Red light running: the war on people

Not gonna watch the snuff video.

It certainly looks tragic enough and God knows this fate could befall any of us on two wheels.

Re: Dances, Silvio and Simplicius

Re Dances: Totally. Every time I pass some sorry piece of roadkill--and I used to bike Mississauga, so that was often--I can't help but feel some empathy...that might be any one of us someday, and our death will mean approximately the same as the squirrel's.

Re Silvio: My girlfriend was recently rear-ended, and I saw the vehicular homicide stats for the past few years posted while I was with her at the Collision Reporting Centre. Autos and Pedestrians were appx. equal at around 35-50 deaths per year, while cyclists were much lower, generally 1-4.

Re Simplicius: Totally agree. I ring my bell twice before entering any controlled intersection, and after the video and your comment, my head's gonna be on a swivel like that girl from the Exorcist.

Thanks for posting.

Improving traffic light synchonization is a solution that works for all and one I hope get more funding.

Running streetcars down the middle of arterial roads is good for transit but not so good for pedestrians, bikes, cars, and local businesses so I hope we don't get more of that "solution".

Some parents have an unfounded sense of security when they drive their kids to school, sports, etc. saying it would be safer for their kids. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. More children are killed being driven to school by their parents than transit, bicycle, walking, or school bus.

Can't we just let the stupid "war on cars" rhetoric die? It's just extreme hyperbole.

The automobile's war on people continues

Of course they don't slow down.

Note that most of the video is filmed at prime accident locations. Heavily used, over-developed FM roads that sport long stretches of open highway driving between intersections that were never intended as 4-way stops.

They are not seen to slow down because they do not intend to run the red light. But for a few exceptions they are not aware of the presence of the intersection until near entering or at/after collision.

Silvio, you totally have an agenda, you want bus transit.

You may say differently but with no money for subways or replacement, separated LRT networks and nothing on either horizon when you state your desire to see streetcars abandoned you are proclaiming your desire to see it replaced with a bus system. Likewise when you say no additional streetcars you are proclaiming for additional buses.

Streetcars are far better for bikes and pedestrians than buses. For a driver or biker responsible enough to drive to conditions rather than trying to force conditions as impatient drivers or bikers do, streetcars are much better than buses.

As for syncro lights that presumably allow for non-stop driving in the city, it doesn't work without serious costs. One of those costs is driver tendancy to trust signals.

"Trust signals" is a fallacy. For one thing, a driver may trust that the signal will change in accordance with it's program but what they are actually trusting is their own ability to control their own progress in relation to the signal's timing. That is where the accidents occur.

You also see drivers engaging in risky behaviour in order to try and benefit by the syncro system. This includes super accelerating / hard braking to positions in traffic they believe beneficial. Also includes a notorious accident situation, drivers that "ride the wave". These often strike, or are struck by, driver that are trying to catch the wave at intersections.

As for timed lights and cycling, this is not France and you are not Lance Armstrong. Most city cyclists rarely or barely ever achieve 25-30 kph. A much smaller, infinitely small, number actually sustain such a speed. Only a foolish city would take these few cyclists into account. If you want to race, get on a track. If you want to train, get on a highway. If you want to do either in the city, stop at every light. It will improve your sprinting ability. If you want to talk about accommodating your training rides in the city with dreams of any system that would do it, find someone with an interest in your hobby and stop buggin people whose interest is transportation.

In reality such systems are really only very efficient in new cities with clearly established grids, a dearth of intersecting neighbourhood streets and no functional street level mass transit. Even in such an ideal circumstance as a Souther US city he accident rates lurch sharply with every perceived decline in gridlock.

Programmed signals can be beneficial, obviously, since they are all programmed in some manner and without them intersections would be murder. But Silvio's suggestion to utilize signals to make things easier for a few dozen guys on the weekends is crazy talk. He seems like a guy that is irritated that he has to slow down or even stop to let people off of a streetcar.

True, In Toronto's core most cyclists maintain somewhere between 10-15 kph.