You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

I think it all has more to do that people are getting too impatient and frustrated driving around.

You make a city that you basically need a car to get anywhere in any reasonable amount of time.

You start 5,000 construction projects at once, don’t finish any, reduce speed limits arbitrarily, and let construction companies just close off huge swaths of major thoroughfares for no reason and months on end. Pylons literally everywhere.

You don’t fund police enough to enforce traffic properly.

You have an astronomical immigration / population migration rate into your city that can’t keep pace, and the biggest reason of all:

You haven’t really done any enforcement about, or literally anything about, people being on their phones while they drive.

I could not thank a post more.

Started at the new place near eau claire, which is ground zero of the worst place to work, take the pumphouse road route in. Turn by that Sr frogs location. Road closed for who knows why. Turn into alley. Alley closed. Nope I'm illegally going through. Cannot turn left anywhere. Next alley is closed because some company has put a dumpster there for some reason. Fata you. Go around that. I take that route now illegally every day.

There is an absolute disdain for drivers and it is not even subtle anymore. There is a lane closed on 6th out of downtown that has been closed for the last week because some building has a bunch of rubble or concrete chunks on the road in it causing thousands of people, including bikes and virtuous bus goers a lot of time. Remove your fataing rubble dickhead. 15 mins to work in the morning and 1.5 hrs out because of bizarrely closed lanes everywhere.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

I think it all has more to do that people are getting too impatient and frustrated driving around.

You make a city that you basically need a car to get anywhere in any reasonable amount of time.

You start 5,000 construction projects at once, don’t finish any, reduce speed limits arbitrarily, and let construction companies just close off huge swaths of major thoroughfares for no reason and months on end. Pylons literally everywhere.

You don’t fund police enough to enforce traffic properly.

You have an astronomical immigration / population migration rate into your city that can’t keep pace, and the biggest reason of all:

You haven’t really done any enforcement about, or literally anything about, people being on their phones while they drive.

####ing Immigrants

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Ubers who insist on dropping me at the door associated with the airline I’m taking even when I tell them I’m going straight to gate. Even when I tell them repeatedly which door I want to get dropped off at because it’s closer to my gate they’re like nope, you get dropped off at your airline door.

So don’t tell them the airline? I just tell them where I want to get dropped off.

[8 Ball]

It also probably wouldn't hurt to launch an awarness campaign for people to wear high visability items if they are going to be crossing roads.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Weitz

So don’t tell them the airline? I just tell them where I want to get dropped off.

Rookies


AMIRITE

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Weitz

So don’t tell them the airline? I just tell them where I want to get dropped off.

That’s literally the gear grinder. They refuse like their honour bound to only drop at the airline. Even when I specify a door.

Don’t stress too much on my behalf. I just lie about what airline I’m taking.

[puffnstuff]

Originally Posted by 8 Ball

It also probably wouldn't hurt to launch an awarness campaign for people to wear high visability items if they are going to be crossing roads.

The only way I saw someone crossing the road in the dark the other night was the reflective bits of their dogs leash and harness...the owner was head to toe dressed in black.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Table 5

The reality it's a mix of everything:

• People distracted by devices and cars with giant screens.
• Crazy low standards for getting your license.
• Calgary drivers who were used to easy living (or never that good in the first place) now dealing with more traffic/challenges.
• More Ontario transplants used to driving like a-holes in the big city, bringing habits here.
• New immigrants coming from places where chaotic driving is the norm, bringing habits here.
• Lack of enforcement of the rules.
• Construction everywhere, all the time.

Pick your favorites, but it's pretty much all of the above.

This feels like the easiest first item to address. Particularly for "professional" drivers. If it's got an Uber sticker, it's probably going to do something unpredictable. Semi's are still awful, despite everything supposedly changing after the Humbolt crash.

[The Yen Man]

Is yielding to pedestrians an Alberta thing? Having just come back from Edinburgh, it kind of reminded me again that yielding to pedestrians seems like it's more of a Calgary thing only vs. the rest of the world big cities thing. Maybe part of the reason why we are seeing more pedestrian incidents now is because we have an influx of people coming from places not used to yielding, and expecting pedestrians to cross only when the vehicle passes? I also notice in Toronto, cars don't typically yield to pedestrians, and pedestrians don't expect you to. I still remember being yelled at by a pedestrian for breaking their flow when I yielded to them.

And to be clear, I'm not victim blaming. Just trying to find a reason (besides the obvious "people can't drive" reason).

[Fuzz]

Ontario has different pedestrian laws, yes. Many places treat pedestrians differently. It's up to people to learn those things. When I travel I try to understand not just the written rules, but how people follow them. In some German cities they are incredibly strict. In others, far less so, even though they all have the same laws.


Hell, when I was 4 and went to the UK I'd try to put my arm up to cross a street, as we were taught. My mom quickly corrected me before I became a pancake, in that they don't do that, and I learned my lesson. So what, a four year old can work it out but adults can't? I dunno what the solution is, but humanity is approaching the point where many are just to dumb to survive.

[puffnstuff]

When they have to put warning labels on car batteries that you shouldnt drink the fluid in them...

[The Yen Man]

K, maybe I'm going to be in the minority here, but I wish we adopted the rules of the road of the rest of the world and pedestrians here didn't expect cars to yield. I find that awkward pause where the car stops and the guy is waiving you to go so they can cross after the car passes to be the thing that breaks traffic flow the most. We now have a mix of pedestrians who expect you to stop vs. not expect you to stop, and I think that confusion is also what's causing more incidents.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

K, maybe I'm going to be in the minority here, but I wish we adopted the rules of the road of the rest of the world and pedestrians here didn't expect cars to yield. I find that awkward pause where the car stops and the guy is waiving you to go so they can cross after the car passes to be the thing that breaks traffic flow the most. We now have a mix of pedestrians who expect you to stop vs. not expect you to stop, and I think that confusion is also what's causing more incidents.

In what instances?

If it’s a crosswalk (marked or unmarked) then no, cars should yield to pedestrians, but yes, pedestrians should never wave a car through.

If it’s not, then I agree and cars should never yield to pedestrians crossing illegally, but I also don’t feel like that has really changed much in the years I’ve been driving.

[Shazam]

I stick my hand out when crossing the road as a pedestrian as required by law.

[puffnstuff]

Originally Posted by Shazam

I stick my hand out when crossing the road as a pedestrian as required by law.

You also need your middle finger extended or it doesnt work.

[fotze2]

Today driving on those less crowded roads by Eau Claire. Biker going the wrong way in a clearly yellow marked road, right in the middle, I slow down to not murder but I am not gonna juke buds so he starts yelling. He did not need to be there illegally, no one on the road. Sorry bud in your Tour de France Cosplay costume, it's the road. I will stop but I am not juking for ya.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

In what instances?

If it’s a crosswalk (marked or unmarked) then no, cars should yield to pedestrians, but yes, pedestrians should never wave a car through.

If it’s not, then I agree and cars should never yield to pedestrians crossing illegally, but I also don’t feel like that has really changed much in the years I’ve been driving.

For me, I think unmarked crosswalks, pedestrians should wait till the cars passes and then cross. Marked, I get because it's clearly marked to yield to pedestrians.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

K, maybe I'm going to be in the minority here, but I wish we adopted the rules of the road of the rest of the world and pedestrians here didn't expect cars to yield. I find that awkward pause where the car stops and the guy is waiving you to go so they can cross after the car passes to be the thing that breaks traffic flow the most. We now have a mix of pedestrians who expect you to stop vs. not expect you to stop, and I think that confusion is also what's causing more incidents.

Which rules? They are different in different countries. Several US states follow the same as Alberta. There is no universal standard.

[The Yen Man]

The rule where pedestrians cross after all the cars pass at any unmarked intersection.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by fotze2

Today driving on those less crowded roads by Eau Claire. Biker going the wrong way in a clearly yellow marked road, right in the middle, I slow down to not murder but I am not gonna juke buds so he starts yelling. He did not need to be there illegally, no one on the road. Sorry bud in your Tour de France Cosplay costume, it's the road. I will stop but I am not juking for ya.

Speaking of Eau Claire and this whole topic, I can’t think of anything closer to a game of frogger for pedestrians than crossing some of the mixed used areas of the river walk that intersect the bicycle paths. There are clear signs to yield to pedestrians yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.

I feel like cyclists, of all people, should better understand the importance of looking out for pedestrians.