ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Viewfromthe42]

The one thing I'll say about your comparison is that if someone is on the tracks, they are the one who gets hurt or killed. If someone does a rolling stop, it is someone else who gets hurt or killed.

[danbrotherston]

...
Why is it that people on this forum are so okay with this, but freak out when they see someone do a rolling stop? It's as if some only want to enforce rules that are convienent for them, and make the rules that stand in their way "frivolous".  It's really infuriating.

ViewFromThe42 makes a good point about rolling stops as well.

But actually, I would add, that I don't really complain about rolling stops per se, in that I think most of our intersections should be yield's instead (use of the incorrect traffic control device bugs me too, but necessitated by drivers treating yields sign as green lights). What bothers me, certainly, and I suspect many others, is the fact that drivers do rolling stops 99% of the time, but when a cyclist does the same, all of a sudden, it's because cyclists are "scofflaws"...and the resulting vitriol that comes with that.

[ijmorlan]

You “corrected” what I said to leave out “HSR”, meaning that all tracks no matter how sparsely used are covered by the edited sentence. In particular, it’s reasonable to assume from this and other things you’ve written that you would be opposed to people walking on the ties on the Spur Line during the day when there is no longer any train traffic, not even the slow traffic we had before.

The rules are pretty clear, here:



Yes, it angers me when I see people walking on the tracks instead of the trail.

My point is that there is nothing at all wrong with some trespassing, including on some railway rights-of-way. The key is to put careful thought into it and not just assume that it’s safe just because the traffic level isn’t obvious like it is on a busy highway. The world doesn’t generally work on the basis of blind unthinking adherence to rules, even safety rules.

Sorry, I can't agree. I guess as someone who grew up with railways, it's my responsibility to not just let this slide, and try my best to educate others about safety around the tracks.

While you may have your wits about you, and think it's safe, what about the teenager with their earbuds in that see you walking along the tracks and think "oh, it's safe for me to do that, too" - only to get killed?

Why is it that people on this forum are so okay with this, but freak out when they see someone do a rolling stop? It's as if some only want to enforce rules that are convienent for them, and make the rules that stand in their way "frivolous".  It's really infuriating.

Yes, I understand the rules. I’m saying that exact, unthinking adherence to rules is not how things work, although when it is convenient to do so those in power sometimes use minor rules violations as an excuse to persecute others. This is called authoritarianism, and it’s something we need less of in the world, not more.

It is not in fact unsafe to walk on those particular rails, although I don’t mind the warning sign about not walking on the tracks, because it is true that one should not walk on tracks without thinking seriously about what one is doing. I would also point out that the sign also says “Trail Closed at night between 11:00PM and 7:00AM until July 2017 Train Activity occurs during this time period” which is just silly and frankly offensive (side note: I would like to understand fully the bit about July 2017. What happens after that time?).

Why are we OK with it? Well, OK with what? I already said I’m definitely not OK with trespassing near HSR tracks. But I’m fine with perfectly safe activities that happen to be technical rules violations, and I think most here are of the same mind. Furthermore, I doubt anybody is really fully consistent on this point. Remember, you yourself climbed the McDonald’s steps after the McDonald’s was closed. Also, since we’re still discussing this, here is something for you to consider: I believe you previously expressed hesitation to take a perfectly legal left on red. Perhaps the issue is that you are uncomfortable with any activity that looks like it might be a rules violation.

As for the teenager with earbuds, everybody is responsible for their own safety. If they walk on the main line and get killed, it’s a bit much to blame somebody else for walking in their sight on the Spur Line months previously.

Also I agree with the other commenter that most stop signs should be yield signs. But even with them as stop signs there is absolutely no ethical problem with a rolling stop. To me a “rolling stop” means slowing down as if to stop, performing all the checks that one would perform if stopped, and then continuing on without actually coming to a halt. This implies that one will move very slowly for a time, indeed one will be almost halted, and one will check as carefully as if actually stopped and will also be planning to stop in the event that somebody is there and will actually stop for real in that case. It’s not at all the same as just ignoring the sign. Of course, a rolling stop can still yield a ticket which stopping presumably should not.

[BuildingScout]

But actually, I would add, that I don't really complain about rolling stops per se, in that I think most of our intersections should be yield's instead (use of the incorrect traffic control device bugs me too, but necessitated by drivers treating yields sign as green lights). 

I'm in favour of many rolling stops when they are closer to yields. Depends on a manyy things: visibility, pedestrian traffic, lighting conditions, road speeds, etc. If in doubt, come to a complete stop. If it looks good, slow down and continue slowing until you are certain no one is coming and then proceed slowly ahead.

[JoeKW]

Maybe rail safety needs a new thread. It's rather tiring to read about at this point.

[embe]

Anyone go through the King street north  and Conestogo rd intersection lately?  The two through lanes are misaligned.  So if you weren't paying attention, drivers in the curb lane would hit the curb on the other side of the intersection, and the other through lane has veer to the left to keep the curb lane open.  Traffic control measure?    Or poorly marked temporary thing until they figure out the rest of the LRT track in this area?

[danbrotherston]

Anyone go through the King street north  and Conestogo rd intersection lately?  The two through lanes are misaligned.  So if you weren't paying attention, drivers in the curb lane would hit the curb on the other side of the intersection, and the other through lane has veer to the left to keep the curb lane open.  Traffic control measure?    Or poorly marked temporary thing until they figure out the rest of the LRT track in this area?

There is a similar problem along Victoria St.  I haven't seen the one on King, but I think the Victoria one was an oversight.

[Canard]

Anyone go through the King street north  and Conestogo rd intersection lately?  The two through lanes are misaligned.  So if you weren't paying attention, drivers in the curb lane would hit the curb on the other side of the intersection, and the other through lane has veer to the left to keep the curb lane open.  Traffic control measure?    Or poorly marked temporary thing until they figure out the rest of the LRT track in this area?

There's another bad one heading North on King, at Allen. I'm sure all of these will be fixed up and properly marked once the final layer of pavement goes on. They probably don't want to put the lane markings across the concrete of the rapidway now, because if they do, then when they put the final layer of pavement on, they'll have to try and line up any dotted lines exactly how they did before, which isn't easy. This is why I am guessing they haven't put any markings on any rapidway concrete anywhere yet.

[timc]

Anyone go through the King street north  and Conestogo rd intersection lately?  The two through lanes are misaligned.  So if you weren't paying attention, drivers in the curb lane would hit the curb on the other side of the intersection, and the other through lane has veer to the left to keep the curb lane open.  Traffic control measure?    Or poorly marked temporary thing until they figure out the rest of the LRT track in this area?

The first time I came to this corner I actually wasn't sure if I was in a through lane or a right-turn lane. So I turned right and did a U-turn. Turns out I was in a through lane.

[Canard]

Victoria Westbound just after the kink to the left at the Kaufman Lofts is pretty bad, too. The left turn lane markings are still kinda there so it's pretty confusing as you approach King.

[timio]

Victoria westbound at King is better than it was originally, but that might be because I'm expecting it now.

[The85]

Anyone go through the King street north  and Conestogo rd intersection lately?  The two through lanes are misaligned.  So if you weren't paying attention, drivers in the curb lane would hit the curb on the other side of the intersection, and the other through lane has veer to the left to keep the curb lane open.  Traffic control measure?    Or poorly marked temporary thing until they figure out the rest of the LRT track in this area?

There's another bad one heading North on King, at Allen.  I'm sure all of these will be fixed up and properly marked once the final layer of pavement goes on.  They probably don't want to put the lane markings across the concrete of the rapidway now, because if they do, then when they put the final layer of pavement on, they'll have to try and line up any dotted lines exactly how they did before, which isn't easy.  This is why I am guessing they haven't put any markings on any rapidway concrete anywhere yet.

Anyone tried making a northbound left turn from Northfield to King (i.e. towards Home Depot) lately? With the new opposing signal protected double left turn and tracks through the intersection, seeing oncoming traffic is horrible. I'm surprised due to the geometrics, they didn't make this a dedicated left turn signal as well.

[KevinL]

Concrete pour is under way at King and Benton! King could reopen within the week, I'll bet.

[Canard]

...and pavenent in UpTown!!!!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Paving King St in <a href="https://twitter.com/UpTownWaterloo">@UpTownWaterloo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt">@rideIONrt</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/gettingthere?src=hash">#gettingthere</a> <a href="https://t.co/YRWP7vgiYX">pic.twitter.com/YRWP7vgiYX</a></p>&mdash; Tom Galloway (@tomjgalloway14) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomjgalloway14/status/797140443217752065">November 11, 2016</a></blockquote>

[Markster]

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