General Road and Highway Discussion

[cherrypark]

Would be nice to have council have EMS heads by council to have to attest to how Cedar and Joseph are "making it difficult for emergency vehicles to get through". Did some staffer just browse Nextdoor for an afternoon to adopt some baseless claims by that grumpy "I own a Tesla" guy?

[Bytor]

I would just like somebody to explain to me the logic behind the assertion that bike lanes make things more dangerous.

[bravado]

I would just like somebody to explain to me the logic behind the assertion that bike lanes make things more dangerous.

They make drivers have to do more work to avoid killing people, or more importantly: denting their car

So, they’re clearly dangerous…

On a more serious and sad answer, we design our bike lanes to be such shitty compromises to try and make drivers less angry that we actually do create some unsafe monstrosities a lot of the time.

[dtkvictim]

I would just like somebody to explain to me the logic behind the assertion that bike lanes make things more dangerous.

a) They encourage more people to cycle, which inevitably means more bicycle-vehicle interactions. Some people perceive the interaction as inherently dangerous (and would rather bicycles, the less dangerous element, just go away).
b) They cause some motorists to become extremely irate, who then take dangerous actions because they can't control their emotions (rational anger or not isn't relevant)
c) They are lying because they don't have any valid arguments to make

Take your pick

[danbrotherston]

I would just like somebody to explain to me the logic behind the assertion that bike lanes make things more dangerous.

a) They encourage more people to cycle, which inevitably means more bicycle-vehicle interactions. Some people perceive the interaction as inherently dangerous (and would rather bicycles, the less dangerous element, just go away).
b) They cause some motorists to become extremely irate, who then take dangerous actions because they can't control their emotions (rational anger or not isn't relevant)
c) They are lying because they don't have any valid arguments to make

Take your pick

This is exactly right...a and b are the two answers.

a) is for the engineers. A largely unstated, but very clear safety policy has been "get rid of people outside of cars" this is a major way the engineering profession has "increased safety" on our roads.

b) is for people...yes it is clearly the abusive boyfriend of arguments "look at what you made me do"...but, and I'm sure sevenman will downvote me for this comment, driving makes abusive boyfriends of us all (myself included at times)....we act rashly and then blame others for our actions.

[ac3r]

Another reason why we should start considering whether very, very, very old people should maybe not be driving vehicles without proving they still have the skills to do so: https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/cambridge-w...-1.7094037

[tomh009]

Another reason why we should start considering whether very, very, very old people should maybe not be driving vehicles without proving they still have the skills to do so: https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/cambridge-w...-1.7094037

Once you turn 80, you do need to go in for a classroom session. Road tests are not required often enough, though.

[KevinL]

Previously signed as just a school crossing, the hydro corridor trail intersection with Strasburg Road (between Ottawa and Block Line) got upgraded to a full PXO last week.

[bravado]

Previously signed as just a school crossing, the hydro corridor trail intersection with Strasburg Road (between Ottawa and Block Line) got upgraded to a full PXO last week.

They still couldn't find space in the budget for bollards to keep kids alive, eh? But did have space for giant blinking lights to make pedestrians beg/try and distract drivers from their phones instead.

Here's my local crossing island on Dundas St, 1 day before the road officially re-opened in 2020:



And 
And here it is again in 2023 on another junk food walk:




Why are engineers allowed to kill people with knowingly defective designs and get away with it?

[cherrypark]

Because they aren't allowed to kill people in cars with bollards or lack of clear way around the roads, because the only road users that matter are drivers and their occasional passengers.

[dunkalunk]

I may just be noticing it more since I'm on Highway 8 more often these days, but the backup of traffic waiting to use the Highway 8 to 7/8 Westbound lanes is kind of a hazard. During rush hour, vehicles in the third lane are pretty much at a crawl as far back as the Weber St onramp. I wonder when the MTO will decide it's time to either upgrade the interchange to be a full directional T or close some ramps to improve the amount of weaving that's happening?

[neonjoe]

I may just be noticing it more since I'm on Highway 8 more often these days, but the backup of traffic waiting to use the Highway 8 to 7/8 Westbound lanes is kind of a hazard. During rush hour, vehicles in the third lane are pretty much at a crawl as far back as the Weber St onramp. I wonder when the MTO will decide it's time to either upgrade the interchange to be a full directional T or close some ramps to improve the amount of weaving that's happening?

I’m old enough to remember when there was the WB-7 to EB-8 loop ramp that was a disaster and a half

[timio]

A quick win would be to drop King to one lane south of Mongtomery/Dixon and convert the EB 7/8 -> SB/EB 8 ramp to 2 lanes that are the through lanes on 8 with King merging in from the left. The amount of traffic coming from downtown doesn't merit two through lanes.

Doesn't fix the NB-WB mess, but it would likely reduce /one/ of the issues.

[bravado]

I’m just gonna sneak in here and casually mention that adding more lanes doesn’t equal less congestion

Thanks, bye

[tomh009]

... or only reduces it temporarily.