12-10-2015, 07:35 PM
(12-10-2015, 01:54 PM)ookpik Wrote: 3. It also makes no sense to have an official speed limit of 50km/hr on Bridgeport and Erb. I can understand the argument that since almost everyone drives faster than the posted limit on wide one-way streets a low posted limit will tend to slow people down to what they might do if the limit was higher. But 50 is so low that, speaking as someone who tries to follow it in order to catch a green wave, I can say that it requires exceptional determination and self-discipline to maintain it. Perhaps the limit should be raised to 60km/hr with good signage to indicate that a pure "green wave" is in effect and that as a result speeding is futile.
I agree that it takes self-discipline to maintain 50km/h on Bridgeport or Erb, and almost no one seems to do it. This statement is a real indictment on the design of these streets.
Most of the last comments (mpd618's excepted) are entirely car-centric. Obviously there's a need to allow motor traffic to flow on these and other streets, but there are a lot of other needs against which this has to be balanced. Right now, Erb and Bridgeport are together for many intents and purposes a six-lane freeway cutting through residential neighbourhoods. The traffic volumes on these roads don't justify the capacity that exists. Maybe they experience congestion at peak hours, but that seems like a normal situation in most cities. If we (over)build for those peak demand periods, the result is dangerously fast traffic at other hours. I drove on Bridgeport last night, and (the horror) I did have to wait at a red light, but I was also passed by vehicles going well in excess of the speed limit. Of course they do: faced with three wide-open lanes, that's what seems natural. The roads have to be redesigned to reflect the fact that they are inside of a city, passing through residential areas.
By the way, Canard, I don't know how it helps to say things like "We should all drive 4 km/h..." I've never heard anyone say this, so it's hard to know what you might be arguing against. ookpik suggests raising the speed limit to 60km/h. At that speed, a human being struck by a car will be killed 90% of the time. At 50km/h, it's 55% of the time, and at 30km/h it's 5% of the time. I would imagine that these specific roads probably need to see traffic flowing faster than 30km/h, but the way they're designed encourages much, much higher speeds.