Why does a park with a 8 foot high fence against the road need a playground zone anyway?
Part of the issue I see with playground zones in general is about driver expectation. They expect there to be a good reason to have a playground zone extend for multiple blocks (hi Elbow Drive) when only a portion is actually abutting the road, and when that expectation isn't met, how does that encourage people to actually consider the signs appropriate?
The money would have been better spent building appropriate traffic calming (not speed bumps, but curb bulbs, reduced lane widths, and so on) over arbitrary numbers being set in an attempt to look safe. BC got it right with the recent speed limit changes on their highways. Aside from one section, there was no geometric design issues restricting the speed limits on all those roads they upped. We overdesign roads and then wonder why people speed, huh?
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