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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
(08-31-2018, 04:40 PM)UrbanCanoe Wrote: I saw a car nearly get t-boned by an LRV this morning. Both were stopped at the intersection of King & William (northbound). When the light turned green the car turned right onto William Street, directly in front of the LRV which was proceeding through the intersection. Wow the LRV's horn is loud!!

I wonder if the car was making a right turn on red while the train had its vertical bar, and where the stop bar for the car is painted relative to where the train was stopped?  Ideally the train would start out from within the average driver's peripheral vision.

Still, the 'No Right, Train' signs would be lit if the train had triggered it's vertica bar.  That's driver inattention whether the train is in their peripheral vision or not...
...K
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Car drivers are not used to watching for a vehicle on their right when turning right. It's just not a situation they are used to. This driver was still in the wrong, but I understand why they made the mistake.

98.9% of the time, a car is turning right from the right-most lane, and the only thing to look for is pedestrians, who are relatively slow, so there's a small area to look to see them.
1% of the time, there's a bike lane, and cars will usually either encroach, blocking through bike traffic, or will ignore the bikes entirely and bully through, because cyclists know that they lose that fight.

Now, we have a brand new situation where LRVs can come through at speed, on the right, and have the power to win the collision. Inattentive drivers could get away with some bad habits before. Now they do so at their own risk.
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(08-31-2018, 10:12 PM)Canard Wrote: 1/1 - Friday, August 31, 2018
Three LRV's out today!

Were these shot with your long lens? The LRVs look almost bite-sized :)
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(09-02-2018, 10:47 PM)chutten Wrote: Were these shot with your long lens? The LRVs look almost bite-sized Smile

My medium-ish lens (~250 mm), but yes! I brought the big guy (600 mm) with me, too, but I’m reluctant to pull it out in public because I’m always scared what people will think... it’s also not very handy for grabbing in a hurry and framing a shot!

I got pretty good over the last few years of taking pictures of non-moving dirt and concrete. Moving LRV’s are a different animal and I’m still trying to figure out how to do it.
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(08-31-2018, 05:12 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Was the “no right turn - train” sign lit?

I think these are a mistake, since they're unfamiliar. The relevant intersections should have distinct left-straight-right arrow signals, like any other intersection where turns have separate timing.
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(09-03-2018, 08:14 PM)kps Wrote:
(08-31-2018, 05:12 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Was the “no right turn - train” sign lit?

I think these are a mistake, since they're unfamiliar. The relevant intersections should have distinct left-straight-right arrow signals, like any other intersection where turns have separate timing.

Except for the fact that these are pretty standard equipment in North America. In fact, there has been one set up on King St. E by the CP Rail tracks for years
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(09-03-2018, 08:14 PM)kps Wrote:
(08-31-2018, 05:12 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Was the “no right turn - train” sign lit?

I think these are a mistake, since they're unfamiliar. The relevant intersections should have distinct left-straight-right arrow signals, like any other intersection where turns have separate timing.

The right turn doesn’t have separate timing as such, being the same actual lane as the straight-through traffic. It’s just not always allowed to take the turn. Actually, that raises an interesting question: is it legal to sit waiting for the no-right to clear? If it were a regular no-turn sign it would mean that one would be required to proceed straight through the intersection. But on the other hand, a regular no-turn sign doesn’t clear after a few seconds — it stays there until taken down, normally when traffic flow through the area is being re-thought.

I suppose you could have two greens: a straight arrow and a regular circle. But then that gets back to the question of whether you can sit waiting for the no-right to clear (green circle to come on). Normally, at a green arrow, you have to go, not wait for something else to happen. In places where there are separate lights for the different directions there are also separate lanes controlled by the different lights.

In any case, familiar or not, a right-turn arrow crossed by a red line and circle means “no right turn” so nobody has any business driving who can’t understand the sign and interpret it safely. I first wrote “correctly” but changed it to “safely” because people can be excused being confused especially with unfamiliar signage; but they still have to drive safely. In general, interpreting something safely but potentially not correctly means slamming on the brakes and sitting for a while until the driver is sure of what is going on.
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(09-03-2018, 09:00 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(09-03-2018, 08:14 PM)kps Wrote: I think these are a mistake, since they're unfamiliar. The relevant intersections should have distinct left-straight-right arrow signals, like any other intersection where turns have separate timing.

The right turn doesn’t have separate timing as such, being the same actual lane as the straight-through traffic. It’s just not always allowed to take the turn. Actually, that raises an interesting question: is it legal to sit waiting for the no-right to clear? If it were a regular no-turn sign it would mean that one would be required to proceed straight through the intersection. But on the other hand, a regular no-turn sign doesn’t clear after a few seconds — it stays there until taken down, normally when traffic flow through the area is being re-thought.

I suppose you could have two greens: a straight arrow and a regular circle. But then that gets back to the question of whether you can sit waiting for the no-right to clear (green circle to come on). Normally, at a green arrow, you have to go, not wait for something else to happen. In places where there are separate lights for the different directions there are also separate lanes controlled by the different lights.

In any case, familiar or not, a right-turn arrow crossed by a red line and circle means “no right turn” so nobody has any business driving who can’t understand the sign and interpret it safely. I first wrote “correctly” but changed it to “safely” because people can be excused being confused especially with unfamiliar signage; but they still have to drive safely. In general, interpreting something safely but potentially not correctly means slamming on the brakes and sitting for a while until the driver is sure of what is going on.

It is legal to sit and wait for the sign to clear if the sign states "TRAIN" underneath the graphic.
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Saw I could get a clear shot of the approaching 505 from my passing bus - did not expect to also catch a concerning pedestrian interaction...

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This is the norm, sadly. People have no respect or understanding for rules, and are causing operators to e-stop multiple times per day.
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If I was the operator, I would constantly be on that loud horn they have!, lol
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When I was out at lunch today there was one heading down Charles. So many people turning left where prohibited, turning right when no-right-turn signs were illuminated (including a GRT bus turning into the Charles terminal after the LRT had passed but before the sign turned off).
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(09-04-2018, 11:37 AM)KevinL Wrote: Saw I could get a clear shot of the approaching 505 from my passing bus - did not expect to also catch a concerning pedestrian interaction...


Sad, but a lot of people aren't very bright. Also noticed he was going in the same direction as the Ion if there had been one behind him.

Someone is going to get hurt.
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(09-04-2018, 11:37 AM)KevinL Wrote: Saw I could get a clear shot of the approaching 505 from my passing bus - did not expect to also catch a concerning pedestrian interaction...


Sadly this doesn't surprise me, especially given the location -- that section has seen a lot of weird interactions.  A video posted to the Facebook group last winter (can't find it now for looking) showed someone shaking their fist and getting rather 'animated' the first time an ION went through there with its police escort, and I've personally witnessed similar behaviours from the residents and hangers-about at the House of Friendship during other testing.  It's where they had to remove a padlock from the overhead wiring before testing could proceed several months ago, and I called GrandLinq myself one morning this summer (or maybe it was the police non-emergency number, I forget) to report concrete debris that I spotted placed on the rails here.   Sad
...K
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(09-04-2018, 05:51 PM)KevinT Wrote: Sadly this doesn't surprise me, especially given the location -- that section has seen a lot of weird interactions.  A video posted to the Facebook group last winter (can't find it now for looking) showed someone shaking their fist and getting rather 'animated' the first time an ION went through there with its police escort, and I've personally witnessed similar behaviours from the residents and hangers-about at the House of Friendship during other testing.  It's where they had to remove a padlock from the overhead wiring before testing could proceed several months ago, and I called GrandLinq myself one morning this summer (or maybe it was the police non-emergency number, I forget) to report concrete debris that I spotted placed on the rails here.   Sad

I am wondering, in retrospect, if they should have chosen a different route other than that part of Charles. I can see a lot of issues cropping up daily in that area.
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