Industry Insights
Throwback Thursday: Busy urban neighborhoods take the initiative to slow speeding drivers
Originally posted Feb. 2010, this is a great refresher: An early success story about the installation of driver feedback signs in busy urban neighborhoods shows what happens when residents take the initiative to slow down speeding motorists on their own streets. The signs perform double duty as they both slow down drivers and collect data,…
Expensive Winter Weather Offers Free Transportation Study Insights
From New York to Denver to Washington, D.C. to Michigan to Vancouver, a new term is making international news. #Sneckdown – a portmanteau of the words “snow” and “neckdown” has become a phenomenon across the United States and Canada. Neckdowns, sometimes called curb extensions, are used to increase visibility as well as reduce crossing time…
The Real Costs of Traffic Calming
Construction-based traffic calming efforts, like traffic circles, come with a hefty price tag and take precious time to institute. Some residents of Kent, Wash., who are concerned about the dangerous speeding on their neighborhood streets, may have to wait over a year before the city can implement their plan to build costly traffic circles. The…
Slower Traffic Saves Lives
Slowing down traffic reduces traffic accidents. Beyond that, traffic accidents that occur at lower speeds are less likely to result in fatalities. Portland, OR experienced 23 deadly crashes in the first six months of 2013. This is a marked increase from the 17 in 2012 during the same number of months. Local police are stepping…
Residential Neighborhoods Affected by Transportation Planning and Traffic Engineering
When transportation planners and traffic engineers reroute traffic by closing outlet roads, residential neighborhoods can bear the brunt. Neighborhood streets, which were formerly safe for families and children, become dangerous thoroughfares as vehicles speed through to make up for time lost by the detour. When solving one traffic problem, sometimes transportation planners do not anticipate…
Vertical Traffic Calming Islands Upsets Residents
Yet another instance of vertical traffic calming “solutions” being installed that were not well received by residents who are now demanding they be removed. In Plano, Texas, residents are upset about the “ridiculous” and expensive concrete traffic islands. The islands serve no purpose and, further, residents do not understand why they were installed. These islands…
Multi-Phase Traffic Calming Project Addresses Needs of Motorists and Pedestrians
Montgomery County Maryland’s comprehensive traffic calming plan is big on scope and budget. How can municipalities stretch tight public budgets? With driver feedback signs from Radarsign, which are universally well received by neighborhoods facing speeding problems..
Speeding in School Zones: Pedal-to-the-metal syndrome
DOT studies in NY, conducted within a ¼ mile vicinity of schools captured some shocking data that should grab the attention of the entire traffic calming community. One study in Staten Island, confirms that that 100 percent of vehicles were speeding.
Knowledge is Power: MnDOT Delivers Deadly Advice to Wake Up Motorists
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has begun using overhead message boards to flash statistics of speeding fatalities to alert drivers to the effects of lead-footed driving. These message boards are the same as the ones normally used to inform drivers of detours, travel times, lane closings, construction and crashes. The hope is that when drivers…
Driver feedback signs now standard in modern, traffic-calming plans
A multi-phase traffic calming project is underway in Telluride, Colorado. The plan has been well thought out and includes a variety of measures estimated to cost more than $150,000. The addition of raised sidewalks, if approved, will add another $22,000 apiece. The initiative is comprehensive including everything from chicanes to driver feedback signs, which are,…
Attitudes Toward Speeding: Americans have been distracted away from a core road safety issue
Speeding hasn’t garnered the national attention of other teen driving issues.