You think you have a tricky junction near you?
- Thread starter CopperCyclist
- Start date
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gaz
Cycle Camera TV
- Location
- South Croydon
But no crashes.
I agree, where there is an absence of rules, people are more aware of what is going on around them. The situational awareness of all users of this junction will be considerably higher than most users of a complex junction in UK. I sometimes feel that our risk-averse but rules-based traffic system makes people overly reliant on sticking to rules even when it is dangerous. We remove the need to think from our traffic system.
kevin_cambs_uk
Guru
- Location
- Near Cambridge
must admit, junctions where the traffic lights are not working, tend to flow more freely and without mishap
mr_hippo
Living Legend & Old Fart
That video appears to have been shot on the Indian sub-continent but that scene happens every day here in Thailand. In the UK, traffic on the main road has priority but here priority is given to traffic entering or leaving the main road. The OP says "Insane" but is it? Once you learn the 'dance', you know what is happeneing.
In the UK, the car at the junction will do either one of two things - stop or go; here, the chances of the drive/rider stopping or even sl;owing down or glanching to his/her right are very, very slim!
Peteaud
Veteran
- Location
- South Somerset
gaz
Cycle Camera TV
- Location
- South Croydon
There was a video which showed this, can't find it though.
There conducting a twelve week experiment in Swindon with one of the major traffic light controlled roundabouts having the traffic lights turned off. So far it appears to have been a bit of a disaster so much so they seemed to have turned the lights back on after less than two weeks. Speaking as a cyclist using that roundabout, they turned it from a relatively safe roundabout into a complete nightmare, they did not realise that some of the drivers using it are complete muppets/twats. Whilst driving to the supermarket I witnessed the most appalling driving I have ever seen in my whole driving life on that roundabout.
goody
Veteran
- Location
- Carshalton
Isn't that North End Road junc. Talgarth Road?
briantrumpet
Legendary Member
- Location
- Devon & Die
According to Wikipedia, India (where I think this video was taken) had a road death rate of 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants per year, compared with UK at 3.59. That works out at about 188,000 road deaths per year in India. I'm not sure that we should be taking India as an example to follow for road safety.
jefmcg
Guru
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
Indonesia [especially Java] has a totally different set of rules- lorries and mopeds don't hold up the faster cars, motorbikes and vans, they just pull out into the oncoming lane to pass or undertake-whichever gives them more space. Oncoming cars then pull to the side to let overtaking cars through. Everyone blips their horn to let people know they are there or about to pass so the obstacle eases to one side or the other to make space.
Once you've been there a few days it all seems totally sensible and works. A three lane motorway with hard shoulder becomes 5 lines of traffic with mopeds and bikes using the six available spaces between the queues to get through.
Mind you, the average speed is far lower than here, journeys take forever as roads are full of potholes and there's no priority given anywhere, so stopping at every junction or turning has to be anticipated.
Once you've been there a few days it all seems totally sensible and works. A three lane motorway with hard shoulder becomes 5 lines of traffic with mopeds and bikes using the six available spaces between the queues to get through.
Mind you, the average speed is far lower than here, journeys take forever as roads are full of potholes and there's no priority given anywhere, so stopping at every junction or turning has to be anticipated.
jefmcg
Guru
.. and a lot more people die there (interestingly, nearly the same number per 100,000 as India)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate
Much of the variation in road death rate between countries, and over time in one country, can by accounted fror by Smeed's Law.
This is empirically derived and shows that the rate per vehicle mile declines as traffic density increases. The decline in cycle accident rate as cycle traffic increases is an example of the law.
For example, Malaysia in 1980 had 3.5 times the road death rate as the USA. It had almost exactly the same death rate, and the same rate of vehicle ownership as the USA in 1925.
www.subaruforester.org/.../3590d1163697517-tribeca-heavy-mother.
This is empirically derived and shows that the rate per vehicle mile declines as traffic density increases. The decline in cycle accident rate as cycle traffic increases is an example of the law.
For example, Malaysia in 1980 had 3.5 times the road death rate as the USA. It had almost exactly the same death rate, and the same rate of vehicle ownership as the USA in 1925.
www.subaruforester.org/.../3590d1163697517-tribeca-heavy-mother.
