ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[ijmorlan]

Anyway, of course people (however they might find themselves traveling at any given moment) should try to follow rules. I think people should try to follow norms, too. It's important for people to behave in a generally predictable manner. But it wouldn't have taken a lot of brain power to realize that people (er, "pedestrians," I guess) will access the platform at both ends. That's just the way it is.

I agree with this. But ijmorlan thinks everyone should make their own value judgements about the stupidity of rules. Decide whether to cross a train track mid-block rather than be inconvenienced by a stupid rule. Decide whether to run a stop sign rather than be inconvenienced by a stupid sign. Decide whether to design for accessibility rather than be inconvenienced by a stupid building code. Decide whether or not to park on a bicycle path rather than be inconvenienced by stupid markings.

While I may not agree with all the rules, this is not the kind of society I would want to live in. Sorry if that offends anyone.

Poor characterization of what I think. I know that everybody does make their own value judgements about the stupidity of rules, and that most people go ahead and break them sometimes. My opinion is that at least some of the time people should judge rules to be stupid, and go ahead and break them. In some cases, there can be a reasonable debate about which rules are stupid, and exactly how much so. In this particular case (OK, fine, let’s just limit to the GRH case for simplicity), it is indisputable that the rules are stupid. There is simply no reason at all why people should not approach the platform from the Mt. Hope St. end.

I should also point out that I haven’t said anything specifically about mid-block crossings. At Frederick St. it’s about access directly from Duke St.; at GRH while one could do a mid-block crossing, it’s really about access from the next street to the north. Although in a setting where one only has to cross a single direction of traffic (either at all, or at a time), mid-block crossings done carefully are probably safer than at an intersection where vehicles can be turning in every direction.

Finally, it is to me conspicuous that you have not answered my question: how fast do you drive on the 401?