More on speeding
Or it that morons speeding?
Noticed yesterday afternoon that the fire hydrant right up near the traffic circle on Markham/Glendale was no more.
Clearly, someone was distracted by the possibility of an angry neighbor with a paintball gun lurking in the bushes, so, at 12 miles an hour, they crept through the traffic circle, but drove over the fire hydrant..
Oh, come on.
Someone tried to take the circle at 50+ mph, and missed. Probably the third or fourth time the hydrant's been taken out in the past few years. Fortunately, no one was walking there at the time.
I happened to catch the Public Works crew when they showed up this morning to replace the hydrant. They were pissed that the top part was missing. Scrap metal, or souvenir?
My money's on the latter.
Anyone want to take a stab at how much it costs to replace a fire hydrant vs. how much it costs to write a goddamn speeding ticket or three?
Noticed yesterday afternoon that the fire hydrant right up near the traffic circle on Markham/Glendale was no more.
Clearly, someone was distracted by the possibility of an angry neighbor with a paintball gun lurking in the bushes, so, at 12 miles an hour, they crept through the traffic circle, but drove over the fire hydrant..
Oh, come on.
Someone tried to take the circle at 50+ mph, and missed. Probably the third or fourth time the hydrant's been taken out in the past few years. Fortunately, no one was walking there at the time.
I happened to catch the Public Works crew when they showed up this morning to replace the hydrant. They were pissed that the top part was missing. Scrap metal, or souvenir?
My money's on the latter.
Anyone want to take a stab at how much it costs to replace a fire hydrant vs. how much it costs to write a goddamn speeding ticket or three?
Labels: Traffic calming
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10 Comments:
Could Duke Park (maybe with the help of the city?) put some boulders in the Markham/Glendale traffic circle? Might serve as a visual deterrent to keep people from flying through there. Just a thought.
By
weege, at 10:12 AM
Doubt it. Probably that liability issue when someone kills themself or a passenger by hitting a boulder at 50+.
Besides, how could we have a string quartet performance in the circle if it was full of boulders?
I really think the short term solution is a massive citywide step up in traffic law enforcement. Longterm, a lot of roads are going to have to be re-engineered. Don't know what else can be done on Markham, though. The lanes have already been narrowed through a parking zone. There's a traffic light at Washington. Some other impediments at the Acadia and Edgevale corners, a la the chicanes on Club Blvd. at Oval Park? Probably too expensive, especially considering the current state of pedestrian activity on Markham. Which is higher than you'd expect, considering there are no sidewalks there, but not as high as you'd want to see in a neighborhood.
I imagine it will take someone who's pushing a baby stroller in the traffic lane, which i see on a regular basis, getting smacked by a speeder before the city decides that they need to do something over there.
And let's not talk about Markham at Mangum and Roxboro. My blood pressure can't take it.
By
Barry, at 10:24 AM
North Pointe (Kroger, Home Depot, etc.) and the Lowe's on Roxboro have small boulders at the parking lot entrances. You can see them here via Google Maps.
Putting in 3 or 4 boulders of that same size wouldn't take up the entire traffic circle and it would most likely force people to slow down or risk banging up their vehicles. Another option is to go with concrete pylons that you see at storefronts. I'm not 100% certain about the legal implications, but I think it's understood that it's your fault if you jump the curb/sidewalk and hit one.
Again, just something to consider.
By
weege, at 3:33 PM
Yeah, but those guys own their parking lots. The city owns the traffic circle. The boulders, as i recall, are placed to prevent people from driving over the curbs. We've got boulders at the entrance to Duke Park to keep people from driving through the bushes to bring their cars into the park.
I seem to recall a few years back in the north end of town, someone had built a brick post around their mailbox to protect it from being run over by speeding drivers on their rural highway. May have been Guess Road heading out of town, maybe something further east? Anyway, sure enough someone hit it, at least one person in the car was killed, and i'm pretty sure there was a lawsuit.
You'd think the big frikkin' tree just 25 feet or so down the road (visible next to the Public Works truck) would be enough to slow people down and keep them on the road. Guess not.
When we were talking with Transportation about redoing the Roxboro/Markham/Mangum thingie a couple of years back, we got a lot of pushback from the city about how high a curb we could put in the pedestrian safety areas. The concern was that cars would hit the curb going around the corner too fast, lose control, and either flip or otherwise wipe out, creating a liability issue for the city for bad design.
Not saying that's right, or even true; but it's what we were told.
Doesn't seem to be a problem over on Club Blvd.
By
Barry, at 3:45 PM
I'm guessing boulders in the traffic circle would just eventually result in a car going into the house on the NW corner of Glendale/Markham. Or, as someone else pointed out, death. Perhaps both.
By
Joseph H. Vilas, at 4:06 AM
Here's another article on why traffic enforcement should be higher priority:
http://www.slate.com/id/2226509/
By
eah919, at 5:09 PM
Thanks for posting that link. Vanderbilt's Traffic is a must read.
By
Barry, at 5:27 PM
I received Traffic as a gift, but have not read it yet. I started but it was a very slow read.
I noticed that it's now available in paperback; saw it at Costco.
By
Steve Graff, at 11:46 PM
Mrs. D gave me a copy thinking i would be the only person in the world who would appreciate it as a gift.
By
Barry, at 10:13 AM
I bet no one goes that fast in Watts-Hillandale.
Ever.
Just sayin'.
By
Tony, at 7:38 PM
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