Stupidity Always Wins

 

 

A pet peeve of mine is how useless our road engineers are in Auckland. Why? Because for the life of them they can not get traffic-light phasings right and as a result traffic (both mechanical and active (pedestrian)) gets backed up excessively when it should not need to.

And while stupidity such as travelling at high-speed, red-light running, and lack of attention due to your iPhone blasting away does not help in car verses pedestrian accidents; our engineers can do a heck load better in allowing more efficient flows in all traffic classes across intersections.

 

From the NZH:

Revealed: City’s worst crossings

By Anna Leask

Failure to pay attention to vehicles is the cause of most intersection accidents involving pedestrians.

Crossing the road is among the most dangerous of everyday activities – and police say even the slightest loss of concentration could have disastrous, if not fatal, results.

More than 700 pedestrians have been hit by cars at Auckland intersections over the past four years, and most victims were not paying attention to vehicles around them, distracted by cellphones or music players or succumbing to their own impatience

…

Auckland road policing manager Inspector Gavin Macdonald said police were concerned about the number of pedestrians being hit at intersections.

“These incidences are preventable, especially when we get a death. There’s really no need for it,” he told the Herald. Our main focus is road safety, and that’s for all road users, but particularly for pedestrians. They are what we call vulnerable road users. They’ve got no protection. They get hit by a car, they’re going to come off second best. What I say to people is this: the most dangerous thing you will do today is cross the road or use the road.

“A small number get hit by cars that might be going through a red light or not watching.

“But the majority of pedestrians get hurt because they’re just not concentrating or aware of their environment – they’re disconnected from it. Mr Macdonald said the majority of pedestrians hit simply “are not thinking about what they are doing”. You see a lot of people with their iPods in their ears, or their heads down texting on their phones.

“They just walk out without even thinking. They’re not taking responsibility for their own safety but they’re expecting everyone else to look out for them.

“I think also people just aren’t using crossings correctly. At controlled crossings with lights they should be waiting, be patient and when you get the green man – cross.

“A lot of people just decide ‘I’m going to cross the road here’ and they just go for it, without thinking of their safety. They’ll just be lazy, not worry about it and wander across the road.

“They think ‘I’ll be OK’. They just need to be patient. We expect vehicles to obey traffic laws, and pedestrians should do that too – especially in the inner city.”

…

 

Now there is two issues here: first being actual stupidity from a pedestrian, the second our lousy traffic light phasings that do cause genuine impatience amongst travellers both in cars and pedestrians (believe me I hate waiting excessively on red lights at a clear intersection…)

 

For the first issue which is actual pedestrian stupidity the message is simple: PAY BLOODY ATTENTION – OKAY? Even if I am travelling less than the recommended speed limit and am at maximum alert travelling through an intersection in my car legitimately (green light), you step out while listening to your iPod illegally (the red man) and there is going to be a very good chance I am going to hit you no matter what my speed was inside that intersection (for the shear fact I am basically right on top of you when you stepped out giving me very little chance for emergency steering or stopping). What is not going to assist you as a pedestrian is that while I am travelling through the intersection on my green light at a reduce speed, while at maximum alert due to high pedestrian counts around me (Queen Street anyone?) my attention can be split many ways if I don’t have a co-pilot. At any given time I can be looking at the following:

1. Dead ahead watching what is in front of me
2. My mirrors for emergency service vehicles
3. My corner vision for pedestrians and other cars – especially on a multi-lane road
4. My instrument panel (speed, temp gauge)

 

So yes while I do keep an alert out for pedestrians and will adjust my speed to reflect the conditions at hand, for heaven’s sake I have to be alert for everything else around AS WELL AS your stupidity. Doesn’t quite make it fair does it…

(For those wondering, yes I drop my speed right out to anywhere between 20-40km/h near “active” schools as an extra measure of caution)

 

So come on pedestrians – think ahead and pay attention. I am watching for you but remember most times I have right-a-way on a road and not appreciative when you do something dumb and I am already right on top of you meaning I just can not avoid the collision no matter what speed I was doing. (Kids playing ball in a quiet cul-de-sac I have no issue with and will happily drop my speed off to walking pace until I have passed them)

 

 

As for impatience and pedestrians – I can sympathise there to a degree. There is nothing worse than waiting over two minutes to cross a traffic controlled signal legitimately (the Green Man) especially if there are no cars at the intersection. Our road engineers have to get with the picture and get these light phasings fixed so that there is an equal balance in moving car and pedestrian efficiently. Now ATB might be better suited at this but an absolute maximum of 90 seconds waiting for your turn/phase should be the rule in moving traffic efficiently and not creating impatience (although we can’t do much for those who can’t wait after 5 seconds). I believe that shortish green and red phases especially at heavy intersections are more efficient in keeping the traffic moving as cars adapt and will constantly travel at a low-speed to the intersection before taking off on the green (basically stopping the ripple effect of stopping cars further back up the tail) compared to super-long green and red phases which piss everyone off and do cause the ripple effect. As for pedestrians, if they don’t wait long then they should not get as impatient then they would if they did.

 

The Customs Street East and Commerce Street intersection is the prime example of piss-poor phasing where Customs Street West get super long phases (even with no cars present) and everyone else including the pedestrians have to wait excessively before getting a very short phase that does not allow a lot through. So engineers – let’s get our phasings with the traffic lights better and allow for more efficient car and pedestrian flows at our intersections. It just might help reduce car verses pedestrians just that little bit but that little bit could mean a lot to someone not getting run over.

As for other measures such as calming and reduced speeds – yep they help too.

But sadly nothing will stop stupidity and Darwin is quite indiscriminate in proving his theory to idiots stepping out in an unsafe manner. So a question – was listening to that latest track on your iPod worth it after being run over due to you stepping out illegally RIGHT ON TOP of a moving car, bus or truck?

 

Comments and thoughts can be left below