Tab Combs @DrTCombs@transportation.social

...we're happy to give our overworked brains a moment's rest, and let the signal do the thinking. Yeah, sure, the law says we also have to be paying attention to our surroundings, but turning left is hard and our brains are tired. The light says we can go, so we can go.

Except sometimes there's also a light telling a pedestrian they can go. (9/13)

If permissive lefts aren't bad enough, some intersections actually give left turning motorists protective lefts--green left arrows--when there's an active walk sign in the path of the left turning motorist. IMHO, this is even worse. Here's why:

A green left arrow evokes a sense of priority and privilege among drivers. "This is my special green arrow. Nobody can stop me now."

But driving is hard and most drivers are really bad at it. So when we get a special signal just for us... (8/13)

If said pedestrians are speedy, the LPI may give them enough of a head start to get out of the way of potential left turners. But not all pedestrians are athletes. Just like drivers, many pedestrians are old, young, creaky, carrying heavy stuff, and/or distracted. Five seconds is not enough for them to get to safety, especially when there are multiple lanes to cross. (7/13)

Trouble is, driving is hard and most drivers are really bad at it, and the cognitive burden of identifying a safe gap in multiple lanes of on-coming traffic is pretty heavy, and our real, rational fear of getting clobbered by other vehicles makes us forget we also need to be looking to make sure we don't clobber any pedestrians...pedestrians who are lawfully in the crosswalk on the far side of the intersection. (6/13)

The other issue is that it's also common in the US to allow drivers to turn left across crosswalks with active walk signals. Sometimes we do this with a permissive left, which is a flashing yellow arrow that says to drivers, "it's up to you."
Permissive lefts are typically used on multi-lane roads. Drivers who wish to turn left must identify a safe gap in on-coming traffic, and when they see one they think they can fit through, they can go for it. (5/13)

The LPI does nothing in this situation, because allowing right turns on red (#RTOR) negates the head start. Banning RTOR is the only way to ensure that pedestrians get to take full advantage of the LPI.

Some cities have tried selectively prohibiting RTOR at intersections with known safety issues. It's a good start, but compliance tends to be poor because humans don't like following conditional rules. It's going to take full scale ban to change driver behaviors. All or nothing. (4/13)

Across most of the US, it's legal for drivers to turn right on red, even when that means crossing a crosswalk with an active 'walk' signal. In theory, you are supposed to check for pedestrians...

...but driving is hard, and in reality most drivers are really bad at it, and they don't look to their right before turning right, which means they don't see the pedestrian lawfully in the crosswalk before hitting them. (3/13)

LPIs improve intersection safety much the same way large print menus improve eyesight. Which is to say they are useful and better than nothing. But they do nothing to address the underlying issue.

The underlying issue is, at most signalized intersections in the US, a 'walk' signal does not mean it's safe to walk across the intersection. It means that if you get hit while you are walking across the intersection, it's legally not your fault (presuming your body lands in the crosswalk). (2/13)

A new policy to add leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs) is a step in the right direction by NCDOT. This signal timing gives pedestrians a head start into crosswalks, making them more visible to motorists who wish to turn across the pedestrian's path. The walk signal turns on ~5 seconds before the parallel traffic light turns green.
But it's a partial solution to a symptom of a much greater problem. 🧵
https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2024/2024-07-26-pedestrian-safety-crosswalks.aspx

yellow highlighting is an act of aggression

watching my septuagenarian next door neighbors trying to figure out the most respectful way to remove the 'biden' from their biden/harris sign rn.

they definitely understand the assignment

July 23 Don't Take The Social Media Bait Challenge: "Speed Limits Are Based on Science"

It's been 11 minutes and I'm still in the game, but losing willpower quickly. Pray for me.

#advice

My kid wants to be a novelist. She's working on her first long book project this summer; about 20k words in and it's a fun story, but she seems to have hit a wall.

I'm hoping to find resources and guidance meant to help kids plan and finish a first book. If you know of anything that might be useful for a 10 yo, brilliant-but-scattered budding author, I'd be grateful for a tip.

lord knows her parents are not equipped to help.

Thank you!!!

#YoungWriters

spotted in my kitchen drawer this morning at the exact moment it was most true.

@TheWarOnCars #TheWarOnCars #YoudBeHappierBiking #BikeTooter

Happy Crowdstrike Day, I guess

With condolences to everyone who works in either IT or outdoor recreation

Note that she still wouldn't be able to #MakeEyeContact with the driver, so if this were a crosswalk, she'd still, even at 4 feet, 8 inches tall, be too short to follow the primary "safety" advice we give our kids.

#VisionZero #RoadSafety

Huge milestone. At 4'8", the kid's finally tall enough for the top of her head to be visible to the driver of an #F250.

#OversizedDeathMachine

(and yes, this IS a pedestrianized area)

Every day is a great day to block people who believe the whole of your knowledge about a particular topic is represented in what you posted about it once on social media.