Tab Combs @DrTCombs@transportation.social

Hey #ChapelHillNC #CarrboroNC friends:

One of my colleagues is running a survey on the impacts of school bus service disruptions in #CHCCS schools, and could use some help reaching a wider audience. If you have kids in CHCCS, please share your thoughts:
https://go.unc.edu/schooltravelCHCCS

This is part of a larger study on how families cope with school bus service disruptions in North Carolina (so we can hopefully figure out to make these disruptions less common and less harmful).

To reiterate, I had a walk signal. At the same time, 3 drivers, coming from 3 different directions, were given permission to use their judgement about whether it was safe to drive into my path.

Thankfully we have a local traffic engineer who cares, and he responded to my email about this issue within minutes.

The freeway is owned by the state, so it's anyone's guess if he succeeds in fixing it, but he's giving it a go.

In the meantime, we continue to watch our backs. Literally.

(5/5)

My attention was focused on the first two threats (yellow and green), so I did not notice the third, most dangerous one--the red arrow guy flying up behind me--until it was almost too late.

Thankfully he and I both saw each other in time and we did not collide, but hot damn was that a close call.

(4/5)

2. (green arrow) A southbound freeway driver with a flashing yellow arrow was attempting to turn left onto the sidestreet, focused on finding a safe gap in traffic to squirt through rather than on whether there was anyone in the crosswalk.

3. (red arrow) A northbound freeway driver was flying through a right turn off the freeway onto the side street, using the ridiculously generous turning radius to execute the turn (and thus cross my path) at high speed.

(3/5)

The Friday morning situation was a classic crosswalk triple threat:

I'm the black arrow in the image, about to enter the northbound zebra crossing with an active walk signal.

The exact moment the walk signal came on for me, 3 other things happened:

1. (yellow arrow) A driver was attempting to turn right on red onto the freeway, completely blocking the crosswalk (I had a thread about this situation a few days ago).

(2/5)

The #BikeWalkNC transportation summit bike ride is headed into the exact same intersection where I nearly met my end two days ago. We have some awesome town staff along for the ride, but those in power are noticeably absent. 🧵

#BikeTooter #WalkTooter #RoadSafety #VisionZero #ChapelHillNC

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.9131667,-79.0262572,108m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkxOC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

What does all this look like in real time?

I'm glad you asked! Here's one minute, as promised, on why our truly harebrained practice of letting drivers turn right on red needs to effing end.

(CW mild but warranted adult language)

(8/8)

https://urbanists.video/w/iM2tp6GQFbWica9EsLML2H

And of course the drivers that do both: fly up to the intersection with no intention of stopping or looking for humans before turning, but then realizing there's too much traffic so they have to <gasp> wait their turn even though they're already halfway in the intersection.

(7/7)

Another, more insidious but by no means less frustrating, is when would-be right-turners do stop, but they stop *in the crosswalk* so they can get a better view of the traffic they're hoping to turn into. And then they just...sit...and...sit...blocking the whole ass crosswalk.

(6/6)

There are a couple of things that can go wrong when we just let drivers decide if it's safe to go on red.

One is when a driver approaching a red light forgets--as they do--about stopping, and is so preoccupied with looking left for a safe gap to dart into into that they fail to look right to check for crosswalk users who are traveling facing traffic. This can obviously be deadly.

(5/5)

For example, we'll have "walk" signals illuminated for pedestrians at the same time we give green lights to drivers who want to cross the paths of those very same pedestrians. It's one of the most common causes of pedestrians getting run over at signalized intersections.

But our unique and absurd practice of telling drivers they can *also* cross pedestrians' paths if they have a red light is next level dangerous.

(4/4)

We build a lot of other really confusing features into our transportation infrastructure, and for some reason believe it's ok because we know how drivers are just SO SMART AND CAREFUL AND ATTENTIVE that everything will work out. The assumption of perfect humans is baked into our manuals and highway codes.

(3/3)

In the rest of the world, red means 'stop.' But in most of the US and Canada, red can also mean 'stop, then go,' and the 'stop' part is optional*

This is confusing.

*it's not actually optional, but most drivers think it is.
(2/2)

Got a minute to talk about one of the dumbest things about #traffic in North America?

That's right, I'm talking about how we think it's a good idea to let drivers turn right even if the traffic light is red.

#RTOR is a wrongheaded idea that doesn't serve its intended purpose (saving gas) and demonstrably makes streets more dangerous for everyone.

#SafeStreets #VisionZero #BanRTOR #WalkTooter #BikeTooter

🧵

Top tips for keeping your kids' feet dry while biking to school?

Biking in the rain = GOOD!
Soggy socks all day = not so good...

#BikeToSchool #KidsOnBikes #RainBiking #BikeTooter

I was going to write a thread about the 'strava thing' this morning but have been derailed by the 'nypd shot a bystander in the head because someone else tried to use public transit for free' thing

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/brooklyn-subway-shooting-nypd-sutter-avenue/5799406/?os=firetv&ref=app

Stop giving cops an excuse to shoot bystanders in the head while saving millions in public dollars every year with one weird trick...

When there's only one road connecting two parts of town, and that road's an urban freeway, and it only has a sidewalk on one side, it's not ok to park a utility truck on the sidewalk.

We made it through OK, but opted for the 3 mile detour (in has its own huge safety challenges) on the way home.

https://urbanists.video/w/vLkuzTADpCdLqTyqH62s3T

#VisionZero #ChapelHillNC

Hey all. I have a fantastic student looking for mentorship on an #ActiveMobility and #ClimateAdaptation research project in The Netherlands. If you're working in that space or know someone who is, please send me a message!