Your least-favorite roadway feature?

[hbelkins]

Dear Mods: Thank you for fixing the poll to allow for more than one choice.

[Revive 755]

Something else - 'No Right Turn on Red When Pedestrians Are Present'

1) It's vague and subjective - how close does the pedestrian have to be to be 'present'?

2) Even more problematic in regions that love red light cameras.

2) It can increase the conflicts between right turners and pedestrians, especially if it is one of those signals where the main road stays green forever due to coordination concerns and the right turn has plenty of large gaps to choose from.

[1995hoo]

All-way stop signs when a roundabout would do.

[Zeffy]

HB - I made it so people should be able to select up to all the options. Let me know if it works or if you want to try again.

[jakeroot]

- Protected left based on speed limit
- Yellow crosswalk ramps (I prefer white)
- Intersections where turning traffic is dominant but no slip lanes are provided

I could go on, but I just start nitpicking after these.

[corco]

All-way stop signs when a roundabout would do.

This

[The Nature Boy]

Roundabouts only work when people know to use them. A roundabout filled with people who have no clue what to do is a nightmare waiting to happen.

[corco]

Roundabouts only work when people know to use them. A roundabout filled with people who have no clue what to do is a nightmare waiting to happen.

Studies have actually shown that roundabouts decrease accidents, one of the reasons being that people who have no idea what they are doing drive much more carefully.

[texaskdog]

SILVER ALERTS!  If an elderly couple is missing in Dallas why do I need to look for their vehicle on the roads in Austin?

[texaskdog]

Roundabouts only work when people know to use them. A roundabout filled with people who have no clue what to do is a nightmare waiting to happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc

[Thing 342]

Excessively high speed bumps, such that one has to come to an almost complete stop to cross or risk destroying their suspension.

[dfwmapper]

Intersections that prohibit right on red because of cheap design, e.g. a freeway offramp intersecting with the crossroad at a normal 90 degree angle, but you can't see traffic coming from the left because the fence/barrier is too close to the road. Also major intersections that lack dedicated left and right turn lanes.

Speed limits posted well below a safe and reasonable speed. Fuck every city that posts a 35mph limit on 4/6 lane arterials that have dedicated left turn lanes and no particular reason for a lower limit, like on-street parking or an excessive number of driveways.

[UCFKnights]

All-way stop signs.

fify

[KEK Inc.]

Intersections that prohibit right on red because of cheap design, e.g. a freeway offramp intersecting with the crossroad at a normal 90 degree angle, but you can't see traffic coming from the left because the fence/barrier is too close to the road. Also major intersections that lack dedicated left and right turn lanes.

Major intersections without left turn bays should prohibit left turns.  Have drivers loop around the block.

Speed limits posted well below a safe and reasonable speed. Fuck every city that posts a 35mph limit on 4/6 lane arterials that have dedicated left turn lanes and no particular reason for a lower limit, like on-street parking or an excessive number of driveways.

That's how the city makes money.  It's bullshit of course, and I agree with you.

[jakeroot]

For those that abhor the ramp meter, what exactly do you not like about it? I've always been on the fence about it; WSDOT is installing them everywhere now, but I've noticed the arterials have more traffic than before which I can't say I like. BUT better traffic flow on the freeway is preferable in my eyes.

[Ned Weasel]

Unstriped lanes on any road that is both (1) not intentionally using a shared space configuration and (2) in a higher hierarchical position than a collector street.  This excludes toll plaza approaches, but it includes implicit turning lanes.  (This especially includes auxiliary lanes on freeways, although, thankfully, I only know of one place where this occurs.)

[Tarkus]

Roundabouts only work when people know to use them. A roundabout filled with people who have no clue what to do is a nightmare waiting to happen.

Studies have actually shown that roundabouts decrease accidents, one of the reasons being that people who have no idea what they are doing drive much more carefully.

Most of the studies out there are limited to just single-lane roundabouts.  The results are all over the place when it comes to multi-lane roundabouts.  I've thoroughly studied the statistics at a couple of the main ones in Oregon . . . the one at US-101 and OR-202 in Astoria more than doubled the occurrence of injury accidents long term, without reducing accident severity.  The one on MLK Pkwy in Springfield has had 182 accidents in the past 5 years, putting it in the 3.00 per MEV range, which is pretty terrible, and far worse than any other intersection in the city.  It's been there 9 years and they've done absolutely nothing to address the issue, in part due to cost ($9.3 million for initial construction), which highlights the problem if you botch a roundabout--it's prohibitive to attempt to correct it (or to remove it altogether).

[thenetwork]

Something else - 'No Right Turn on Red When Pedestrians Are Present'

Also in the same vein:  SCHOOL Speed Limit xx -- When Children are present OR During School Hours.

So if school gets out at 3:30, does that mean at 3:31 when the kids are coming out of the building, I can go the regular speed, because "school" just ended?


Also, any intersection where two one-way streets meet and there is no signage stating whether a Left Turn On Red is permitted or not.  If you have friends in the car, it can become a great gambling game to see whether the soccer mom will make the left turn on her own, after being honked at or will only turn on the green light.

[DaBigE]

Tollbooths.

Runners-up:

• Tight urban cloverleaf interchanges
• Pre-timed, pedestrian-only phases

[hotdogPi]

Not in any order.

Some of these may be considered bugs, not features.

Red light cameras, especially erroneous ones
Badly timed traffic lights
Lack of signage when a route turns
Lack of signage at a route intersection
Speed limits way below what is optimal
Unsigned tolls
Lane merges that cause traffic for miles (I-95/MA 128 north, exits 33-37)
Businesses along the road that do not know how to spell/use grammar ("camera's" used as a plural)
Lack of ability to cross the US/Canada border freely
Sequential exit numbers skipped for no reason (see I-93 in Boston)
The existence of speed limits on straight rural roads (if 120 mph is safe, then put "no speed limit")

[02 Park Ave]

Left entrances and exits.

[1995hoo]

All-way stop signs.

fify

All-way stop signs don't always bother me. There are some places where a roundabout doesn't make sense but visibility issues particular to the location warrant stop signs rather than letting one road's traffic go without stopping. But I think the all-way stop is certainly overused in the US. I find driving in the UK to be a breath of fresh air in that respect because to me it often feels like they trust you to stop when you need to do so and will otherwise let you keep moving if there's no need to stop, whereas the US philosophy feels more like "you might have to stop at some point, so we'll require you to stop every time because you can't be trusted to do it properly." (I suppose the "can't be trusted" part may be true of many drivers, but that's a separate thread.)

[corco]

which highlights the problem if you botch a roundabout

A poorly-designed anything will cause more accidents than a well-designed anything- I don't know that it's fair to say "roundabouts are bad" (nor am I saying that you're saying that) because badly designed or inappropriately placed roundabouts are bad.

[riiga]

* All-way stops. Thankfully there are only a handfull in all of Sweden.
* Speed cameras. They're signed beforehand though. 
* 1+1 roads (this type of road).
* Solid lines when dashed ones will do (Sweden uses mostly dashed shoulder lines on regular roads).

[SignGeek101]

Probably roundabouts. I personally believe 4 way stops or traffic lights are much better and safer.

Speed limits that are too low for a road because it's considered "safer".

I don't really drive much, but this is what I can dig up.