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In Estonia, drivers caught speeding along the road between Tallinn and the town of Rapla were stopped and given a choice. They could pay a fine, as normal, or take a “timeout” instead, waiting for 45 minutes or an hour, depending on how fast they were going when stopped.
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Police in Mumbai, Indian are testing red lights that won’t turn green if drivers are laying on their horns. It’s a perfect solution for a busy city where noise pollution is one of its biggest problems, right?
Photo Credit: Needpix
Last year, Indian authorities conducted a trial with sensors attached to traffic light poles that detected street decibel levels. If noise levels registered more than 85 decibels, the traffic lights were set to delay turning green.
Mumbai’s lights, like other Indian cities, displays a timer on each light so drivers can see when it will change.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia
Police spokesman, Pranay Ashok, told CNN, the trial started with a run at several major intersections for 15 minutes a day. Police hope to roll the system out to the “entire traffic management system.”
A (hilarious) video posted to Twitter showed the effects of rampant noise pollution. In it, police describe the city as “the honking capital of the world.” Explaining what they call “The Punishing Signal,” they advise that if motorists want to keep moving, they should stop laying on the horn.
Horn not okay, please!
Find out how the @MumbaiPolice hit the mute button on #Mumbai’s reckless honkers. #HonkResponsibly pic.twitter.com/BAGL4iXiPH— Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) January 31, 2020
According to the TomTom Index, Mumbai has a serious problem with traffic congestion, ranking the fourth worst in the world last year.
The amount of congestion in the city translates to a loss of eight days and 17 hours per year for every driver and passenger.
It will be interesting to see if these monitored traffic lights make a difference. There are so many more pleasurable activities to do with that time than sit in traffic and listen to angry horns.
Don’t you agree?
The post Mumbai is Testing Traffic Lights That Stay Red if They Detect Honking appeared first on UberFacts.
Gridlock is the worst, isn’t it? You’ve already sat though one light cycle, and with this long line of cars also waiting to get through, it looks like you may be sitting through another one. But although it’s tempting to ride the guy’s bumper in front of you through the light, science says that won’t help you at all.
Photo Credit: Flickr
Tailgating is never a good idea. But when you’re desperate to make it through a red light, doesn’t it make sense to minimize the space between you and the next car?
With all the collisions that happen at intersections, researchers from Duke University and Virginia Tech wanted to put the desire to squeeze through a traffic light on someone else’s tail to the test. Their study, which wound up showing some surprising results, was published in the Journal of Physics in November of 2017.
For the test, researchers had volunteers sit in 10 Chevrolet Impalas lined up at a red traffic light on a test road. The cars were at varying distances from each other. When the light turned green, drivers were told to accelerate at a “normal and comfortable fashion.” Meanwhile, a drone recorded their speeds.
Photo Credit: Needpix
When researchers analyzed the film, they found the tailgating cars took as long to get through the light as the cars stopped up to 25 feet behind the car in front. How does that work?
To explain, the researchers compared the findings to melting ice. The extra energy, or “latent heat,” it takes to get ice to begin melting is like the amount of time it takes a car to accelerate from a full stop. Cars close to the bumper of the car in front of them have to wait until the entire line of cars begins to melt to accelerate safely.
In the words of the researchers, “the ‘temperature’ (kinetic energy) of the vehicles cannot increase until the traffic ‘melts’ into the liquid phase.”
Photo Credit: Flickr
Which means that it takes more time for a tailgater to accelerate, while a driver who stops further back can accelerate faster – and they both wind up moving at the same pace.
Who knew? So stop tailgating and enjoy the ride. We’ll all get to where we’re going eventually.
The post Tailgating the Car Ahead of You Through Endless Lights Won’t Help You at All appeared first on UberFacts.
Young students in Medford, Massachusetts, have come up with a brand new innovation for the area: 3D crosswalks. Not only do they look way cooler than regular ol’ 2D crosswalks, but they also make the intersection safer.
The 3D crosswalk is at the intersection of a parking lot and Allston Street at Brooks Elementary School, and it was two students at the school who came up with the idea. Fourth-grader Isa and fifth-grader Eric worked with their teacher and the Brooks Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility to make it happen.
Photo Credit: City of Medford / Mayor’s Office/Facebook
Painters added additional shaded shapes around the normal white stripes of the crosswalk, creating an optical illusion for drivers approaching the intersection. Instead of obviously lying flat on the ground, the white lines appear to be blocks on the street, which prompts drivers to slow down and pay more attention.
“It’s been really well received and there’s a lot of excitement about it,” teacher Michael Coates told The Boston Globe.
Posted by Vegamálun GÍH on Monday, September 25, 2017
Boston artist Nate Swain, well-known for his photo murals around the city, designed the crosswalk. Medford plans to install three more of the same crosswalks in the near future, also outside elementary schools.
3D crosswalks are a first for Medford, and for the Boston area in general, but they’re not a brand new concept. They’re also known as “Iceland crosswalks,” as that country started the trend. They also exist in other cities around the world, including Chicago.
The post Boston Elementary School Tries Out New, 3D Crosswalk appeared first on UberFacts.
Beijing traffic jam. 00
In 1975, rather than installing expensive signs or speed bumps, Napa, California experimented with using chickens to slow down motorists on one of its streets — Streblow Drive, bordering Kennedy Park. They simply let 85 chickens roam the park and street at will. Said park superintendent Bob Pelusi, “Only occasionally does an errant driver charge […]
Scottish Town Arnprior (pop. 200) painted wiggly lines on a straight road to confuse and slow down fast drivers. 00
Traffic in central London moves at the same speed as horse-drawn carriages a century ago.
