Drivers!! What does this road sign mean?

[habernac]

I'm actually shocked that most people do ok in the new traffic circle at the intersection of highway 8 and 22 near Bragg Creek. I figured it would be a disaster.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by habernac

I'm actually shocked that most people do ok in the new traffic circle at the intersection of highway 8 and 22 near Bragg Creek. I figured it would be a disaster.

that ones easy because it's only 1 lane. Hard to screw that up and there's only 3 exits vs 5 in mackenzie towne.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by photon

Hm, maybe I'm just remembering it wrong, I'll have to watch closer next time I'm there.

Just went by there and had a look. There are actually two yield signs. There is a "free flow" style of extra lane that comes up, but legally you have to yield.

However some idiot treated it like a merge and almost took me out. (I was turning from WB Glenmore onto SB MacLeod.)

[Boblobla]

I was recently in England and the drivers over there are sooooo much better. I <3 traffice circles, they make everything so much easier.

[Ironhorse]

I came off a turn and stayed in one of these freeflow lanes this morning. The old fart in the Toyota in the (now middle) through lane (I came along side of him right at the same time, going the speed limit) just about had a conniption, since he thought I was going to "merge" right into the side of him.

[SteveToms]

Originally Posted by McMack

My pet peeve is people who make U-turns at traffic lights. The physics of it are almost like slamming on your breaks mid-turn, except there are no brake lights lighting up to let the person behind you know what is going on. Just today I saw a near collision between a U-turner and someone making a legitimate right-turn on red.

It's also illegal

You can only make a U-Turn, at a non lighted intersection, and cannot impede traffic while doing so. This is of course if there is not a no U-Turn sign, if there is, yeah its illegal.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Just went by there and had a look. There are actually two yield signs. There is a "free flow" style of extra lane that comes up, but legally you have to yield.

However some idiot treated it like a merge and almost took me out. (I was turning from WB Glenmore onto SB MacLeod.)

Ok, good. I've made some exaggerated lane changes there to remind the idiots coming onto MacLeod that they have a yield, and that I have the right of way to get into that lane to turn onto 67th, and I'd hate to think I was the one who was wrong.

[St Loomis]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

YES, You have the lane, use the whole thing because I am going to.

Example of this, Getting on the W-bound glenmore from 14st.

This is the perfect example of why you should not merge at the first opportunity. When they added the lane extension on the right lane of 14th street ramp here traffic improved immensely right away, why? Because people were encouraged not to merge right at the bottom of the ramp.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by St Loomis

This is the perfect example of why you should not merge at the first opportunity. When they added the lane extension on the right lane of 14th street ramp here traffic improved immensely right away, why? Because people were encouraged not to merge right at the bottom of the ramp.

Yup, it is already a bottleneck at that area, why make it worse by merging earlier?

[Knut]

The Extra lane coming off of both 14th street onto W-bound Glenmore and from Crowchild onto E-Bound Glenmore are fantastic. It has really relieved traffic congestion on Glenmore, 14th and Crowchild trail.

I agree completely with Bobloba.... Merge at the end or if you have a chance to without slamming on the brakes....

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Hesla

The Extra lane coming off of both 14th street onto W-bound Glenmore and from Crowchild onto E-Bound Glenmore are fantastic. It has really relieved traffic congestion on Glenmore, 14th and Crowchild trail.

Now all they have to do is figure out how to make Crowchild from Kensington to 24th suck less butthole...

[slopestylerails]

Originally Posted by kermitology

There are some poor drivers in all situations. Like the ones who think that the playground zone is in effect before 8:30, and those who completely ignore it.

Or those idiots that do 40 through a residential zone and playground and school zones. It does not balance out MORONS!!!!

[Boblobla]

I heard a rumor a while ago that they were going to get rid of a bunch of playground zones? Whatever happened to that?

[edn88]

Heading east on Bow trail now, two lanes merge to one just before the bridge - here is a great example of where people should just stay in their own lane and merge at the merge point (just like the bus I followed this morning did). If everyone actually yields and does a 'zipper' merge, both lanes have to move faster, than idiots randomly. If everyone merges at the same predictible point it has to be faster (and if there is a traffic simulator that either proves or disproves this, I would love to see it).

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Hesla

The Extra lane coming off of both 14th street onto W-bound Glenmore and from Crowchild onto E-Bound Glenmore are fantastic. It has really relieved traffic congestion on Glenmore, 14th and Crowchild trail.

I agree completely with Bobloba.... Merge at the end or if you have a chance to without slamming on the brakes....

Actually I think you just proved that you are wrong with that example.

Problem before was the merge lane was too short, so when people were merging in using a short distance, it caused congestion, right? But by spreading out the length of raod that people use to merge, the congestion eased; as not everybody is merging at once. And so for you "end of lane mergers", there is less traffic to compete with.

Any time you do something on the road, think to yourself "what if every driver drove this way?" Many times you will find that what might work well for you doesn't work if everybody is doing it.

4X4- earlier in this thread and others you have asked "they spent the money to pave that entire lane, why not use all of it?" Well, let's use the airport as an example. The runway is very long, and most of the time the plances don't use all of it. So why is it so damn long? Do they want pilots to use all of the length of runway?

Well, the obvious answer is "no." Of course the runway is longer so that in case that extra length is needed the odd time, it's there for the pilot to use. So same thing with the longer merge lane, they aren't saying to use all of it; just that the extra distance is there if you need it.

[Boblobla]

If everyone merged at the same place on the road traffic can flow a lot smoother then if Johnny Numbnuts merges at the beginning of the lane and then other cars merge at the end. You are putting more traffic into the lane than you would if everyone merged at the end. I fail to see how putting more traffic in the lane will make everything flow faster.

And the runway comparison doesn't make any sense. At all. Planes do use most of the runway, especially the large ones.

[Old Yeller]

Originally Posted by Thor

Try living in Mckenzie town and having to daily watch people mess up a traffic circle and all the near accidents we have to deal with for people who don't understand a simple concept.

Yup... it's baffling to me...

If you're in the outside lane, you're turning right at the next turn off... how hard is that!?!?!?!?!?

I've been honked at for cutting off a guy on the outside lane who drove by 3 turn offs when I was on the inside.

Idiots...

[ken0042]

Ok, to defend the runway example, a Boeing 747 (the largest plane Calgary's airport was designed to handle) needs a minimum of 6500 feet of runway, and the "rule book" says it should have about 10,500 for safety. So why is Calgary's main runway 12,000 feet?

Getting back to the merge, first of all keep in mind your example debunked your merge at the end theory. Then factor in that traffic engineers have the ability to provide the broken line indicating merge for as long as they need- why would they make it 100's of metres long when they want you to merge in the last 50? As an example look at Douglasdale onto NB Deerfoot. There is a lane where you can't merge that gives the oncoming drivers a chance to get up to speed, then there is about 500-700 metres of merge lane. If that isn't the way they wanted us to merge, why give us that earlier chance?

Also keep in mind what happens when you are letting somebody in to merge. You make a gap; taking out you changing lanes you decelerate. Using the length of the merge allows time for you to decelerate slowly. If everybody wait until the end, then you have a single point where drivers need to slow down, which causes people to brake, and then causes a chain reaction back.

Which then causes the previously mentioned people leaving the flow lanes to get into the merge lane, and then when they merge back in at the end further compounds the problem.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Old Yeller

Yup... it's baffling to me...

If you're in the outside lane, you're turning right at the next turn off... how hard is that!?!?!?!?!?

I've been honked at for cutting off a guy on the outside lane who drove by 3 turn offs when I was on the inside.

Idiots...

I've got that beat, I signaled, turned from the inner lane to the proper lane out.. A guy on a motorbike honks at me in the outer land, FOLLOWS me and I pull over and we go at it in a yelling match.

I'm in the parking lot at the Mac's/Petro Canada station, and after he finishes yelling a couple overhearing his stupidity come over to confirm what I was calmly saying; that he was dead wrong and did not have right away.

I wish I had a camera, his face expression was terrific. He drove away on his bike with nothing to say once he realized he was wrong.

I just waved and said "Drive Safe!"

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by ken0042

The same thing he has said 3 times already.

Well then, I say we start a petition to remove the unused concrete from the ends of runways.

I have no idea why you thing 2 people entering a lane at the same time from different points will ease traffic more than everyone entering at the same spot. Last time I checked when you double the amount of traffic entering a road it didn't benefit the flow...

Do what you want, I am driving to the end of lane.