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Walking in Waterloo Region
(06-05-2017, 12:55 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(06-05-2017, 12:38 PM)tomh009 Wrote: I walk along and/or cross there (within the park) daily, and I'm not finding a major traffic issue there.  But maybe my criteria are too relaxed?

I would think your criteria are too relaxed.  I consider there to be a traffic issue when I am a) held up by, or b) made uncomfortable by car traffic within a park.

It's true that I can't always cross immediately but I doubt it would be more than 15-30 seconds' waiting most of the time, and often no waiting at all.  And when I do cross, people in cars wait for me.  From my point of view, it's a reasonable balance.

Personally, I am not made uncomfortable by the relatively slow car traffic in the park.  It may be different for others.
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I've never had a problem crossing at any of the crossings in Victoria Park or felt uncomfortable.
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15-30 seconds seems like a long time to wait for cars in a park...but that's just me.

As for discomfort, I've literally been yelled at by drivers to get off the road while biking on Jubilee. Yes, an extreme example I admit.

And yes, traffic is moving more slowly on a busy road, but they are still moving well in excess of the 30 km/h limit. I routinely get honked at for driving the limit.
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When I drive through the park (not recently, it's not hockey season ...) I drive at about 30 km/h. Never been honked or tailgated on Jubilee. Other traffic seems to move at similar speeds. But that's just my personal anecdotal experience.
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From the CBC: Elderly Kitchener man hit by car, thrown from scooter, suffers head injuries

Quote:A 79-year-old Kitchener man on a mobility scooter suffered serious head injuries after driver hit him as he was crossing Wellington Street N in Kitchener yesterday afternoon.

The article omits this, but the Regional Police report that the man was crossing in the crosswalk on the east side of the intersection- the motorist was turning left from southeast-bound King to Wellington.

I've been observing since this intersection reopened that it is very uncomfortable to cross at any leg besides the west on King. The turning radii provide for very fast turns, and I have found that motorists have not been looking for people on foot.

I've attributed some of that to the fact that King is closed beyond this point, but the geometry of the intersection won't change once it's open.
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As the stop lines and crosswalks get moved further and further back, it's making it hard to see the far side at all! You're already well into your turning movement (and picking up speed) by the time you get a clear view of the crosswalk.
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I've always thought that it was inattentive drivers turning right who were the greatest danger to pedestrians crossing at the intersection, but I'm starting to wonder if the inattentive left-turner isn't equally dangerous, or even more dangerous given that they may be moving at a higher speed. For pedestrians, at least you can try to make eye contact with the right-turner. That's more of a challenge with traffic turning left (if you are even facing the turner).
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I passed by there on my bike after he had already been taken away, but while the intersection was still closed. I personally can't see how the driver could have missed him if she was actually checking for pedestrians. The intersection is even angled optimally for turning traffic to clearly see crossing pedestrians.
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The driver was 81 if that helps explain it.
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The government should really do something about all this senior-on-senior violence!
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It's true that the sight lines are not so bad on the turn she was making- I think the culprit is the angle of that turn, and how fast a vehicle is able to go. Turns from Wellington Street North don't have very good visibility of the crosswalks.

The motorist was turning left at what is right now in effect a threeway intersection. She only had one thing to check for, people in the crosswalk, and couldn't manage to do that. I feel that the intersection's design is to blame, but maybe the motorist's age did contribute. If so, she shouldn't have been driving, obviously.
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That's also where King St begins its downward slope, right as you drive into the intersection. If you're not paying attention, the pedestrians in the crosswalk will be lower in your vision than you expect when on flat ground. Its a small thing, but it adds to the reduced visibility.

CTV has a report, not much new info though:
http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId...tPageNum=1
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This is so frustrating!

   


Anyone want to explain what the engineer who designed this was thinking?

   
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What are we looking at in that first pic?
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(07-04-2017, 09:51 AM)panamaniac Wrote: What are we looking at in that first pic?

To me it appears someone has parked over a crosswalk of sorts, and is blocking a makeshift ramp.

Speaking of frustrating, I think its frustrating that the Region "started" a blitz on parking on iON tracks (although that seems to have disappeared), but at the same time, vendors/contractors all park on the tracks.  No sense starting a campaign if everyone will see it as a parking lot regardless.

Coke
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