Why Moving People is Complicated: Crash Course Engineering #41
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Date: 2022-04-04
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Comments and reviews: 9
Adam
In traffic, rather than trying to engineer around the drivers by changing roads and routes and other infrastructure, I think money would be better spent in the comprehensive (re-)training of drivers. Yes, I get the concept of forced flow, but I've observed traffic jams starting to form long before a road system should hit even critical flow, much less forced flow.
The problem? People not paying attention. They get on the freeways at sub-optimal speeds; they pace each other for kilometers at a time; they don't know how to merge, leaving entire lanes mostly empty as people prematurely move over; they slow down going up hills or around corners; they get cranky because they think you're trying to cut them off.
In the US, at least, we're in desperate need of re-education when it comes to driving etiquette. It'd help if drivers would 1) pay attention and 2) be skilled enough to handle 1500kg of metal, plastic, electronics and fuel moving at 100+ kph. The worst enemy of any driver on the road is another driver, not the infrastructure.
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In traffic, rather than trying to engineer around the drivers by changing roads and routes and other infrastructure, I think money would be better spent in the comprehensive (re-)training of drivers. Yes, I get the concept of forced flow, but I've observed traffic jams starting to form long before a road system should hit even critical flow, much less forced flow.
The problem? People not paying attention. They get on the freeways at sub-optimal speeds; they pace each other for kilometers at a time; they don't know how to merge, leaving entire lanes mostly empty as people prematurely move over; they slow down going up hills or around corners; they get cranky because they think you're trying to cut them off.
In the US, at least, we're in desperate need of re-education when it comes to driving etiquette. It'd help if drivers would 1) pay attention and 2) be skilled enough to handle 1500kg of metal, plastic, electronics and fuel moving at 100+ kph. The worst enemy of any driver on the road is another driver, not the infrastructure.
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Farouk
question: is it not possible to create a dynamic system that take in the variables flow and the number of cars in each road (with all those cameras )
and give as a result the fastest way and display the result either on an electric poster in the road or on google maps with those result being updated each certain amount of minutes. that way every one is taking the fastest way always and the traffic gets reduced
(AI is taking over driving any way we might just make it easier and accelerate the process by adding this system)
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question: is it not possible to create a dynamic system that take in the variables flow and the number of cars in each road (with all those cameras )
and give as a result the fastest way and display the result either on an electric poster in the road or on google maps with those result being updated each certain amount of minutes. that way every one is taking the fastest way always and the traffic gets reduced
(AI is taking over driving any way we might just make it easier and accelerate the process by adding this system)
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Mystic
Worth noting that you also need to take into account human perception when designing signalling. The October 1999 Paddington Rail disaster was caused, in part, by obscured signalling which the driver couldn't see properly due to glare.
Many modern high speed trains have in-cab signalling, since beyond a certain speed it becomes difficult for people to react visually to external signals. Thus, having the signal pop up in the cab at designated points allows for much higher speeds, without sacrificing reaction time.
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Worth noting that you also need to take into account human perception when designing signalling. The October 1999 Paddington Rail disaster was caused, in part, by obscured signalling which the driver couldn't see properly due to glare.
Many modern high speed trains have in-cab signalling, since beyond a certain speed it becomes difficult for people to react visually to external signals. Thus, having the signal pop up in the cab at designated points allows for much higher speeds, without sacrificing reaction time.
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LemmingsGoPOP!
Imagine if I told you that I wanted to spend tax money to rip out the transportation system and build a new one where transport speeds are slower, fatalities and accidents are much higher, individuals spend more, maintenance costs to the state are higher, its more polluting but its main benefit is everyone gets their own little metal box which they have to buy themselves. Yea that would be the reverse of the Green New Deal. Get to it America!
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Imagine if I told you that I wanted to spend tax money to rip out the transportation system and build a new one where transport speeds are slower, fatalities and accidents are much higher, individuals spend more, maintenance costs to the state are higher, its more polluting but its main benefit is everyone gets their own little metal box which they have to buy themselves. Yea that would be the reverse of the Green New Deal. Get to it America!
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EngiBear
-And then the Civil Engineers of the 1950s said, -Let us build our national transportation network based entirely around metal boxes with 1 full seat and 4 empty ones. Let us try to build every highway for rush-hour traffic (each way) and every parking lot for Black Friday shopping. Surely this will not backfire on us. --
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-And then the Civil Engineers of the 1950s said, -Let us build our national transportation network based entirely around metal boxes with 1 full seat and 4 empty ones. Let us try to build every highway for rush-hour traffic (each way) and every parking lot for Black Friday shopping. Surely this will not backfire on us. --
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Anderson
I don't want to sound paranoid, but every other video I watch about city design or traffic engineering talks about taking away highways. Please don't, they are the best thing about American towns and one of the top reasons I hate going to Europe and Latin America.
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I don't want to sound paranoid, but every other video I watch about city design or traffic engineering talks about taking away highways. Please don't, they are the best thing about American towns and one of the top reasons I hate going to Europe and Latin America.
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Tomoki
Any updates on your Human Geography series? I-m taking AP Human Geo next year and it-ll be great to have an entertaining way to learn the material! (No pressure, obviously)
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Any updates on your Human Geography series? I-m taking AP Human Geo next year and it-ll be great to have an entertaining way to learn the material! (No pressure, obviously)
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Brains
Funny thing: no matter to what country you go to, everyone always complains about the public transport!
-But Belgium is the worst though-
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Funny thing: no matter to what country you go to, everyone always complains about the public transport!
-But Belgium is the worst though-
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Jim
Super Markets use Braess' paradox. When the lines at checkout are too long they close a few of the registers. It should work, right?
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Super Markets use Braess' paradox. When the lines at checkout are too long they close a few of the registers. It should work, right?
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