xkcd #2932: Driving PSA
xkcd #2932: Driving PSA
Alt text:
This PSA brought to you by several would-be assassins who tried to wave me in front of speeding cars in the last month and who will have to try harder next time.
This intersection looks fucking horrible. Is this how American streets are built?
Some of them yes, the real shitty version of this is the 65mph divided highway where you can reel they just plopped a highway down in a rural area crossing over a bunch of country roads so instead of spending a shit load of money on overpasses you get the pleasure of merging directly into a actual highway. I've never actually had a problem at one of those because they're always in the middle of nowhere but you really get to test your cars acceleration when you find one.
There is also the stroad that is basically what you describe only with entrances to and exits from business parking lots every couple of car lengths.
I live in Tennessee.. the scenario in the old is so common I saw it 4 times yesterday. It's in every town, city, metro area here. There is no planning, no thought to motorists... They only apply a light once public outcry gets to the point where city officials can't ignore it any longer.
The town my wife is from has an intersection like above. It killed ~30 people over the years before a traffic light was installed.
That's it's very much normal.
When I was teaching my older son to drive, I took him through it. My recommendation: "Never turn left at it. Turn right and find a safer way to go the other way."
When he got to the interchange the guy in front of him tried to turn left and got hit immediately.
Yes, and the only safe (and often time-saving) answer is to just turn right and then make U-turn later. Fortunately we have "right on red" as a legal maneuver here, so that softens the blow a bit. And yes, a civilized response to this nonsense would be a roundabout but we're mostly allergic to those (they are gaining traction in places though).
Often, these intersections rely on traffic lights to be navigable during anything resembling normal traffic. Without it, it's also kind of miserable for everyone waiting for oncoming traffic to clear in order to turn.
The only time I've witnessed this "wave someone out" technique as a good thing was where two-lane road traffic was too dense for local traffic to join. But that's a regional thing in the US (around Massachusetts by my reckoning). At the same time I've also seen folks there blindly apply that grace to situations where it does not belong, like highway on-ramps.
Also, while we're talking about safety, don't forget the 45mph delta between the stopped lane turning left and the traffic whizzing by mere inches from the stopped cars. Some places have a wide raised curb between these two lanes, but most do not.
Yes, classic stroad design. Although I'm seeing it more often where it's not possible to make a left turn from the sidestreet.
Lots of American roads are like this. Generally you are better off making a right turn and then a U turn at a traffic light. I don’t bother turning left at an intersection like this unless there is no traffic.
these are everywhere and I've never seen one without a traffic light
Just a nice little roundabout would sort that shit. A nice train would sort it more, but y’know
This is almost literally the exit at my work on a country highway
"Don't be polite, be predictable" words to live by on any road tbh
People don't want nice, they want consistent.
-Jim Davis.
Once had a motorist furiously shout, wave and honk his horn at me because he hadn't checked his mirrors to see that his generous offer involved me cycling directly under the wheels of a bus. I live in London. It was a bright red double-decker. He hadn't seen it.
If he didn't see a bright red double decker bus, and he was behaving irresponsibly contrary to traffic patterns, he needs to have his driving privileges revoked.
This is how I got hit on my bike, except I wasn't waved at. I was in the bike lane and a truck ahead of me waved to a car to drive across. I would be close to were the car going 45mph is in the picture. Car pulled across and by the time i could see the car it was too late. I mashed into the side of the car right as it was crossing the bikelane and was bounced backwards by the force, smacking hard backwards onto the asphalt.
Safe biking out there.
Don't ride in bike lanes. They're usually death traps. Ride in the road where you can be seen. Follow the rules of the rode like any other vehicles
They drive too fast. I understand what your saying.
The absolute state of U.S road infrastructure. Jesus.
Where is the light on this abortion of engineering
/uj in these cases the left turn is usually low enough volume that whatever entity owns the intersection considers it not worthwhile
/rj A LIGHT?! YOU THINK YOU CAN TELL ME WHEN I CAN SAFELY CROSS A ROAD? THAT SOUNDS LIKE A VIOLATION OF MY FREEDOM IF YOU ASK ME!
In almost every case, it's because the entity that owns it doesn't actually have to use it daily, because then you know they'd fight to get whatever safety measures they can cram into it.
Last city I lived in had a new intersection put in with a 2 way stop (only one of the roads stops, and you have to yield to main road traffic)
After tons of minor accidents and altercations arising from disgruntled people having to swerve or slam on brakes, the city out out a statement saying basically they've done studies and it's safer than other intersections so nothing will be done to it.
Two or three years go by and one of the city council people moved and now has to use that intersection.
Within a month it had stoplights installed without a word.
Could be a coincidence. Maybe they even had been planning that for the entire two or three years.
But I personally believe nobody gave a shit until an "important" person (you know, that high-stake, much coveted small town council seat) had to use the intersection.
Dude please no, no more traffic light stop please
The amount of traffic light in my city is giving me ptsd
I will happily take an extra large roundabout.
Or "traffic circle" if you're feeling fancy.
It's taken more than 5 years but I feel like people in the city I just moved out of are finally understanding the ones in town.
Now almost nobody stops at them like an intersection. And i haven't seen a crash from someone launching themselves straight over the center in months.
Driving is about predictability. You don't do that bullshit in the first place. Same way with "slowing down for people getting on the highway." It's their responsibility to speed up to highway speeds. If they aren't going fast enough by the time they need to enter, they yield, not you.
If they aren't going fast enough by the time they need to enter, they
yield, not youcut across the stripes, nearly hit the impact attenuator, and run the car behind you into the next lane.For what it’s worth, I agree with you. Safe driving is about being predictable. But defensive driving is about predicting what others are likely to do. And oftentimes, the answer to “what is this driver near me about to do” is “attempt negligent vehicular manslaughter.”
Can confirm, US small towns with the mega giant superhighway going through it will have these exact intersection designs. A turn lane in a divided, but no accel space. Best bet is to yield / stop in the halfway point to check traffic before going for it.
I just don't turn left at these places. They feel dangerous because they are.
The correct answer is right, right, right - shit I'm back where I started
You'll find a light ahead, it's a stroad after all.
This goes the other way too: don't wave someone unless you're completely sure it's safe. I wish more driving schools actually taught things like this.
Just don't wave anyone. Seriously, like the image says, the right of way is not yours to give.
technically the right of way is something that MUST be yielded to you. a traffic light cannot grant you ROW if someone is barreling through it. the light only guides who should yield it.
the issue with the waver in this comic is that, while they are yielding ROW for their own lane, there's four other fucking lanes that they cannot control
I don't have a driver's license, so I'm not knowledgeable in the topic, but aren't there situations where the decision is deferred to the drivers? For example when 4 drivers of the same class arrive at an intersection without signage at the same time, with each having one of the other drivers to their right, with all of them wanting to go straight ahead, with none of them being a tiebreaker.
We need one of the classic xkcd comics with ten examples of something, just this kind of junction in different countries.
The UK would have traffic lights and staggered pedestrian crossings.
You pull out into the middle so you can see yourself then go.
There's an road with an intersection exactly like this that I commute to work on everyday, with the only difference being that it has a 35 mph limit.
Upon reflection though, when I have been in the leftmost car's position, I have never ever turned left onto the three lane road. Still though, this road is not usually busy and you can easily see over the road division.
I have seen people floor it just barely in front of me when they turn to the left though, but that's just because they're impatient, not because someone waved them on.
That's why it's commonly known as the wave of death.
Some absolute imbicile waved a child across straight into the path of a car outside a school just the other week. Thankfully only broken bones. A few months before that a resident on the same street drove straight into the back of my parked van. Their reasoning was that the windscreen was all fogged up. Drivers scare the shit out of me.
The lack of merging lane for those going out of that junction is weird.
This is why I hate roads with more than two lanes so much
I don't think I've ever had someone in a turning lane wave me through like that. Regardless, I'm not going anywhere if I can't see the oncoming traffic.