|
Entropist posted:Well, another guy broke his leg there today. They announced a solution now: raising the bike path to the level of the tram tracks. Ah right. Interesting. I must actually visit sometime eh!
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2015 11:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 13, 2024 19:54 |
|
|
I live next to a busy railway line in the Netherlands and except for freight trains, I don't hear them anymore. Assholes on motorcycles going through the tunnel underneath it, though...
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2015 19:48
|
|
|
Best part about raising the bike path to the kerb level is that now people will start getting slotted in the tram tracks, which is far worse than hitting a kerb. Falling forward off of a bicycle almost always results in worse injuries than falling sideways.
Varance fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Aug 8, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2015 20:26
|
|
|
Varance posted:Best part about raising the bike path to the kerb level is that now people will start getting slotted in the tram tracks, which is far worse than hitting a kerb. Falling forward off of a bicycle almost always results in worse injuries than falling sideways. Amsterdam cyclists are used to tram tracks and know how to avoid them. They aren't used to kerbs. Believe me, raising the bike path will make that road safer.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2015 20:38
|
|
|
Jeoh posted:I live next to a busy railway line in the Netherlands and except for freight trains, I don't hear them anymore. I hate to tell you but assholes on motorcycles live for that poo poo. Nothing more e-peeny than hitting the rev limiter while you're in a tunnel.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2015 13:39
|
|
|
RazNation posted:I hate to tell you but assholes on motorcycles live for that poo poo. As if car drivers are any different. Tunnels are wonderful if you have a car that makes a good noise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NSzeHaja5o
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2015 15:57
|
|
|
I'm going to amsterdam next month and I'm going to visit this "kerb" in person wish me luck I hope I don't break anything it seems really dangerous.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2015 20:04
|
|
|
Baronjutter posted:I'm going to amsterdam next month and I'm going to visit this "kerb" in person wish me luck I hope I don't break anything it seems really dangerous. Might be fixed by then. Just don't walk on bike paths like a stupid tourist. You'll get mown down by angry cyclists if you do that.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2015 20:34
|
|
|
wolrah posted:As if car drivers are any different. Tunnels are wonderful if you have a car that makes a good noise. Wow, almost as bad as the kid in his honda civic fitted with a fart can.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2015 23:18
|
|
|
RazNation posted:Wow, almost as bad as the kid in his honda civic fitted with a fart can. Hey look guys, this one doesn't have a soul!
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2015 03:52
|
|
|
http://abc7news.com/traffic/san-francisco-bicyclists-protest-outdated-traffic-laws/892465/
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2015 18:10
|
|
|
So the city I work for (Tumwater, WA) recently hired somebody to come do locates for a new fiber optic line they're laying down. Of all the symbols they could have used... It's close enough to an actual swastika that we've gotten numerous complaints about it. They are ALL over town, too.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 02:33
|
|
|
Dusty Baker 2 posted:So the city I work for (Tumwater, WA) recently hired somebody to come do locates for a new fiber optic line they're laying down. Of all the symbols they could have used... Oh dear, why don't they just do a cross and then write an F or something next to it?
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 07:27
|
|
|
I'd appreciate it if someone could dig through my post history and find my post complaining about traffic in Jakarta from September last year since I'm stuck posting on my phone. I'm back in Jakarta again and well, motor traffic is still a humongous clusterfuck of epic proportions but I am heartened to hear from my relatives that they're eagerly awaiting for the MRT and more public transportation options. Especially compared to the NIMBY-ism often encountered in the West. I don't know how long this poo poo can last before everything implodes.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 13:07
|
|
|
Dusty Baker 2 posted:So the city I work for (Tumwater, WA) recently hired somebody to come do locates for a new fiber optic line they're laying down. Of all the symbols they could have used... That's hilarious. Don't they color code utilities? White in Ohio generally means you're drilling/boring on that location.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 13:10
|
|
|
To be fair, that's a standard mark for two proposed underground cables (usually catv/fiber), called a "lightning bolt". Whoever marked them was lazy with their locator tool and didn't sharpen off the ends.
Varance fucked around with this message at 13:50 on Aug 13, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 13:30
|
|
|
Fragrag posted:I'd appreciate it if someone could dig through my post history and find my post complaining about traffic in Jakarta from September last year since I'm stuck posting on my phone. Here you go: Fragrag posted:I'm staying in suburban Jakarta at the moment and my god the traffic infrastructure is so awful. I don't mind the driving style that much, but there are so many cars and the roads simply can't handle the volume. We left my cousin's house and not even a mile away we end up in traffic and there's till roughly 30km to our destination. I'll think twice before cursing the traffic back home in Antwerp. (but I still will because we're still the second most congested city according to INRIX) Fragrag posted:Sorry, that was a rather knee-jerk post. I'm just really tired from travelling non-stop for a week and I got frustrated from being stuck in traffic. There's a lot of badly planned developments here without any decent foresight. Multiple housing complexes with several dozen residences only accessible by a very narrow road that barely has enough space for an SUV, let alone allowing another to pass by.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 13:44
|
|
|
Bicycle post. A whole lot in this thread has been said about cycling infrastructure and how the Dutch deal with it. The videos by BicycleDutch are somewhat of a thread favorite. Today I found another interesting site. It's run by a British family that moved to the Netherlands a few years ago. This gives them a good outsider's perspective on Dutch infrastructure. They have three sub-websites. Their main site is a blog, where they write about what works in the Netherlands, and more importantly, why it works. They also write about BAD infrastructure in the Netherlands. Important, because for some reason cities that want to invest in bike infrastructure tend to copy Dutch bad examples instead of the good examples. Probably because the good examples are so novel that they cost more political effort. They also talk about reasons why cycling is popular in the Netherlands, about why most excuses to not invest in it are actually based on wrong assumptions, and what kind of campaigning works the best (you don't want cycling infrastructure for cyclists. You want it so that non-cyclists keep their car at home. So that children can cycle to school safely. So that the elderly and the disabled can also cycle safely; and you certainly do not want to bully the cars. Despite what some people might think, most journeys in the Netherlands are done by car, and the country's infrastructure is both car-friendly and bicycle-friendly. Actually, the way modes of transport are segregated makes it a safer place for both). Their second site is basically a world-wide campaign to make it so that children can cycle safely, based on the Dutch 1970s pro-bicycle protests. According to UNESCO reports, the amount of freedom that comes with cycling gives children in cycling countries a better average well-being than in other countries. And everyone in and out of town profits from child-safe infrastructure. Their third site is interesting for those who are involved in traffic engineering or policy making and find themselves travelling to West-Europe. They organize three-day study tours in the Netherlands where you can see some of the best and some of the worst Dutch infrastructure in practice, so you can see what works and what doesn't, which is probably much clearer than just watching youtube videos. It seems there's a lot of time for expert discussions during the study tour as well. The main blog The childhood freedom campaign Their study tours Check out the blog and their campaign site if you're interested, there's much more interesting information there than I can summarize here.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 13:49
|
|
|
Thanks for the bicycle post, especially the links. childhoodfreedom.com perfectly sums up how I feel and why I'm considering leaving Southern California. We live in a fairly "bike friendly" area, mostly because so many tourists rent beach cruisers, but it's still a harrowing experience taking my daughter out on the streets. I don't want to wear spandex and ride 30 miles at high speed, I just want to commute to work without getting hit and I want to feel safe enough to let my daughter go out on her own eventually. I grew up in a small town, where I walked several miles to school for years and later biked. There was no cycling infrastructure, but the narrow, tree lined streets forced cars to drive slow and whether it was true or not, I felt safe and my parents obviously felt safe enough to let me do it alone.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 15:32
|
|
|
Carbon dioxide posted:
This is so true, while google street view, aerial photos, youtube videos etc. are fine for showing roughly how things are, things can be quite different when you're there in person. Sight lines around a bend, for instance.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 20:31
|
|
|
I dislike that guy's blog because he promotes the dangerous style of building roundabouts in Assen, where cars have priority over cyclists, leading to dangerous situations. I was there as a high school kid on dark and rainy nights and then you really don't want to have to scan for cars behind you or coming from behind the roundabout at awkward angles, but for some weird reason he thinks it's safer. Many cycling kids don't even bother and just cross, or they come from another city with more sane roundabout layouts and just assume it works the same. Entropist fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Aug 13, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 21:04
|
|
|
Happy Noodle Boy posted:That's hilarious. Don't they color code utilities? White in Ohio generally means you're drilling/boring on that location. White is proposed excavation, yeah.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2015 23:38
|
|
|
Entropist posted:I dislike that guy's blog because he promotes the dangerous style of building roundabouts in Assen, where cars have priority over cyclists, leading to dangerous situations. I was there as a high school kid on dark and rainy nights and then you really don't want to have to scan for cars behind you or coming from behind the roundabout at awkward angles, but for some weird reason he thinks it's safer. While the one he promotes might be safer on a single-site scale (because it forces a 90° angle between cars and cyclists) on a grander scale it's bad, because it makes biking more cumbersome. The number of cyclists is the single most important safety factor, so he's paving a road to hell with good intentions.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2015 11:51
|
|
|
Varance posted:To be fair, that's a standard mark for two proposed underground cables (usually catv/fiber), called a "lightning bolt". Whoever marked them was lazy with their locator tool and didn't sharpen off the ends. Well, to be fair, the guy who did this isnt really on top of the pay scale when it comes to wages.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2015 12:17
|
|
|
sim posted:Thanks for the bicycle post, especially the links. childhoodfreedom.com perfectly sums up how I feel and why I'm considering leaving Southern California. We live in a fairly "bike friendly" area, mostly because so many tourists rent beach cruisers, but it's still a harrowing experience taking my daughter out on the streets. I don't want to wear spandex and ride 30 miles at high speed, I just want to commute to work without getting hit and I want to feel safe enough to let my daughter go out on her own eventually. The biggest problem I see is that people have this weird idea that their car will not move unless they are talking on a cell phone. As far as commuting, have you looked at Surly bikes 'Big Dummy'? (if you are looking for bikes that is) http://surlybikes.com
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2015 12:23
|
|
|
I just got back from Costa Rica, and I got a much more extensive taste of their road network. I'll be typing up a full analysis once I've finished reading through my hundreds of unread emails. What kind of 4-star resort doesn't have free wifi?!
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2015 12:09
|
|
|
Cichlidae posted:I just got back from Costa Rica, and I got a much more extensive taste of their road network. If you were in Costa Rica doing anything other than drinking Imperial and hiking volcanoes you hosed up.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2015 12:40
|
|
|
'Archie Cam' is back online. Livestream of a dutch roundabout https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1agHAa6eG8
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2015 15:54
|
|
|
That reminds me. In the dumb roundabout layout where cyclists have to yield to drivers, there are still pedestrian crosswalks right next to the bike crossings where cars have to yield to pedestrians. So 1. drivers will still need to pay attention when they are exiting the roundabout, and 2. when you're a cyclist, you can just get off your bike, become a pedestrian and cross with priority.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2015 16:09
|
|
|
Varance posted:To be fair, that's a standard mark for two proposed underground cables (usually catv/fiber), called a "lightning bolt". Whoever marked them was lazy with their locator tool and didn't sharpen off the ends. What is this "lightning bolt" symbol meant to look like? Cause, um, that's not sounding much less 
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2015 19:10
|
|
|
So I know other countries have different standards when it comes to traffic infrastructure but what kind of forces are we talking about in this video from Saudi Arabia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qbakrb9KJ4
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2015 20:14
|
|
|
That looks a lot like Abu Dhabi (signs, gantry, road markings) but I guess GCC DoTs import wholesale from the same set of suppliers.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2015 20:26
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPfc7EFgW40 This might be of special interest to Cichlidae as it's showing a typical dutch public consultation in regard to some major railway and road works.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2015 23:15
|
|
|
Thwomp posted:So I know other countries have different standards when it comes to traffic infrastructure but what kind of forces are we talking about in this video from Saudi Arabia. This type of collision happens frequently all around the world. Our sign supports in Connecticut can withstand an impact like that, but they still get totaled. I used to have a photo of one that got hit here (the support itself was fine, but the foundation cracked, so it was a total loss). As for the forces, say an empty dump truck weighs 10,000kg and is traveling at 50 m/s. That's an impulse of 500,000 kg-m/s. If the collision reduces the speed to zero and lasts one second, that's an average force of half a meganewton, right? Baronjutter posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPfc7EFgW40 That's not too dissimilar to the OPS we've been doing. We even had a cycle tour at the last one, but only about half a dozen people showed up. It doesn't help that there's no one unified cyclists' union here, so reaching an accord with one group doesn't ensure you won't take heat from another.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2015 00:05
|
|
|
I think that's one of the biggest problems in north america is that we don't have a group similar to the cyclist's union. The Cyclist's union represents everyone who rides a bike in the netherlands, which is a huge swath of the population (if not everyone), their representatives are just people passionate about making sure the infrastructure and laws are good for everyone. While in north america groups like this don't exist because in most places "cyclist" is a tiny vocal special interest group, often with huge chips on their shoulder and no unified idea of "best practices" that they can push (or simply remind) government to follow. In fact within the few organized groups for cycling advocacy there is in-fighting over separated infrastructure at all. They want to be on equal footing with cars and "take the lane" everywhere as they zip around at 40+ clad in Lycra. When infrastructure does get built all they care about is that bikes won't be "forced" to use it and that they can still ride on the road and take the lane and make crazy left turns when ever they feel like it. Essentially the closest thing to a cycling union we have are aggressive sports/lifestyle cyclists who actively campaign to prevent the infrastructure and are against policies that would attract normal people or make riding a bike safer or more convenient to people who aren't them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2015 00:43
|
|
|
Fun fact: The Dutch driver's union started out as a cyclist's union back in 1883 and still carries that name. It's abbreviation expands to "General Dutch Cyclists Union", although they claim that nowadays the letters in the abbreviation are meaningless. Currently, membership benefits are completely for car drivers and all of their lobbying is also for car roads and the like. The current cyclist's union was started because the driver's union betrayed their original goals.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2015 00:45
|
|
|
Cichlidae posted:This type of collision happens frequently all around the world. Our sign supports in Connecticut can withstand an impact like that, but they still get totaled. I used to have a photo of one that got hit here (the support itself was fine, but the foundation cracked, so it was a total loss). Out of curiosity, how much does it cost to replace one of those, signs and all?
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2015 00:58
|
|
|
Avenida posted:Out of curiosity, how much does it cost to replace one of those, signs and all? The old ones were a quarter million bucks. We went to a new (less robust) design that only costs $80k.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2015 02:17
|
|
|
Cichlidae posted:This type of collision happens frequently all around the world. Our sign supports in Connecticut can withstand an impact like that, but they still get totaled. I used to have a photo of one that got hit here (the support itself was fine, but the foundation cracked, so it was a total loss).  It's happened at least once or twice in CT in the past few years
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2015 02:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 13, 2024 19:54 |
|
|
Cichlidae posted:
Wait what  We design bridge decks and columns to withstand collision forces between 0.5 and 2 MN. The collision with a crane or dump truck with its bed up is specifically mentioned in our building codes. Dutch Engineer fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Aug 18, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2015 16:57
|
|