01-07-2017, 08:46 AM
(01-06-2017, 09:59 PM)panamaniac Wrote: I am at a loss to understand how this is related to the design of the intersection. Although the media report is not explicit, it seems logical to infer that the motorist was turning on a red light (i.e from what was, or was supposed to be a full stop). At what point do we simply admit that a significant minority of our motorists are simply not competent to be behind the wheel of a car? Since nothing is likely to be done to address that underlying problem, perhaps the best course action is just to continue not to admit it.
So we should just throw our hands in the air and accept that 3,000 Canadians will die on our roads because *shrug*? You cannot fix people, you cannot prevent most people from driving, but it's been proven that through design, you can make roads safer, so lets do that how about?
How to fix the design of this intersection? I'm not sure of the specifics. A good guess would be, as I said before, narrower lanes and tighter corner radius. This would cause drivers to drive through the intersection, especially when turning at a slower speed (even if turning on red). Slower speeds means drivers have more time to react, and if they still manage to hit someone, the collision will be less serious. This would probably apply to around 70-80% of the intersections in our city.
I'm not sure what about the media reports suggest they were turning on red. It's equally plausible they were turning on green, and more likely in my mind given the apparent speed of the collision. But on the topic of turning on red, here's another example: disallow turns on red. They're dangerous to pedestrians because drivers are paying attention to traffic, not pedestrians.