[kearnyirish2]

Trying to implement policies along northern European lines in US cities is ridiculous; until recently those countries had homogenous populations that were for the most part all “on the same page”. Traffic in US cities is unmanageable because our permissive policies let people in who have no concept of driving - and we issue them licenses at will. The gauges I use here in NJ are 1) how many people don’t use blinkers anymore, 2) how many people don’t use their headlights in rainy/snowy weather (it is required), and 3) how many people will stop in the middle of a busy roadway to pick someone up - even if that person will “be out in five minutes”. In the remaining civilized areas, those offenses will generate warnings or tickets from cops; in the areas filled with foreigners, cops don’t even bother. My town is morphing from the former to the latter.

[discostu]

It’s not who we let in. It’s our pathetic driver training. We put completely unskilled drivers on the road in hoards. Our licenses come out of crackerjack boxes. We are the most undertrained underskilled drivers in the western world. And it shows in our accident rate.

[Haiku Guy]

Newark, NJ, having solved all of their other problems, is now installing traffic calming features on all of the major surface roads. Needless to say, traffic has ground to a halt on Broad Street. If they start on McCarter Highway, it will be Game Over.

But with all the disruption, all the torn up pavement, they did not touch those 100-year-old water mains. Those remain undisturbed.

[Trailerpark Badass]

In my location, it’s obvious that many new residents are 1st generation drivers, who probably had no experience of even riding in a car back in their home country.

[ichabod1]

THey will still come down with the full weight of the law on YOU, Irishman, so don’t get any ideas.

[Redak]

Since I'm currently working out of town in North Pole Alaska a small town outside of Fairbanks(feeder community), I am kind of surprised by the 3 traffic circles and dividers on some streets. Of course the circles are done to National standards of the ideal car size as conceived by planners.
This doesn't account for the soccer mom driving the 1 ton quad cab Ford that are routinely forced to go thru these circles who slows way down and inhibits the flow.It also doesn't account for vehicles with trailers, commercial vehicles and the odd 4 wheeler. Hell i saw somebody try to pull doubles though one last week on his way to make a delivery.
Also better signage or published instructions for the morons would be helpful. I do admit they cut a little time over lights at the same intersection until there is a fender bender.Not worth the overall cost.But now that they are built a little tuning up is necessary.

[9YearLurker]

My question is, why have pedestrian fatalities risen in such an environment?

Since there are fewer lanes of auto traffic to cross, one might think there’d be less. But I see two possibilities:

1) the fewer lanes encourage more people to make a dash for it and/or enable the motor traffic to move at a higher speed, and/or

2) as it seems there in with such configurations in Times Square in NYC, the signage and lights don’t well reflect what is going on at such relatively unfamiliar intersections, and pedestrians get confused.