WAY OT, merge sign, improvement?

[EPAIII]

What do I think? My first impression was it was a rocket powered bus. The present signs are a LOT better.

IIABDFI! (If it ain't broke, don't fix it.)

Sorry about that!

I was just looking at 99%invisible (a great website and podcast), and they were discussing improvements to the merge road sign, and this is what I came up with. What do you think?

View attachment 200968

 

[DDoug]

Dave Edmunds - Crawling From The Wreckage - YouTube

 

[John Welden]

I don't see how your sign will improve anything.

The only solution is for all cars to be self driving and that's a long way off.

 

[dave5605]

I was just looking at 99%invisible (a great website and podcast), and they were discussing improvements to the merge road sign, and this is what I came up with. What do you think?

View attachment 200968

Stick to your day job!

 

[JNieman]

I don't see how your sign will improve anything.

The only solution is for all cars to be self driving and that's a long way off.

That'll happen a lot sooner than teaching people to let go of their ego when driving and to stop thinking every driver in front of them is in competition with them, or depriving them of something.

 

[Davis In SC]

Your sign reads as: "School bus ahead"

Or a MiniVan half submerged in water..

 

[KilrB]

I don't see how your sign will improve anything.

The only solution is for all cars to be self driving and that's a long way off.

They'll get my car when they can pry the steering wheel from my cold dead fingers!

 

[projectnut]

Here's one that's been tried with limited success:

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/68000/68091/68091_129_w4-3_c_lg.gif

This one is more likely to at least get someone's attention.

https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder350/60059350.jpg

I doubt either will have any effect on some peoples driving habits.

 

[Question Boy]

..., sometimes you need to nudge their back bumper at 60+ MPH to let them get the hint that you also know how to drive fast.
A little unload twitch of the rear end of the dickhead does wonders for your mood.
Bob

^^^^Iamverybadass^^^^

 

[GregSY]

I have a friend who is a delivery driver, and he also thinks the self-driving car is an abomination that never will take off. I just laugh and tell him he's way underestimating the complacency and sheep-like behavior of the American public.

Plus, think of all the commercial vehicles where the employee could be working in the back of the van rather than driving.

 

[Mike1974]

Believe it or not, you're part of the problem.

Zipper merging is the solution.

I think you completely took it out of context. So is merging the same within a .5 mile distance when doing 70 on a freeway, or at 35 in light traffic? I am with Wes (I think!), I start looking for my opportunity to merge as soon as I see the sign. It DOES NOT mean I immediately cut off the guy next to me so I can get in.

I do agree merging is a group effort, and we all know how that mostly works in big cities. I'm fine letting people get in front, when it is obvious that is what should happen, and I also will speed up a bit so a guy can get behind me, which I can see he is trying, I will do*. No, I am not perfect, am am not trying to come off as so, just stating no person can know what another is thinking, all we can do is make a judgement call...

*I also notice when someone is being a complete dic^ and gets out of the soon to be merged lane to speed past on the right side and cut someone else off!!

 

[cyanidekid]

Your sign reads as: "School bus ahead"

HAHA! very good.. but rotate 90 deg. with arrow pointing up, and if it is a bus, it can only be the Rapture.

 

[cyanidekid]

Dave Edmunds - Crawling From The Wreckage - YouTube

how about "warm leatherette" !

 

[cyanidekid]

Stick to your day job!

ok, fair enough, I asked. easy enough to say, but what alternate do you have thats better?

 

[cyanidekid]

What do I think? My first impression was it was a rocket powered bus. The present signs are a LOT better.

IIABDFI! (If it ain't broke, don't fix it.)

Sorry about that!

good lord, you do understand that the arrow should be pointing up, don't you?
didn't bother to rotate, cuz I figured you guys were smart enough to get that!

oh, and it is broke.(ish)as is..its all good EPA!cheers.

 

[Mud]

good lord, you do understand that the arrow should be pointing up, don't you?
didn't bother to rotate, cuz I figured you guys were smart enough to get that!

oh, and it is broke.(ish)as is..its all good EPA!cheers.

Fooled me too.
I thought it was a submarine with a snowplow. And the windows are open.

 

[9100]

I used to go through a convoluted section at the same time everyone else was going home. Within yards I looped around a cloverleaf, merged into a highway (North on Hanley to West on Hwy 40 if any St. Louise folks are reading), then there were two split offs for the inner belt highway and a city street, then merging traffic from the other side of that street.

Another street going into town was made one way East in the morning, one way West in the afternoon. When the light changed at the start it was like being back in Mexico City. If you were not in gear with the motor reved up, you were going to get run over. The speed limit was a joke and the police didn't bother us. The street went right down the Central Corridor and people got off on both sides.

Both of these situations were done very smoothly, no cutting off, no refusing to let someone in, no close calls or screeching stops. Why? Because all the drivers drove it every day and knew exactly what they had to do and when to get in which lane. In effect, you were dealing with professional drivers, at least for those bits of road.

Bill

 

[JST]

People always recommend "zipper merging". It would work great if all cars were sewed into a strip, and the strips were aligned by some unseen force.

But it would STILL be slow, because. in fact, 2 lanes of traffic STILL have to go through in one lane. If the cars were at the minimum safe spacing in each lane, then they will have to spread out again, or they will be tailgating. That will just be the same as if they all lined up in one lane. It does not speed up anything unless the number of cars is way below the actual highway capacity.

So "zipper merging" is just a big hoax.

The way to do it is to all merge as and when you can , BEFORE the last minute.

On I170 here, southbound, when it reaches "40/64", one lane goes west, the other east. Signs explain this.

Inevitably, someone in a BMW will roar down to the end in the lane that goes west, stop with left turn signal on, and try to go east, blocking dozens of west-bound drivers.

 

[Klimm]

I apologize that got into this subject, but I can't send to you KilB on mail the message.You promised archives of diskettes for ROBOFIL 290. My [email protected] mail

 

[JNieman]

So "zipper merging" is just a big hoax.

Yep, you figured it out. All the civil/traffic engineers are paid by big insurance to cause more fender benders by promoting zipper merging and therefore 'tailgating'.

Couldn't be that the people in the business of designing the very roadways have any idea how they should be used best, after decades and decades of studies and experiments.

(jk)

I think traffic engineering has to be one of the worst possible design gigs. All the users think they know more about the topic than the engineers. Everyone in control of the budget doesn't give a shit about what is required, what should be done, and many times the people in charge of approving projects don't care about the design requirements, and care more about the design aesthetics, or if it is going to be in their district or not. Then there's the whole fact that elected people only care about balancing budgets or spending money long enough to make their term look good. They rarely want to invest in 30 year solutions, because those returns only show up on future administrations' budgets. So we only get 2 year solutions or 4 year solutions at best.

Never mind that no one cares about traffic studies. They don't care about how long it /actually/ takes to get somewhere. They care about how long it /feels/ like it took to get there. This gets proven time and again when people complain about longer commute times in roundabouts where they actually greatly reduced the throughput. Best conclusions indicate that people are able to "zone out" when at a stop light, just riding a bumper until they get up front, whereas a roundabout requires them to maintain their attention span and pay attention longer... making it 'feel' like less time passed at the stop light.

I agree with you on one thing, though, fuck all the BMWs on Hwy Farty. They're all jerks.