Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevo26
I too, find that many drivers here in London drive far more slowly than they need to. Then you get the opposite side of the fence, where they drive way too fast, particularly near intersections. I can't tell you how many times I've seen some idiot who is at least 100-200m away from an intersection deliberately speeding up to try and catch the green light before it changes - with the end result that I'm forced to execute a turn on a yellow light, or sometimes the first second or two of a red light.
|
It depends on the stretch of road. I find anywhere along Commissioners west of Wharncliffe is prone to slow drivers. Fanshawe Park Road west of Wonderland seems to attract slow drivers as well. I remember when the speed limit was 80 there and I used to sail by drivers doing only 50 or 60. Oxford overall is good, although near Cherryhill I notice a lot of slow drivers.
And yet some roads are prone to speeders. In the west half of the city, Riverside, Sanatorium, and Sarnia Road all have numerous drivers who think the speed limit is 60 or 70. I've always agreed with those corridors having speed limits of 50 because of the amount of directly accessible residential development and nearby schools along them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevo26
And don't get me started on how badly mis-synchronized the traffic lights are in London when a new computer system that was bought years ago was supposed to improve timings.
|
It depends on what roads you're driving on. The synchronization seems to work just fine on some corridors, particularly Oxford Street. However I find some streets closer to the downtown are just awful. Heading west on Queens Ave, after crossing Richmond Street, the light at Talbot
always turns red. Queens is more important than Talbot, that shouldn't be happening. Some streets have obscenely long red light times, which serve no purpose whatsoever. Maitland at Queens is a particularly bad one; Queens has very little traffic at off-peak times, and yet traffic on Maitland has to wait 2-3 minutes for the light to turn green.
The city I now live in has no light synchronization whatsoever. The positive of that is that the wait to turn left off a side street onto a main street never is more than a minute.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevo26
Seriously, we could solve a lot of problems if most of our intersections were converted to roundabouts. The city would save tons of money not having to install, maintain, and replace traffic lights. But hell would freeze over first. Or, it would be just like the BRT proposal - 'not until 2024, and only if a senior level of government pays for it'.
|
I personally don't like roundabouts on arterial roads. My experience has always been that they make trips along major streets take longer than they would with a well-synchronized traffic signal system. I find they are most problematic for pedestrians. I have no issue with them on collectors and smaller streets.
By the way, another observation - Oxford at Westdel Bourne finally has a traffic light after years of lobbying from area residents. That started after an accident at that corner involving a classmate of mine from high school. She was okay in the end, but her friends pushed for that light for a long time.