07-11-2019, 01:17 PM
(07-11-2019, 11:34 AM)plam Wrote: So I met with region staff at Willis Way. They pointed out the design challenges there: putting in the crosswalk at the north end of the platform wouldn't work great because the cars will bunch up from Erb and Caroline. My recollection of that conversation is that their predicted car behaviour is that the cars would just block the crosswalk. The PXO at the south end of Willis Way is there for accessibility reasons, but they expect that most able-bodied people would jaywalk midblock on Caroline to get to/leave the station, which is the behaviour that I've observed.
I found that the Region of Waterloo engineers are actually quite realistic with respect to human behaviour on roads; their focus is on reducing the number of people actually getting hit by cars (vs just following the rules).
We also looked at the cars turning west onto Erb from Caroline despite the prohibition ("NO LEFT TURN, BUSES EXCEPTED"). Usually it seems to be cars that are following buses.
They are also continuing to work on signal timing and reducing unnecessary arms-down time.
Not having a split stop would have been better (i.e. two-way traffic on King St) but that was driven by elected officials. Cambridge isn't getting split stops in their design.
Cars may block the box, there are ways to fix that as well.
That being said, they're realistic in the fact that they acknowledge they are creating situations which encourage and even force pedestrians and cyclists to break the law. The media then demonizes cyclists and peds when they do as the engineers intend.
I don't believe this is a kindness. Just because they acknowledge the reality they're creating doesn't mean that they aren't creating it. And, just as with the cities and putting "road closed" signs on open roads, they're creating a culture where peds know and act, as though the rules don't apply.....specifically because they don't.
If engineers want to blame standards, well, that's a cop out...it's also not true, the standards allow for good designs...the city manages to achieve this.
As for cars usually following buses this is not the case. I've seen hundreds of cars turn left there, I have never seen a bus turn, as a result I've never seen a car follow a GRT bus through a left.