of course, that the whole point of enforcement and fines is to give people an incentive to follow the rules everywhere because they never know when or where enforcement will occur; we want the speeds slower (or whatever rule followed) everywhere, not just where the police are.
For some reason we rarely get anybody making valid points about how automated enforcement, in particular, has to be careful to enforce the right behaviour; for example, if the existence of red light cameras causes people to slam on the brakes in an unsafe manner when they see a yellow light then the interest of safety is not advanced.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Rainrider22 - 03-26-2020
Just to be clear, if drivers are aware of pice enforcement and it causes them to slow down, I am all for that. I dont believe everyone needs a ticket in hand and a fine paid out of pocket to learn. The goal is to cha ge peoples driving habits for the better .