The latest traffic stupidities

[prjkt]

Don't even get me ranting about the stupid "traffic metering" in my area, that will stop cars on the on-ramp. Amazing there aren't more serious traffic problems caused by those than what they purport to solve.

some of the larger Freeways in Melbourne have traffic lights at the base of the onramp, allowing only two cars at a time to merge into one lane while accelerating up to the correct speed - it's annoying, but better than having to accelerate from a standstill at the end of the ramp....

[Kogarashi]

Thankfully most of the places I've seen actual stop lights at the end of ramps on freeways, there was still a lane past it (but only one, when the ramp had two lanes, so the light would alternate the ramp lanes' access), so there was still room to get to speed before having to merge into the rest of traffic.

[notalwaysright]

Thankfully most of the places I've seen actual stop lights at the end of ramps on freeways, there was still a lane past it (but only one, when the ramp had two lanes, so the light would alternate the ramp lanes' access), so there was still room to get to speed before having to merge into the rest of traffic.

The only places I've seen them in this state are in places with very heavy traffic, and if traffic is light (like 2 AM) the lights are not used. So you don't have to worry about getting up to speed because the whole highway is pretty much stop and go, 10-20 mph. In this case I think they make a lot of sense, to prevent a zillion cars from trying to merge into that mess at once.

[bhskittykatt]

One of my "favorite" junctions is where hwy WA167 meets WA18. There is an on-ramp immediately followed by an off-ramp. There isn't even one of those merge lanes, just an on ramp that merges right before the off ramp starts. It comes up fast, too, so you have people trying to merge into people wanting to exit. Fortunately it is not a junction I regularly need to visit.

[Kogarashi]

One of my "favorite" junctions is where hwy WA167 meets WA18. There is an on-ramp immediately followed by an off-ramp. There isn't even one of those merge lanes, just an on ramp that merges right before the off ramp starts. It comes up fast, too, so you have people trying to merge into people wanting to exit. Fortunately it is not a junction I regularly need to visit.

My home state's capital city had a similar problem where cars were entering the city from one major highway while also exiting the city onto another major highway. Basically, in this one spot, there are three or four lanes coming from Really Big Highway (after going through toll booths), and two lanes coming from the city. Said two lanes from the city then peel off again back into the city, while the other three or four lanes continue on Not As Big Highway around the outskirts of the city.

I had to drive through here once a week for a whole summer to attend a church-related class in the city that doubled as socialization for young adults. I'd come off Really Big Highway, sticking as far right as I could. In order to get into the city, I'd have just a bit of merging space to try to get into one of those two right-most lanes, at the same time that a ton of traffic was merging from those two lanes into the other four. It was a mess.

[otakuneko]

One of my "favorite" junctions is where hwy WA167 meets WA18. There is an on-ramp immediately followed by an off-ramp. There isn't even one of those merge lanes, just an on ramp that merges right before the off ramp starts. It comes up fast, too, so you have people trying to merge into people wanting to exit. Fortunately it is not a junction I regularly need to visit.

There used to be one like that on a highway in my area. For years, there were regular accidents there. After a cop got killed there, things changed.

[Shotgun Chuck]

Dropping in here to say that what drives me nuts about roundabouts is people who go really, really slow through them. While I'm probably on the "dangerously fast" end of things (heavy trail braking in a nose-heavy FF can be a dangerous business), I definitely don't want to sit behind you while you tiptoe through at an absurdly slow speed, accelerate like molasses away from the roundabout, then slow down even more while your passenger looks back and laughs when I honk. Unless you've got a good reason, but if that good reason is "my ten ton main battle truck will tip over if I go any faster", that's still annoying.

Re: People going straight from the wrong lane. It depends on the roundabout setup. Here in Alaska, the setup tends to be "outside lane goes right or straight, inside lane goes straight or left". So, as a result, I usually just take whichever lane doesn't have a plodder in it (unless they both do, in which case my selection criteria varies). If both lanes are open, I take the outer lane. I'm not cutting anyone off no matter what I do since, as far as I know, it's actually physically impossible to turn left (across traffic) from the outside lane - if I'm in the inside and someone's outside of me, the latest they could possibly get out still puts them to the right of me.