Wes Marshall's "Killed by a Traffic Engineer" explains these design features in detail, complete with the professional journal articles where many of the false claims originate. One surprising research finding he mentions is that roads WITHOUT painted edge lines actually have fewer accidents, presumably because we drive more slowly in the absence of edge lines.
In 2019 AASHTO published guidelines for low volume roads. They use 2000 vpd (vehicles per day) or less as the cutoff for those roads. They estimate that the vast majority of roads in the U.S. fall into this category. They mention design elements such as road width, sight lines, and clear zones with an eye to not "improving" them unless there is evidence of accidents directly related to those elements. This information was just recently passed on to the department that designs and maintains the roads in our county. Much of what citizens had been advocating for years was in that document and our road folks had no idea it was there.
Yes, there’s a stretch I’ve started avoiding that’s designed for 45ish. Posted is 25. Also poorly designed, not clear that it’s really only one lane westbound (right hand is a parking lane is front of a car dealership). Nuts.
A separate issue in this city is disappearing lanes (turn only). Wildly inconsistent. I regularly see drivers making right hand turns from left lanes, left turns from right lanes. Unfamiliarity is part of the problem. Poor signage contributes.
It's not a road; it's a river. But when it's a street, it's a dance.
Wes Marshall's "Killed by a Traffic Engineer" explains these design features in detail, complete with the professional journal articles where many of the false claims originate. One surprising research finding he mentions is that roads WITHOUT painted edge lines actually have fewer accidents, presumably because we drive more slowly in the absence of edge lines.
In 2019 AASHTO published guidelines for low volume roads. They use 2000 vpd (vehicles per day) or less as the cutoff for those roads. They estimate that the vast majority of roads in the U.S. fall into this category. They mention design elements such as road width, sight lines, and clear zones with an eye to not "improving" them unless there is evidence of accidents directly related to those elements. This information was just recently passed on to the department that designs and maintains the roads in our county. Much of what citizens had been advocating for years was in that document and our road folks had no idea it was there.
Yes, there’s a stretch I’ve started avoiding that’s designed for 45ish. Posted is 25. Also poorly designed, not clear that it’s really only one lane westbound (right hand is a parking lane is front of a car dealership). Nuts.
A separate issue in this city is disappearing lanes (turn only). Wildly inconsistent. I regularly see drivers making right hand turns from left lanes, left turns from right lanes. Unfamiliarity is part of the problem. Poor signage contributes.