From July 31, 2024
Don’t tell me the drivers couldn’t see this. (I asked you not to tell me that!)
I don’t enjoy driving, these days. Too many crazies on the road. Like the driver who cut me off this morning, zooming across the double yellow line to pass me. The double yellow line denotes a “no passing” zone.
Portland, Oregon, tried to slow traffic down by installing 2,500-pound concrete planters on the streets–and it didn’t work (https://bikeportland.org/2024/07/30/concrete-planters-for-calming-traffic-removed-after-frequent-collisions-388923). As one observer put it, “They kept getting hit.”
Yup–people kept crashing into them, so finally the barriers, installed in 2021, had to be removed by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). I like that acronym, but that’s about all that can be said in favor of Portland’s Slow Streets Program. It was costing too much money to maintain them.
What’s so hard about slowing down and not crashing into a 2,500-pound concrete planter?
City officials did not take into account the number of really bad drivers on the road. How they missed noticing that, is a mystery. Maybe they all take pogo sticks to work. I don’t know how much this program cost, all told, but it was money down the drain. Government has always had a talent for that.
Driving won’t get better, or safer, until the drivers get better.
And lots of luck with that.
No kidding. We need lots of luck every way we turn these days. Common sense has apparently been outlawed.
In truth, we need better than luck: we need God’s blessing.
Putting a 2,500 block in the middle of the road; what could possibly go wrong?
Well, it’s not like the obstacle sneaks up on anybody. How hard could it have been to avoid them?
In all fairness, look at the striping on that road. Not only do the lane stripes direct cars right into the barrier, but there’s barely enough space for drivers to realize what’s happening and change lanes. The striping should lead traffic around the barrier, not straight into it until a couple of feet before contact.
That doesn’t seem like something that should have escaped their notice.
The college town my daughter lives in uses turn-abouts to control traffic – talk about confusing. Who is convincing city councils into doing this?