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Things that irk you about roads the most

Started by J Route Z, December 19, 2016, 02:01:37 AM

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jakeroot

#50
Quote from: hbelkins on December 22, 2016, 01:48:32 PM
Number two, the cop could voluntarily choose not to write any tickets while they're on patrol. But the existence of quotas -- yes, they deny they exist; and yes, they're lying when they do, because I've had it independently verified that quotas do exist, especially for federal programs like Click It or Ticket or Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over -- limits their ability to say, "Well, I worked these roads but didn't catch anyone speeding so I didn't write any tickets."

My understanding is that they don't have quotas, but they do have reviews like any other employee. And if during their review, they were found to be writing remarkably fewer tickets than other constables that patrolled the same stretch, that would reflect poorly on them, and they might be less likely to receive a pay raise or promotion.

That said, there is a little dilemma when it comes to ticketing expectations. If a constable is sitting on the side of the freeway doing radar, and he or she genuinely doesn't see anyone speeding, that would mean that they were doing their job (discouraging speeding through high visibility). But if "doing their job" means writing tickets, that would mean that drivers will always be speeding, and enforcement is pointless, because it never ends. Does that make any sense? Hard to explain.


Ned Weasel

Some of these have already been mentioned, but here are my top six.  Why top six?  Because I wanted to do a top five, but then I thought of another one that truly irked me.

1. Unstriped lanes on major roads, except in shared space designs.  When traffic is moving faster than 20 or 30 MPH, there should be no ambiguity as to where the lanes are for same-direction parallel or diverging movements.

2. Absurdly low speed limits.  Examples: 55 on a freeway where traffic can safely go 70, 45 on an expressway where the at-grade intersections aren't closely spaced, or 35 in a freeway construction zone unless something extremely dangerous is going on.

3. Traffic signals without at least two signal faces for the thru movement or main movement in each direction.  It's not just wrong; it's also lazy.

4. Inconsistently signed routes.  Either sign the whole route so anyone can follow it from beginning to end without prior knowledge, or don't sign it at all.  Better yet, decommission it if you don't think it's worth signing consistently.  Examples of this are all over the country, and it just looks sloppy and ugly when you're actually paying attention.

5. Poorly routed routes.  These are sometimes influenced by a state law or mileage limit, but I think that's a lame excuse.  Just change the law!  If you want a state route in a certain place, designate one there.  If you don't want one in another place, re-route it in a way that makes sense, or just truncate it or decommission it.

6. Inconsistent use of down arrows on overhead signs.  Sometimes a down arrow really means "This lane is only for X," even if there is no "EXIT ONLY" panel, but other times it means "This is the lane you want to be in, in order to get to X," even if there are other reasons to use that lane.  Pick one meaning and stick with it!

Quote from: NE2 on December 22, 2016, 03:48:23 PM
People who stick stubbornly to bogus roadgeek definitions such as Super 2 meaning a two-lane freeway.

My understanding was that "Super 2" meant a two-lane, undivided road that had all the other characteristics of a freeway (full grade separation) but couldn't be called a freeway because a freeway is divided by definition.  And I thought "Super 2 Expressway" referred to a two-lane, undivided road that had grade separations and interchanges as well as some at-grade intersections.  Of course, if you use the standard definitions of "freeway," "expressway," and "conventional road," both Super 2s and Super 2 Expressways fall into the "conventional road" category.

While we're at it, I get annoyed when people stubbornly think an expressway cannot have driveways or private road access points, even though that isn't a universally accepted part of the definition of "expressway."  The road categories should refer to physical characteristics, not legal ones.
"I was raised by a cup of coffee." - Strong Bad imitating Homsar

Disclaimer: Views I express are my own and don't reflect any employer or associated entity.

jp the roadgeek

Quote from: kurumi on December 21, 2016, 10:58:40 PM
This one is irrational and small but still irks, especially at the end of a long rush hour: signal phase for your left turn differs from expected.

Example: you're in a NB left turn lane at a 4-way signalized intersection. Cross traffic (EB-WB straight) has the green. The "usual" phases imply your turn is next:
...
NB-SB straight
EB-WB opposing left turns
EB-WB straight and right (current green)
NB-SB opposing left turns (you're NEXT!!!1!)
...

If that does not happen, if some other movement gets the green, the "they SKIPPED us" sensation is pretty strong.

In some areas with light rail transit that preempts the phases, it can actually reset the sequence to start further forward (or back) and then you truly have been skipped, and that's doubly frustrating.

On a related note, when a light late at night turns red in my direction just as I approach it despite no one being there on the cross street to trip it.  Also, two consecutive lights where the second one turns red just as you approach it from the first light, which also was red (this happens at two lights near a supermarket in my town; if I catch the first light red, 90% of the time I'm going to catch the second light red).
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

Buffaboy

Unnecessary speed limits.

Nobody goes at 40 MPH on NY 5 in Lackawanna, for example.
What's not to like about highways and bridges, intersections and interchanges, rails and planes?

My Wikipedia county SVG maps: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Buffaboy

swiftdo

Quote from: stridentweasel on December 23, 2016, 12:31:58 AM
2. Absurdly low speed limits.  Examples: 55 on a freeway where traffic can safely go 70, 45 on an expressway where the at-grade intersections aren't closely spaced, or 35 in a freeway construction zone unless something extremely dangerous is going on.

Like the 45 mph zone on the Garden State Parkway over the Driscoll Bridge. Who has EVER gone 45 on the Parkway when there isn't traffic?
/rant

jeffandnicole

Quote from: swiftdo on December 23, 2016, 06:38:48 AM
Quote from: stridentweasel on December 23, 2016, 12:31:58 AM
2. Absurdly low speed limits.  Examples: 55 on a freeway where traffic can safely go 70, 45 on an expressway where the at-grade intersections aren't closely spaced, or 35 in a freeway construction zone unless something extremely dangerous is going on.

Like the 45 mph zone on the Garden State Parkway over the Driscoll Bridge. Who has EVER gone 45 on the Parkway when there isn't traffic?
/rant

The 45 was someone necessary when the lanes were 10 feet wide with no shoulders.  Why it was never raised on the new bridge...who knows. 

I've never heard of anyone ranting they were stopped for speeding in the 45 either, so I'm guessing it goes unenforced.

There's an unsigned 55 mph at the end of the NJ Turnpike as well (on paper, the 65 mph limit starts at MP 1.0.  There's never a posted 55 limit going southbound; going northbound the last speed limit sign one sees is an unnecessary 50 mph sign the DRBA posts.  But again, it's doubtful even the police are aware of the actual speed limit limitations as the southern end of the Turnpike.

BamaZeus

Traffic lights on a main street that are not sequential/timed properly, especially when the system exists on other streets in the city.

I don't mind the occasional red light, but if I'm travelling down a main thoroughfare, I shouldn't have to stop every 50 feet for a light at a minimally used side street.

Brandon

Quote from: BamaZeus on December 23, 2016, 11:02:40 AM
Traffic lights on a main street that are not sequential/timed properly, especially when the system exists on other streets in the city.

I don't mind the occasional red light, but if I'm travelling down a main thoroughfare, I shouldn't have to stop every 50 feet for a light at a minimally used side street.

Try an entire state set up that way.  Then go to Illinois and see it for yourself.  :banghead:
It is the most annoying fucking thing I can think of on the road (other than the drivers).
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

compdude787

Lights on a major road that aren't synchronized. WA 99 in Lynnwood is like this and I can't stand driving on it for this very reason. I avoid that road when I can.

SPAdriver


kphoger

Quote from: paulthemapguy on December 20, 2016, 12:56:14 PM
-Any signal with fewer than two indications for a particular movement.

I agree with this one.  I'm more and more amazed at how many intersections only have one left turn arrow per direction of traffic, and I wonder what happens when that one green arrow burns out and nobody knows they have a protected left.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

jakeroot

Quote from: kphoger on December 23, 2016, 04:21:52 PM
Quote from: paulthemapguy on December 20, 2016, 12:56:14 PM
-Any signal with fewer than two indications for a particular movement.

I agree with this one.  I'm more and more amazed at how many intersections only have one left turn arrow per direction of traffic, and I wonder what happens when that one green arrow burns out and nobody knows they have a protected left.

That's like 99% of all intersections in Washington and Oregon. It's embarrassing, especially when you visit California and see how well signalized their intersections are (despite all the protected lefts). My guess is that neither will get on their shit until the MUTCD makes more signals a requirement.

kphoger

Quote from: J N Winkler on December 19, 2016, 09:21:48 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 19, 2016, 03:59:39 PMAnother common one is W4-2 (warning) instead of R3-7 (regulatory).

R3-7 itself is one of my bugbears--it is usually impossible to read far enough in advance for smoothly maneuvering into the trap lane (or out of it, as the case may be).  Agencies in snowbird states like Arizona often just use R3-5 for trap lanes, but even an appropriate member of the R3-8 family would be infinitely better than R3-7.

I agree that R3-7 is not the best, and R3-8 is better.  But still, both of those are actually regulatory, whereas W4-2 is not.  And I'm apparently not the only one who hates this.  See below:

Quote from: GaryV on December 21, 2016, 05:11:33 PM
"Right Lane Ends" sign that really means, "Right Lane Must Turn Right".  If I'm in an unfamiliar area and know I'm going to be turning right, do I gamble on whether the lane ends before my intersection?




Quote from: J N Winkler on December 19, 2016, 09:21:48 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 19, 2016, 03:59:39 PMMy other big pet peeve is exit-only lanes that just have regular dashed lines next to them instead of either dotted or solid.

Like here?  Weaving lanes from one interchange to the next are an uncomfortable gray area.

Yes, exactly like that.  And I prefer signing weaving lanes with continuous dots, from merge point to gore point.  I've seen this done extensively in Texas, and I like it (as I like a lot of things Texas does with its highways).
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

mdthomas8368

Tennessee, especially on I-24, multiple times places the "on ramp lane continues (no merge needed)" sign on a 1/4 mile on-ramp.

MNHighwayMan

#64
Quote from: stridentweasel on December 23, 2016, 12:31:58 AM
2. Absurdly low speed limits.  Examples: 55 on a freeway where traffic can safely go 70, 45 on an expressway where the at-grade intersections aren't closely spaced, or 35 in a freeway construction zone unless something extremely dangerous is going on.

Like I-35E in St. Paul? Nobody goes 45 there, except for weirdos. I've always wanted to do a guerrilla campaign and paste fives over the fours to make the speed limit 55 instead (at least until MnDOT goes out and replaces all the signs I've defaced.) :bigass:

Scott5114

uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

20160805

#66
Quote from: stridentweasel on December 23, 2016, 12:31:58 AM
Some of these have already been mentioned, but here are my top six.  Why top six?  Because I wanted to do a top five, but then I thought of another one that truly irked me.

1. Unstriped lanes on major roads, except in shared space designs.  When traffic is moving faster than 20 or 30 MPH, there should be no ambiguity as to where the lanes are for same-direction parallel or diverging movements.

2. Absurdly low speed limits.  Examples: 55 on a freeway where traffic can safely go 70, 45 on an expressway where the at-grade intersections aren't closely spaced, or 35 in a freeway construction zone unless something extremely dangerous is going on.

3. Traffic signals without at least two signal faces for the thru movement or main movement in each direction.  It's not just wrong; it's also lazy.

4. Inconsistently signed routes.  Either sign the whole route so anyone can follow it from beginning to end without prior knowledge, or don't sign it at all.  Better yet, decommission it if you don't think it's worth signing consistently.  Examples of this are all over the country, and it just looks sloppy and ugly when you're actually paying attention.

5. Poorly routed routes.  These are sometimes influenced by a state law or mileage limit, but I think that's a lame excuse.  Just change the law!  If you want a state route in a certain place, designate one there.  If you don't want one in another place, re-route it in a way that makes sense, or just truncate it or decommission it.

6. Inconsistent use of down arrows on overhead signs.  Sometimes a down arrow really means "This lane is only for X," even if there is no "EXIT ONLY" panel, but other times it means "This is the lane you want to be in, in order to get to X," even if there are other reasons to use that lane.  Pick one meaning and stick with it!

Quote from: NE2 on December 22, 2016, 03:48:23 PM
People who stick stubbornly to bogus roadgeek definitions such as Super 2 meaning a two-lane freeway.

My understanding was that "Super 2" meant a two-lane, undivided road that had all the other characteristics of a freeway (full grade separation) but couldn't be called a freeway because a freeway is divided by definition.  And I thought "Super 2 Expressway" referred to a two-lane, undivided road that had grade separations and interchanges as well as some at-grade intersections.  Of course, if you use the standard definitions of "freeway," "expressway," and "conventional road," both Super 2s and Super 2 Expressways fall into the "conventional road" category.

While we're at it, I get annoyed when people stubbornly think an expressway cannot have driveways or private road access points, even though that isn't a universally accepted part of the definition of "expressway."  The road categories should refer to physical characteristics, not legal ones.

#2 especially bothers me.  There are a lot of roads in the Appleton, WI, area that are 25 mph that could easily be 30 (Kensington Drive between Calumet/County KK and College/County CE; and also Spencer Street east of Nicolet Road).  25 is unenforceable and frequently ignored (people regularly go 30-32 on the latter), and besides, Casaloma Drive between Spencer and Prospect (County BB) is even more residential than parts of Spencer and has a 35 limit.  I'm just asking for reasonable, consistent speed limits.

And when I come across a freeway with a 55 or lower limit when it could (and should) be 65 or higher, my only reaction is this:


#4 - very annoying.  Sometimes when I'm keeping route logs of my little drives around the area or whatever, I'll see a sign for a highway I didn't know I was on, and because any arterial really could have a highway designation, I've probably failed to record several dozen highway miles this year alone.  (Yes, I keep track of all my county/state/federal highway miles on significant trips in a spreadsheet.)  It's simple, people: sign the whole route, from start to finish, and place a reassurance marker after every major intersection.

#5 - I totally agree.  There are so many poorly routed highways it's insane, and they keep coming up with silly routings: not too long ago, US 45 was routed out of downtown Fond Du Lac, WI, onto a new routing involving US 151 S (really west), US (I) 41 N, and WI 23 E before meeting back up with its original routing along the shore of Lake Winnebago.  They should have just done US 151 S to US(I) 41 N to the existing 41/45 interchange in Oshkosh, and turned the section of 45 between Oshkosh and Fond du Lac into a state highway.  Make the route easy to understand, people.
Left for 5 months Oct 2018-Mar 2019 due to arguing in the DST thread.
Tried coming back Mar 2019.
Left again Jul 2019 due to more arguing.

frankenroad

When ODOT screws up their own signage.   There are signs on US-127 that are actually OH-127 signs (there is no OH-127 as Ohio does not allow route numbers to be duplicated across Interstate, US, and state routes).   There was a sign at the entrance to I-71 in Norwood, that had a OH-71 logo on it for  a couple years.  They fixed it before I got around to bugging them about it  :-D

When they widened US-22/OH-3 in northern Hamilton and southern Warren counties, they got a number of the directional signs wrong.   For example, it is supposed to say EAST US-22/NORTH OH-3, but several places is says NORTH US-22/EAST OH-3.   

I am sure this happens in other states, too.
2di's clinched: 44, 66, 68, 71, 72, 74, 78, 83, 84(east), 86(east), 88(east), 96

Highways I've lived on M-43, M-185, US-127

MNHighwayMan

I'm going to add another one: not posting END signs at the termini of routes. I realize not all states do this, but those that do, need to do so consistently always. I get sad when I go hunting to take a picture of an END marker, only to find there isn't one. :-/

Scott5114

Quote from: frankenroad on December 29, 2016, 02:26:50 PM
When ODOT screws up their own signage.

I'd be more worried if ODOT started screwing up someone else's signage...
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

roadman65

Toll pricing on the one mile advance guide for a toll plaza in Florida has been yellowed out and only the sign that lists the price is just before the toll plaza.  Why did they even do that?  Send out a work order to cover up the price of the toll which needs to be said, and only have it at the plaza proper is beyond me.

We get a lot of people here complaining about that one and even though if it were done again we still would have many ask as well, but its the principal of it.  Even before I became a collector, on the Polk Parkway in Lakeland it used to make me wonder why the one mile advanced had a yellow cover up over what was once the needed to know price of the upcoming toll.  Even if its because FDOT likes to raise tolls a lot and it may be a measure to avoid future work orders to change the numbers,  its still needed as many in our nation do not even expect a toll booth despite Florida using TOLL on all route shields while driving here.

Then the signal timings irk me and the fact you have protected left turns give out arrows holding up the traffic on the other straight through roads.  One time all four directions at one intersection  I stopped at near my house had cars waiting for a red light to turn green in three different directions with no one moving because the loop failed in one direction with no traffic at all that made an indefinite wait for the others.  Plus here in Orange County, FL our engineers do not know squat about making signals all work together and giving them the best timing especially the ones with the cameras for light running.  Of course the latter is obvious because they make money from fines and what better way to get them by tempting people to run it, but its still wrong!

Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

jwolfer



Quote from: roadman65 on January 03, 2017, 08:00:08 AM
....the best timing especially the ones with the cameras for light running.  Of course the latter is obvious because they make money from fines and what better way to get them by tempting people to run it, but its still wrong!


No the wonderful people in out city and county governments are looking out for our safety...

If you dont want a ticket dont run the red light

(Sarcasm)


LGMS428


wanderer2575

Quote from: MNHighwayMan on December 30, 2016, 01:35:27 PM
I'm going to add another one: not posting END signs at the termini of routes. I realize not all states do this, but those that do, need to do so consistently always. I get sad when I go hunting to take a picture of an END marker, only to find there isn't one. :-/

Doubly irritating when the numbered route ends but the physical road continues.  Some poor sap following a route can suddenly find himself lost out in the middle of nowhere.

Bruce

A big one: lack of traffic enforcement by officers.

Drivers on their phones, drivers using bike lanes and sidewalks, drivers using bus lanes during rush hour and holding up thousands of commuters, drivers ignoring pedestrian right-of-way, etc etc.

It would be nice to have a crackdown on bad driver behaviors for even a month or two just to see how different it would make the city.

Rothman

#74
For today, I hate signage in New Jersey.  Small signs, small fonts, incomplete information, inadequate advance signage (e.g., for the GSP coming southbound on NJ 17)...

...and they got rid of the squiggly exit arrows on the NJT.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.