Yeah, America is big, so we developed four lane roads to get us from town to town faster. Then four-lane roads were extended into town to alleviate traffic. But do we really need four-lane roads in a city? City streets are safer with traffic going slower. To achieve that, some cities are putting their streets on a diet, making them smaller and slower. So far, that's making street use easier for pedestrians and cyclists, while still not causing worse traffic for drivers -in most places. Your mileage may vary, no pun intended. (via Laughing Squid)
Living in Auckland, New Zealand back in the 1990s, the local government decided to slow suburban traffic down in the suburb of Ponsonby by putting in width restrictors and speed bumps. It worked for a while, sure a lot of cars had to stop and give way to the car travelling the opposite way, because only one car could fit through the width restrictor at a time, but the cars were slowed down some. But then a house fire happened and the fire trucks couldn't fit through the narrow gaps ... so a house burned down, totally. No people were hurt. Ponsonby is a high value area, so even the worst houses are worth moon beams .... the width restrictors were removed very quickly after that. Hopefully the person whose idea it was to install them narrower than a fire truck was suitably chastised
Living in Auckland, New Zealand back in the 1990s, the local government decided to slow suburban traffic down in the suburb of Ponsonby by putting in width restrictors and speed bumps.
ReplyDeleteIt worked for a while, sure a lot of cars had to stop and give way to the car travelling the opposite way, because only one car could fit through the width restrictor at a time, but the cars were slowed down some.
But then a house fire happened and the fire trucks couldn't fit through the narrow gaps ... so a house burned down, totally.
No people were hurt.
Ponsonby is a high value area, so even the worst houses are worth moon beams .... the width restrictors were removed very quickly after that.
Hopefully the person whose idea it was to install them narrower than a fire truck was suitably chastised