Do you know what's special about today?

[R W Burgess]

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl

 

 

I just know that all of you guys appreciate this important invention???

[Guest AlCapone]

It has surely saved many, many lives ! Wayne

[R W Burgess]

It certainly has Al, although a lot of areas of the country are going to "round-a-bouts" in rural areas and some city 'burbs.

[Guest BillP]

I read somewhere that roundabouts can process 40% more traffic than stop signs/red lights. It's probably going to take a generation or two before US drivers figure them out.

 

I've seen people at a dead stop in the middle of a roundabout, waiting for incoming cars.

[trimacar]

Must have been a pessimist who named them "stop lights".  An optimist would have named them "go lights".......

[ScarredKnightfan]

Must have been a pessimist who named them "stop lights".  An optimist would have named them "go lights".......

 

LOL!  & a realist might've called them "pause lights"?

 

Today is also National Underwear Day ... coincidence, perhaps?

http://www.oldcarsstronghearts.com/2015/08/05/from-the-heart-45/

 

 

Cort www.oldcarsstronghearts.com

1979 & 1989 Caprice Classics | pigValve, paceMaker, cowValve

"Simple little things are the miracle cures" __ Neal McCoy __ 'Wink'

Edited August 5, 2015 by ScarredKnightfan (see edit history)

[keiser31]

It has surely saved many, many lives ! Wayne

And has been the bane of many drivers who may not have stopped in time....

[Bleach]

Texters seem to be oblivious of these things.

[ghostymosty]

I read somewhere that roundabouts can process 40% more traffic than stop signs/red lights. It's probably going to take a generation or two before US drivers figure them out.

 

I've seen people at a dead stop in the middle of a roundabout, waiting for incoming cars.

Roundabouts only work for people who know how to merge into and out of traffic in very short distances. I lived in Alexandria, LA for a while and they had 2 of those things. They got rid of 1 of them while I was living there and talked about getting rid of the other one just because some drivers would try to merge into the inner lane and then merge back to the outer lane to get off at the next exit. One lane would have worked better but they needed 2 for emergency vehicles to get by the idiots. Roads have to be designed for the idiots or no one is safe on them!

[Guest Bob Call]

I live in Tulsa and waaaay back the city had several round-a-bouts, we called them traffic circles. They have all been removed except one. Idiots entering the outside lane don't understand that the inside lane has the right-of-way in order to exit. Several times I have had to go all the way around again because some dummy entering wouldn't yield. When I moved to Oklahoma City in 1974 they still had a couple of circles. One near the state capitol and the other where the old US 66 intersected Classen Blvd., it was known as Classen Circle. Both have been gone for at least 30 years.  A couple of them I remember had a Phillips 66 gasoline service station in the middle.

 

A few trivia bits.

The "Yield" traffic sign was invented by Officer Clinton Riggs (later Deputy Chief) of Tulsa.

 

The first working parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City on July 16, 1935. The first working parking meter was designed by Holger George Thuessen and Gerald A. Hale. Hale and Thuessen started working on the parking meter in 1933 because of the assigned project by Carl Magee (their professor at University of Oklahoma School of Engineering). They weren’t students anymore, but since the contest didn’t work out these two men were appointed. Thuessen was a professor at Oklahoma State and Hale an engineering graduate. The parking meter they designed was called The Black Maria. Park-O-Meter No. 1 is at the Oklahoma Historical Society.

 

The shopping cart was invented by grocery store owner Sylvan Goldman. Sylvan and his brother opened the first "supermarkets" in Oklahoma with their company Sun Grocery Company. The first store opened in

April 1920 on East 15th Street in Tulsa. They eventually has over 50 stores in Oklahioma. In early 1929 they sold out to Safeway. That first store was a Safeway until about 1980 when Safeway pulled out of Oklahoma. The building is now a yuppie restaurant on "Cherry Street".  The Goldmans had a Tulsa non-compete in their sale so they moved to Oklahoma City and started a new supermarket chain. In 1937 Sylan patented his design for a "folding basket carrier". It held two loose shopping baskets one above the other. Some of us are old enough to remember these baskets at the grocery store. You can imagine the millions he made from royalties on his invention.  Another trivia bit, Sylan's mother was Hortense Dreyfus who emigrated from France. There is a famous family originally from France, the Louis-Dreyfus family. I am guessing she was from that family because she was Jewish as was the Louis-Dreyfus family. We all know comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Bob Call (see edit history)

[nick8086]

 

 

Paris no lines - just drive any open space...(nice roundabout)

 

London - was the first traffic light??

Edited August 6, 2015 by nick8086 (see edit history)

[trimacar]

David in Riverside, I was born and reared in Alexandria, Louisiana, so am very familiar with the  traffic circles that you mention on MacArthur Drive.  One was small, and was demolished during construction of I-49, the other very large diameter with a good size plot of land in the center.

 

Built during World War II (and obviously named after a famous general), it was always discussed that part of this road was an emergency airplane landing strip, as Alexandria was home to England Air Force base.  One section of the road, leading away from the large circle, consists of two very wide lanes that are straight for over a mile.  Thus, large planes could easily land, and taxi or park on the large circle.

 

http://www.alexandria-louisiana.com/macarthur-drive-history-alexandria-louisiana.htm    

[rocketraider]

If we could just get these traffic control geniuses to understand that the objective is to keep traffic moving steadily and smoothly, and not stopped and snarled, traffic lights would work well. As it is, with most having gone to PLC control and set the PLC to "random, automatic", stopped and snarled is the order of the day.

 

I went down the main drag in town this morning about 0830 and managed to get trapped at every stoplight (19 total) the whole length. Stopped on side street waiting for green. Get the green, move into main drag, first light goes red soon as I enter traffic. Stop for that one. It goes green, the next in line immediately goes red. And so forth and so on the whole 4 miles I was on that road. Count the two that I waited two whole cycles to get thru, and I wasted at least 15 minutes of my day stopped in traffic.

 

Then there are the lights that catch you and keep green on the cross street for several minutes with no traffic on the cross street. Or the two in town that are known to rapidly cycle green-yellow-red two or three times in quick succession, but that the traffic control division cannot duplicate the condition. Maybe they should be out at 0515 trying to get thru it.

 

There are times I would love to beat the city's clueless traffic control engineer over the head with one of his traffic lights.

 

The things worked much better when computers weren't involved.

[John348]

The things worked much better when computers weren't involved.

 

Sort of ironic, reading this on my computer

[trimacar]

I was involved in the purchase and installation of a traffic light in front of the manufacturing facility where I worked.  

 

I learned a lot about traffic lights. 

 

One thing that a lot of drivers don't understand, there's a white stripe painted across the road in front of the light.  That's called a "stop bar".  If you stop well behind it, or, more typically, well in front of it, the camera can't see your car, and will direct the computer operated light to act as if you don't exist.

 

The older light installations had coils of wire imbedded in the road, that would sense the metal (you car) above it, and send a similar signal to the light controller.

 

So, remember to stop right at the stop bar, or over the evident lines in the road, and the lights will work much better than if you don't.

[R W Burgess]

I was involved in the purchase and installation of a traffic light in front of the manufacturing facility where I worked.  

 

I learned a lot about traffic lights. 

 

One thing that a lot of drivers don't understand, there's a white stripe painted across the road in front of the light.  That's called a "stop bar".  If you stop well behind it, or, more typically, well in front of it, the camera can't see your car, and will direct the computer operated light to act as if you don't exist.

 

The older light installations had coils of wire imbedded in the road, that would sense the metal (you car) above it, and send a similar signal to the light controller.

 

So, remember to stop right at the stop bar, or over the evident lines in the road, and the lights will work much better than if you don't.

And, it's amazing that you would have to post that on an automotive web site David! Here in Virginia I question the training that young people are receiving now. They have even stopped the parallel parking test. How in the world does one know if a driver is capable of driving a car, just by mostly using computer tests?

[Guest]

I was involved in the purchase and installation of a traffic light in front of the manufacturing facility where I worked.  

 

I learned a lot about traffic lights. 

 

One thing that a lot of drivers don't understand, there's a white stripe painted across the road in front of the light.  That's called a "stop bar".  If you stop well behind it, or, more typically, well in front of it, the camera can't see your car, and will direct the computer operated light to act as if you don't exist.

 

The older light installations had coils of wire imbedded in the road, that would sense the metal (you car) above it, and send a similar signal to the light controller.

 

So, remember to stop right at the stop bar, or over the evident lines in the road, and the lights will work much better than if you don't.

 

  I often wonder why a system you described ever gained approval. There has recently this discussion in our local newspaper with many people getting quite upset. In my town, just as in most towns and cities we have many tributaries intersecting major traffic streets and HWY's. People here get upset and with good reason that when you have  25 cars approaching a intersection from each direction and that would be 50 cars and some car on a cross street trips the controls that makes fifty cars stop for one car to either cross the intersection or turn onto the main road. Even a car on the tributary making a right turn triggers this thing instead of the driver waiting patiently for traffic to clear to make his turn.

   Do you realize that automobiles contribute the most amount of emissions and get the worst fuel economy while they are accelerating up to speed. do you realize how much fuel we could save, and have much less wear and tear on engine, transmissions and brakes? Those intersections should never be tripped by such devises, and on the contrary the traffic controls for those main streets should be set so that if  you start out with a green light you will go the entire length of roadway through town and never touch your brakes providing you maintain a set speed.

  When I was a kid and a teenager we had such a system in place and it worked. Coming to a intersection just below the traffic light there was a sign that said " signals set for such and such speed". If you broke the set speed you would get stopped at the intersection and the rest of us who maintained the set speed would catch up as the other fellow was accelerating up to speed, conversely the people who drove too slow wouldn't make all the green lights because ....they were too slow. It's very clear to the jack rabbit driver and the tortoise driver if they are smart enough that they are being punished by their driving habits.

[rocketraider]

There's times I'm convinced the local traffic light cameras are set to detect gray vehicles, since many times when I'm approaching one on the wagon or the truck, and there is no other traffic either on main or cross street, the light will change and stop me. And I sit there alone thru a full light cycle- cross street, protected left turn, pedestrian crosswalk, the whole shebang. Depending on time of day I treat it as a stop sign and go on. Waiting for the day I get pulled over for it, since I have made my views on these traffic lights known to local city council more than once.

 

Progressive green is the way to go if you want to keep traffic moving smoothly, but seems most are set to either random or progressive red. It's like these traffic control geniuses WANT to keep traffic stopped. Time you get traffic backed up because of a few progressive red lights, you're dealing with a pack of 50 or more cars and if you're trying to get out of a non-light-protected side street, you will sit there sometimes ten minutes or longer trying to get out. And this in a medium-sized Southern city with a bypass to divert thru traffic.

 

Yet no one in traffic control can explain exactly how the lights work. I don't think they know themselves.

[8E45E]

I live in Tulsa and waaaay back the city had several round-a-bouts, we called them traffic circles. They have all been removed except one. Idiots entering the outside lane don't understand that the inside lane has the right-of-way in order to exit. Several times I have had to go all the way around again because some dummy entering wouldn't yield. When I moved to Oklahoma City in 1974 they still had a couple of circles. One near the state capitol and the other where the old US 66 intersected Classen Blvd., it was known as Classen Circle. Both have been gone for at least 30 years.  A couple of them I remember had a Phillips 66 gasoline service station in the middle.

 

I lived in Edmonton, and they were also called 'traffic circles'.  They were introduced there immediately after the second world war by a city road planner who was from England where they were in use before the invention of the automobile. Traffic circles/roundabouts work great if yourself and others know how to use them, and one properly signals while in one and while exiting it, and I personally do like them.

 

They appear to be getting popular in other municipalities in North America in the past 10-15 years, including where I live now.  However, I take issues with one of them where the road planner MUST have been on crack cocaine when he laid it out!  It straddles a main rail line where 100-car freight trains crosses several times a day.  Traffic in ALL directions come to a complete STOP, first for the 20 minutes to half hour the train goes by, then another ten to fifteen minutes for the stopped vehicles to unravel themselves as its turned into a complete clusterf*ck. 

 

Seen here:  http://www.panoramio.com/photo/55538619

 

Craig

Edited August 10, 2015 by 8E45E (see edit history)