This fashion for blocking the view at roundabouts
Discussion
What is it with the f
king council and their repeated fkwittery at roundabouts? Every time I aproach one now it seems that it's impossible for me to get a good view because some useless fkwit has popped up a fence or planted a hedge, right along the field of vision.
I assume this is designed to slow the nobends and general plebs down as they approach, whilst fiddling with their iPod and texting Chantelle to go fetch some special brew. Anybody know of any evidence to show why they do this?
To add insult to injury this morning, I was following some cock in a Saxo and we approach three of these roundabouts in succession, he slows at each one, checks the way and gets on his way. At the 4th roundabout, where one of these stupid things has yet to be erected, the silly Chav hits the braks full bore and STOPS at the entry to the rounabout BEFORE he looks right to check the way.
Essentially these huge great big walls have coached him that there is no point in being observant any longer, just rocked up to the roundabout, anchor up and then have a look for traffic.
Boils my piss. Can you tell?
king council and their repeated fkwittery at roundabouts? Every time I aproach one now it seems that it's impossible for me to get a good view because some useless fkwit has popped up a fence or planted a hedge, right along the field of vision.I assume this is designed to slow the nobends and general plebs down as they approach, whilst fiddling with their iPod and texting Chantelle to go fetch some special brew. Anybody know of any evidence to show why they do this?
To add insult to injury this morning, I was following some cock in a Saxo and we approach three of these roundabouts in succession, he slows at each one, checks the way and gets on his way. At the 4th roundabout, where one of these stupid things has yet to be erected, the silly Chav hits the braks full bore and STOPS at the entry to the rounabout BEFORE he looks right to check the way.
Essentially these huge great big walls have coached him that there is no point in being observant any longer, just rocked up to the roundabout, anchor up and then have a look for traffic.
Boils my piss. Can you tell?
A few years ago I had a chat with the chap who ran the Kent camera partnership, while he undoubtedly wanted to see safer roads we had some differences about how to go about it. One item was introducing visual barriers with the idea that this would slow drivers down and the junction would therefore be safer. I made the point that he was slowing drivers down by making the junction more dangerous all that would happen is that the collisions would happen at lower speeds. His take on it was less injuries are caused in lower speed accidents so it was therefore safer, mine was reducing the number of accidents was safer.
Go figure.
Go figure.
I can't remember which country I was in, but on the approaches to roundabouts from a fairly fast dual carriage way, they would have a barrier erected, so you had to slow, but you never had to stop, as they were angled so you could see through them once past a certain point, if that makes any sense? They seemed to work quite well. No-one would noon over the junction. But you could still keep momentum.
Without the barriers, some drivers will understand how to work a roundabout, slow down a bit in advance to view the junction, make the call, and drive through at a relatively high speed. Some other drivers will however fail to do that, "suddenly" see a car, and panic stop. It's difficult to tell which is which until you've driven into the back of them. 
With the barriers in place everyone has to come to a stop or near stop at the junction, so the element of uncertainty is removed. Lowest common denominator road engineering pisses me off.
With the barriers in place everyone has to come to a stop or near stop at the junction, so the element of uncertainty is removed. Lowest common denominator road engineering pisses me off.
davepoth said:
Without the barriers, some drivers will understand how to work a roundabout, slow down a bit in advance to view the junction, make the call, and drive through at a relatively high speed. Some other drivers will however fail to do that, "suddenly" see a car, and panic stop. It's difficult to tell which is which until you've driven into the back of them.
With the barriers in place everyone has to come to a stop or near stop at the junction, so the element of uncertainty is removed. Lowest common denominator road engineering pisses me off.
Surely the solution is to teach everybody how to drive properly in the first place, or is that just too sensible an idea?With the barriers in place everyone has to come to a stop or near stop at the junction, so the element of uncertainty is removed. Lowest common denominator road engineering pisses me off.
Shuvi McTupya said:
If they are going to have them they should make them taller as the way it is now, truck drivers can still see that the road ahead is clear so they may not be expecting the vehicle infront to stop..
But they should get rid of them imo.
Yup, if the goal is to make everyone do the same then the ones where the road signs obscure the view from a bike but no from a car are hardly making things safer.But they should get rid of them imo.
Toltec said:
His take on it was less injuries are caused in lower speed accidents so it was therefore safer, mine was reducing the number of accidents was safer.
Sounds like the guy was a monkey camera operator and not invloved with the science behind road design...The research shows that reducing the visibility at roundabouts and junctions reduces both frequency and severity of accidents - been a few years since I worked with a highways design team, and I used to think it would be a terrible idea, but the numbers don't lie
Personally I've yet to come accross a situation whereby the visibility was reducing my speed lower than I'd have considered safe for an observant driver for the junction anyway, so it doesn't bother me in the slightest, just another visual cue that maybe the junction isn't as safe as it first appears.
Contrary to the Daily Mail opinion, my experience with LA Highways is that they are a lot more interested and knowledgable in making the roads as safe and efficient as possible than most of the general public, PH included, and they wouldn't be paying for such installations without some tangible evidence of their benefit beyond the typical "All they're interested in is slowing us down, booooo"
Just my 2p, but I doubt it'll go down well here...
If they want to go down this route i cannot understand why they dont simply corrugate the road surface as you approach the roudabout so that you are forced to slow. It is a much safer option.
But as others have said most road regs are designed for the lowest common denominator which is the majority of motorists out there.
Sucks for those of us with a clue but what can you do.
Its like the matrix signs when there is heavy spray to the point you can barely see 5-10m ahead of your car and they put signs up...
"Heavy spray Slow!!"
Morons. Whenever i see them i just think no st sherlock.
But as others have said most road regs are designed for the lowest common denominator which is the majority of motorists out there.
Sucks for those of us with a clue but what can you do.
Its like the matrix signs when there is heavy spray to the point you can barely see 5-10m ahead of your car and they put signs up...
"Heavy spray Slow!!"
Morons. Whenever i see them i just think no s
t sherlock.I've noticed these fences and hedges. I can see them making sense in a situation where there may be traffic lights or queues of traffic on the roundabout at certain times that you don't want cars to plough into the back of when they are looking to the right for a gap in the traffic and not what may be ahead. They do not make sense on otherwise fast flowing roundabouts where it would be more beneficial to maintain the flow though.
the_lone_wolf said:
Sounds like the guy was a monkey camera operator and not invloved with the science behind road design...
The research shows that reducing the visibility at roundabouts and junctions reduces both frequency and severity of accidents - been a few years since I worked with a highways design team, and I used to think it would be a terrible idea, but the numbers don't lie
No, he was head of the department.The research shows that reducing the visibility at roundabouts and junctions reduces both frequency and severity of accidents - been a few years since I worked with a highways design team, and I used to think it would be a terrible idea, but the numbers don't lie
There must be a sweet spot for reducing visibility, making a junction completely blind cannot improve safety can it?
I hate them. I like roundabouts that have lots of view so I can be as smooth as possible around them. I just try and time it so I can go onto the roundabout in a rolling second or third gear.
Some clown putting them up just stops all smoothness in your driving and it also seems dangerous to stop a drivers view.
Some clown putting them up just stops all smoothness in your driving and it also seems dangerous to stop a drivers view.
There was a road near my old house which was a 30mph residential type road (between housing estates, with lots of turnings, but was still essentially the main thoroughfare). The local planners decided that people were "driving too fast" on this very straight road, so they decided to remove the centre line, by resurfacing the road and then not painting it back on.
Apparently the thinking behind this was that the lack of centre line would introduce a greater feeling of uncertainty/danger and as a result traffic would slow down.
I view this as being in the same vein as the barriers to view on the approach to roundabouts: That planners have the objective of "reducing speed" which they do by MAKING THE ROAD MORE DANGEROUS! Talk about missing the point! They obviously want "safer roads" but this main objective has been broken down into the sub-objective of "reducing speeds", however they've achieved these lower speeds by increasing the danger.
Maddness.
Apparently the thinking behind this was that the lack of centre line would introduce a greater feeling of uncertainty/danger and as a result traffic would slow down.
I view this as being in the same vein as the barriers to view on the approach to roundabouts: That planners have the objective of "reducing speed" which they do by MAKING THE ROAD MORE DANGEROUS! Talk about missing the point! They obviously want "safer roads" but this main objective has been broken down into the sub-objective of "reducing speeds", however they've achieved these lower speeds by increasing the danger.
Maddness.
My piss-boiler with roundabouts is that more and more of them are being designed and built offset from the roads that serve them so that, no matter which way you come from, the road always curves on the approach.
This is forcing you to brake and steer; not a problem in normal conditions but in wet or icy weather when grip is already reduced, it could easily lead you into the path of a vehicle exiting the roundabout.
This is forcing you to brake and steer; not a problem in normal conditions but in wet or icy weather when grip is already reduced, it could easily lead you into the path of a vehicle exiting the roundabout.
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