Improve traffic: remove signs?

[iago]

http://www.wilsonquarterly.com/article.cfm?aid=1234

Really good story that puts into words something I've been thinking for awhile. My favourite quote it, "When you treat people like idiots, they'll behave like idiots" -- and that's really the case, whether it's driving, IT, etc.

[Sidoh]

Haha, that's great.

When I was in Maryland last summer, there were a lot of power failures in the area.  This affected stoplights for several days out of the months I was driving to and from work.  Some of these lights would stop me almost every day.  When the power was out on them, I felt like traffic was flowing smoother in all directions.  I was pretty amused.

[CrAz3D]

Lots of people mocked me for suggesting that.  It'd also save fuel because there is no stopping.

[iago]

Lots of people mocked me for suggesting that.  It'd also save fuel because there is no stopping.

Not necessarily true (that you don't stop). But you're only stopping when it's actually necessary, and you're using common sense rather than blindly following traffic signals.

Something else that struck me as interesting in the article is that people, on average, felt less safer after the changes, and there were fewer accidents as a direct result. When people feel less safe, they're more careful, and that's what you want.

[CrAz3D]

paranoia breeds caution!

good thing I'm paranoid about my meth dealing neighbors?

[Sidoh]

Lots of people mocked me for suggesting that.  It'd also save fuel because there is no stopping.

Yeah, you definitely still have to stop -- at least sometimes.  At the intersections with outed traffic lights most people slow way down, but don't come to a complete stop unless there's traffic trying to go the opposite way.

The radio was telling people to treat outed traffic lights as "4-way stops".

I'd definitely support giving this sort of thing a try.

[nslay]

When people do stupid things, the government disciplines them and introduces new laws and regulations ... like a parent to a 4 year old child.

I think you can always trust people to abuse and manipulate anything to their advantage ... even if it's not reasonable (i.e. act like idiots).  That's why there are so many laws and regulations ...

What ticks me off is that it is usually only because of a handful of extreme, yet significant, examples that motivate the implementation of new laws and regulations.  In other words, the whole country pays for the idiocy of the few.

[rabbit]

As I said in IRC yesterday, and iago expanded, the problem is that "people drive like asshats".  It's a good idea, but I'm not sure how viable it is for the US.

[Sidoh]

As I said in IRC yesterday, and iago expanded, the problem is that "people drive like asshats".  It's a good idea, but I'm not sure how viable it is for the US.

make getting a license harder.  that's why germany can have an autobahn.

most people don't need to be driving anyway. :)

[rabbit]

Personally, I think we should adopt Finland's traffic school.  Forcing people to actually learn how to drive is a good start.

[Joe]

As I said in IRC yesterday

We still have an IRC?

[iago]

As I said in IRC yesterday

We still have an IRC?

I do. If you read my blog you'd know that. :)

[CrAz3D]

Pass out guns with drivers licenses?  Then there'd only be a few drivers left.

[Joe]

Pass out guns with drivers licenses?  Then there'd only be a few drivers left.

How about write algorithms to detect maturity in serious situations, and then link them to driver's online forum accounts?