Why do road designers do silly things like this?
Discussion
Caddyshack said:
I see things like that and wonder if I could get my car on to two wheels…surely it’s just asking for a kid in a hot hatch to launch on to their roof from it?
I haven't found that particular spot but Google maps tells me it's around Keighley... How many wedding car rentals have t
tted it so far? 
Its because the road planning units seems to have employed 4 year olds to assist their decision making. I could type reams about the London Borough of Bromley. Total idiotic thinking.
They just recently dug the road up to put a cycle lane towards the station. Thus the up & down lanes were narrowed. When the bus stops at the bus stop it takes up the entire running lane so no one can get past. Traffic queuing in the other direction prevents any movement. So when the bus parks to change driver , chaos ensues. Spent fortunes to do it and then fortunes to rectify it. The final hilarious thing was because they had to shimmy the cycle lane over a bit to accommodate the wider road , they forgot about the lampost that was slap bang in the middle of the cycle lane !!! More money to then recify that ...... absolute jokers. Piss up and brewery spring to mind
They just recently dug the road up to put a cycle lane towards the station. Thus the up & down lanes were narrowed. When the bus stops at the bus stop it takes up the entire running lane so no one can get past. Traffic queuing in the other direction prevents any movement. So when the bus parks to change driver , chaos ensues. Spent fortunes to do it and then fortunes to rectify it. The final hilarious thing was because they had to shimmy the cycle lane over a bit to accommodate the wider road , they forgot about the lampost that was slap bang in the middle of the cycle lane !!! More money to then recify that ...... absolute jokers. Piss up and brewery spring to mind
ScoobyChris said:
My experience of a council road planning department (in Hants) was that the majority of people working there do not drive and have no interest in making the roads better for cars!
Chris
We must have hd a better class of engineer Up North. The highways guys I used worked with had cars that included a restomod Beetle , a very tasty Westfield , an Elise , various big bikes and an Austin Seven Special whose owner drove it to Le Mans every year. The old chairman of highways committee had a Gp C team and drove a Ferrari , one of his successors a 911 Targa Chris
Martin_Hx said:
If you report it to the LA they might surprise you and sort it out, then again they might also do sweet FA but its probably worth a few minutes to try!
Just say its dangerous and may cause an accident
Our local council are usually pretty good with things ive reported in the past, pot holes and blocked drains etc.
Agreed. Just say its dangerous and may cause an accident
Our local council are usually pretty good with things ive reported in the past, pot holes and blocked drains etc.
Councils get very nervous once they formally know about something because if there is a crunch and a claim their pants are already halfway down.
Most Counvils have a reporting system on their website, use it.
My niece used to work for a consultancy company which provides traffic solutions for the local authorities.
It was her first job out of uni and to her it was just a job. She had passed her test but did not have a car so did not drive. She sat in the driver seat of my car and forgot which one was the brake pedal.
So if she is providing traffic solutions for local authorities then I don't know how many others are in a similar situation. This is why you end up with road layouts and markings which don't make sense to the drivers.
It was her first job out of uni and to her it was just a job. She had passed her test but did not have a car so did not drive. She sat in the driver seat of my car and forgot which one was the brake pedal.
So if she is providing traffic solutions for local authorities then I don't know how many others are in a similar situation. This is why you end up with road layouts and markings which don't make sense to the drivers.
Not surprising. My home from home is St Ives in Cornwall. A short stretch of road which links Nut Lane roundabout at Lelant and the B3301 from St Erth roundabout to Hayle has been made one way for cars with the other half exclusively for cycles, so people traveling from St Ives to Hayle now have to go to the St Erth roundabout and then back down the B3301. Only traffic coming back can cut through the old road, but now is at greater risk of conflict when crossing the B3301 because traffic on the B3301 now includes cars which have been forced to go that way by the introduciton of the one way system. Had the one way system been the other way this conflict would have been avoided. Needless to say, the bloke in charge of the council at the time, and possibly still, is an avid cyclist who doesn't drive.
Not a major route but there was a kerb sticking out for no visible reason on the road into our town, in poor visibility it was hit hundreds of times judging by the score marks as the edges were chipped away by wheels.
Despite reporting multiple times on fixmystreet it must have been 10 years later when they finally resurfaced the tank proving ground, sorry the existing surface, that they fixed this issue, by that time so many wheels had been sacrificed that the kerb edge wasn't the hazard it had once been.
But then our council planners in their infinite wisdom redesigned so many roads that most outbound traffic took to back to back terrace house streets, they can't possibly understand why the high street is dying/has died.
Everywhere you look, idiots running the show.
Despite reporting multiple times on fixmystreet it must have been 10 years later when they finally resurfaced the tank proving ground, sorry the existing surface, that they fixed this issue, by that time so many wheels had been sacrificed that the kerb edge wasn't the hazard it had once been.
But then our council planners in their infinite wisdom redesigned so many roads that most outbound traffic took to back to back terrace house streets, they can't possibly understand why the high street is dying/has died.
Everywhere you look, idiots running the show.
Steve_H80 said:
Martin_Hx said:
If you report it to the LA they might surprise you and sort it out, then again they might also do sweet FA but its probably worth a few minutes to try!
Just say its dangerous and may cause an accident
Our local council are usually pretty good with things ive reported in the past, pot holes and blocked drains etc.
Agreed. Just say its dangerous and may cause an accident
Our local council are usually pretty good with things ive reported in the past, pot holes and blocked drains etc.
Councils get very nervous once they formally know about something because if there is a crunch and a claim their pants are already halfway down.
Most Counvils have a reporting system on their website, use it.
Steve_H80 said:
Martin_Hx said:
If you report it to the LA they might surprise you and sort it out, then again they might also do sweet FA but its probably worth a few minutes to try!
Just say its dangerous and may cause an accident
Our local council are usually pretty good with things ive reported in the past, pot holes and blocked drains etc.
Agreed. Just say its dangerous and may cause an accident
Our local council are usually pretty good with things ive reported in the past, pot holes and blocked drains etc.
Councils get very nervous once they formally know about something because if there is a crunch and a claim their pants are already halfway down.
Most Counvils have a reporting system on their website, use it.
In the OP's example, I don't understand why they changed the markings. The original markings fitted the infrastructure and were more logical.
When a two-lane bit turns into three lanes, surely it's better to create a new lane 3, as the original markings did, rather than having lane 1 become lane 2, as is currently the case. We're told to stay in the left lane unless overtaking, so it just forces slow traffic to switch lanes unnecessarily from the new lane 2 to the new lane 1.
Slightly different, but there's an annoying example near me where two lanes go to three, but the transition has no lane markings because it's a box junction. This is in a town centre, with the three lanes going in different directions shortly afterwards. So people from the original left and right lanes both try to get into the new middle lane with no clue who has right of way.
In my example, I looked up the original council consultation plans, which have clear lane markings and no box junction, but somebody obviously messed things up after that.
When a two-lane bit turns into three lanes, surely it's better to create a new lane 3, as the original markings did, rather than having lane 1 become lane 2, as is currently the case. We're told to stay in the left lane unless overtaking, so it just forces slow traffic to switch lanes unnecessarily from the new lane 2 to the new lane 1.
Slightly different, but there's an annoying example near me where two lanes go to three, but the transition has no lane markings because it's a box junction. This is in a town centre, with the three lanes going in different directions shortly afterwards. So people from the original left and right lanes both try to get into the new middle lane with no clue who has right of way.
In my example, I looked up the original council consultation plans, which have clear lane markings and no box junction, but somebody obviously messed things up after that.
As a retired highway engineer, I would agree that the amended layout is poor. There should be enough distance between the end of the Trief kerb on the offside and the point where the lane is a constant width for permitted vehicles to manoeuvre without encroaching on new lane 2.
However, I have had a look on Street View at the location and agree with the original designer. It has been necessary to move lane 1 over to become lane 2 before the junction because new lane 1 is now a dedicated left turn. This is presumably because there is a large demand to go to the shopping centre. If this were not done all vehicles in lane one would need to move into lane two causing tailbacks as traffic in lane 2 slowed to allow this.
However, I have had a look on Street View at the location and agree with the original designer. It has been necessary to move lane 1 over to become lane 2 before the junction because new lane 1 is now a dedicated left turn. This is presumably because there is a large demand to go to the shopping centre. If this were not done all vehicles in lane one would need to move into lane two causing tailbacks as traffic in lane 2 slowed to allow this.
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