Has anyone seen that episode of the show “Weeds” where Mary Louise Parker’s character is waiting in her car, at a light that never changes? She calls it the “punishment light.”
I have a “punishment light” on my corner, actually, and it drives me absolutely mad. It feels like time drags to a halt as all the cars go whipping by on the cross street, while I’m waiting on the corner on my bike, cooling my heels. What’s your biggest traffic beef? Is it worse to be a driver or a cyclist in your town? Tell us your contemporary traffic woes!
Forger driving or cycling, it’s worse being a public transit rider in Calgary. Calgary Transit service is very poorly planned and just keeps deteriorating and getting more expensive. Far too many times in the dead of winter I’ve had to wait at a bus stop for more than 45 minutes in Siberian weather for a bus that’s late or just never shows up. Waiting in the tiny shelter is not an option as the glass walls were smashed by a hooligan months ago and still haven’t been replaced. The trains are not much better, if you’re waiting downtown for the northeast train you just stand there on the platform as train after train after train that’s instead going to the south passes you by. And because the trains are free downtown, you’ve got to put up with the panhandlers, winos and gangbangers that have marked the train as their turf. And yes, I mean that literally as that’s where “that smell” comes from.
This comment comes from a slightly different background. I’m currently living in New Zealand and am often fuming over traffic and transit plans. This simple truth is that the car is the king here – damn all pedestrians. This brings me to my beef: when crossing at an intersection, if the button isn’t pressed well before the lights change, you don’t get the walk signal until the next time around. Naturally, everyone jaywalks.
These stories make me think that we should do some stories on traffic. I’d be really interested in knowing what works and what what doesn’t in different cities.
There also seems to be an inexplicable logic at times. There’s another light near me, for instance, that only seems to get the pedestrian ‘walk’ signal every second light (though maybe it’s designed like the NZ lights you describe, Greg). Why that light?
Traffic is an interesting topic in that perfectly reasonable people can be perfectly opposed on the subject. For example, light phasing for vehicle flow is just as contentious for drivers as it is for pedestrians, but they tend to only benefit one group at a time. No one wants to be stuck waiting.
I’d be interested in seeing what sort of program that could be put together on the topic. As a seed to kick things off, several European cities have been proposing/adopting 30 km/h urban speed limits as a means to lower accident rates. Having bicycles and cars travelling at similar rates has obvious advantages. I also believe that the biggest impediment to traffic is stop-and-go motion, not the speed limit. Could this make sense for Canadian (and New Zealand) cities? Would people go for it?
Disclaimer: my shoes put on more mileage than my car does these days.
Well, as a cyclist in Vancouver, I could post a rant, but from my experience, every city apparently has “the worst drivers”. Therefore, the standard “cyclist rant” doesn’t bring anything new to the table.
I’m pleased that Vancouver is generally cyclist friendly, with a network of bike routes that can get me from point A to point B without having to deal with road-rage, sloppy drivers, teenagers texting while driving, etc. And who would want the stress of riding on major thoroughfares like Broadway when you can go down tree-lined residential streets one block up, or along the numerous seawalls?
Don’t get me wrong, there’s the usual complaints,(Burrard Bridge, riding downtown, that damn hill going up Ontario) but they’re par for the course. The only one that sticks out for me is drivers on the bike routes getting impatient and even aggresive when faced with bikes. As far as I’m concerned, if the signs denote “Bike Route” you’re on our turf and therefore should play by our rules, since cyclists have to maneuver in spaces that privelege four wheels -that is to say, the rest of the city, the rest of the time.
That said- Traffic calming circles count as technology. As long as people -including other cyclists- use them properly.
The thing that bugs me most is when you have one lane that is supposed to merge into another lane, and both are backed up.
Most people merge in a nice orderly fashion, alternating vehicles.
But you always get some self-centered idiot who drives way down the line and bypasses everyone else, then tries to merge in at the last second. Invariably, someone lets them in.
Sometimes I wish that the people already in line would teach the line-jumpers a lesson and all band together to keep them from getting into the lane.
First of all, seems there are more than 17,000 cyclists on the road in Vancouver today on the daily base, I do believed there should be some necessary rules and regulations for everyone who is driving or riding on the road today.
Everyone knows how bad the traffic could get in Vancouver, specially at rush hours or busy routs all over the city. I found either drivers or cyclists are all need to insurance their bicycle or vehicle to protect their rights to be on the road.
As I driver, it pissed me off when I get cut off by a cyclist who thinks he/she owns the road just because there is really no laws or regulations to restricted their behavior. The Motor Vehicle Act seems not apply to cyclists on the road today and I’m talking from a personal experiences.
I think when we give people too much freedom, some people started taking advantage of what we have. For example, people in Canada do share the road with others, you will never really see that kind of behavior back in Asia. BUT, because some people know that rule, they started bypassed everyone in the traffic lane and tried to cut into the lane.
I hope there will be new policy coming up before 2010 for cyclists. They should be all have insurance and license just like any motor vehicle. So when a accident happened, you won’t be the next victim get a response like ” Motor Vehicle Act is only apply to Vehicle, not bicycle, so your insurance is going up to $7500 next year and you are most likely 100% responsible for this BS”