Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

About questioning “engineer’s competence” - keep in mind that designers and engineers have people above their heads directing them or denying them the ability to carry out their best intentions.

There are constraints (financial, political, corporate, etc.) that you don’t know about.

So can we please drop this “engineers are assholes” attitude?

Thank you.

I do understand that, but those cost and political constraints exist above the heads of structural engineers as well, and if city council told a structural engineer to compromise the structural integrity of a bridge to increase traffic or decrease costs, it is very likely they would be unable to find an engineer willing to do this or at least would have to look far and wide for it.

For traffic engineering, pols don't have to ask twice, engineers publicly state it would be inconvenient to build safe infra. And I very much believe this is a violation of their professional ethics.

I am not saying that individual traffic engineers are immoral or bad people, it is a systemic issue. They all do it because they've always all done it.  Broadly systemic issues are hard because good people contribute to them.