Overview:
This week we’re looking at “EMPATHY FOR DRIVERS” from professor of engineering Merkel Weiss. Merkel gives us his view of driving on California highways and the obstacles we’re faced with every day. My conclusions are below.
EMPATHY FOR DRIVERS
Warning Signs:
While driving through La Tuna Canyon a couple of weeks ago I ran into a police road block which stopped and then reversed the flow of traffic. I asked the LAPD officer what was going on and she said that they’d found a body dumped on the road. A police investigation was in progress and so traffic had to be re-routed. I asked why there was no “Road Closed” sign at the entrance to the canyon road, four miles back, and she replied that she’d been there since 3am and had called for the signage early in the morning. It was 9am and there was still no signage, so she was stuck at the scene, having to tell each driver to turn around and make the trek back.
These kinds of road closures are not new or unusual. It is especially true on canyon roads where debris from slides, canyon fires and other emergencies close roads more frequently than most other roads simply as a result of their geography. Typically it is both a long way back and a long way around.
In this particular case I was, like so many times before, at the top of a four mile line of cars, each driver in line waiting to be told the road was closed and they had to turn around and go back. How hard would it have been to put up a “Road Closed” sign on a sawhorse in the lanes to save time and fuel? What level of skill would be required? Surely there is someone in the City of LA that has the skill and authority to handle such a simple task.
We hear from our mayor, Anthony Villaraigosa that traffic flow is a big priority in his administration, and yet we’ve all seen things such as this small event having the effect of impeding smooth traffic flow. It appears to me that our system of traffic signals and access roads taken together has the operational effect of stopping traffic at intervals as opposed to allowing the flow of traffic such as on open freeways. Our traffic lights could be timed better. If Mr. Villaraigosa is serious about moving traffic along and saving fuel, a lot of progress could be made simply by the judicious use of “Road Closed” signs.
How many times have you been driving on some freeway or other and your exit is closed for road work? There has simply never been a time that I can remember ever seeing a sign that declares “Exit Closed Ahead”. If we knew in advance we could avoid wasted time, fuel and reduce traffic congestion by exiting earlier. We have expensive electronic freeway signs that never help us in this regard. I maintain that traffic safety would be positively affected with advanced warning. I heard that the Japanese are going to take over Cal Trans. They invented a shovel that stands up by itself.
Speed Limits:
Another traffic blockade is the inappropriate low speed limits which make speeders of us all and places the unnecessary burden of excessive fines. I understood that the speed limits were set by the speed of the median drivers. If this were ever true, it is no longer true. Normal unblocked traffic flows along virtually every street and freeway are at speeds in excess of that posted. Any driver knows this to be true when they are the recipient of a costly ticket.
How is it then that the very agencies tasked with keeping the traffic flowing and supposedly understanding the nature and complexities of speed and volume regulation have done such a terrible job of it? Could it be the system is old and antiquated and in need of updating. Either way, if we are to save fuel and continue to commute to work and back efficiently, I suggest that a more modern and practical approach is required, beyond that which our Mayor and Governor have proposed.
What is required has to begin with the one essential part of the network currently missing in the current plan: empathy for drivers.
My conclusion:
I thank Merkel for his comments and would add that the system is imperfect at best and perhaps Mr. Weiss’s frustration and the wasted time and gasoline and that of the CHP would have been avoided by issuing a large pad a marking pen and a ‘shovel that stands up by itself’, so that CHP officer could have hung a sign at the point of closure.
As to speed limits, he is absolutely correct and we all know it. We are further frustrated by a public service department bent more on generating revenue than providing a public service. No amount of rationalization can change the facts.
Gas Stats:
$2.79/ Gal avg. September 24, 2010
www.fueleconomy.gov
for more information
Your comments are welcomed. My e-mail is joe@atthewheel.com
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