h a l f b a k e r yKeep out of reach of children.
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Why not have different types of road lines to show the relevant speeds. Already the lines on the road show if you can overtake, etc. Simply changing their shape as well, for a particular stretch of road, would mean the speed limit is always visible. No more 'I didn't see the sign, officer, it must
have been obscured by that truck I was looking to overtake', which let's face it is often true.
Plus, we could get rid of a whole host of ugly traffic furniture around the world.
Suggested forms the markings could take: wavy lines of different types for 30mph, say, zig-zag for 50mph, etc.#
Extra advantages:
a) If you want to change the speed limit nationally (e.g. reduce all urban max speeds from 40mph to 30mph, say) you don't need to change anything, you just make a public service announcement.
b) If you want to change the speed of a particular road, it's still very expensive and impractical to change all the upright speed signs. The road patterns can be done by machine pretty quickly, and since almost all roads are regularly repainted anyway, it wouldn't cost much extra.
c) It would reduce the massive amount of reading one has to do of signs all the time, which I would argue is a major cause of driving distraction.
Speed barcodes on roads
http://www.halfbake...rcodes_20on_20roads
[egnor, May 25 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]
[link]
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So if you need to change the speed limit on a thirty-seven mile stretch of road, instead of just replacing two signs... |
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angel says 'two signs' on 'a 37 mile stretch of road'.
I don't know which country he's talking about, but here in the uk it seems we have about five speed signs for every mile! |
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Allowing for hyperbole, we do have 'reminder' signs, but they are, in theory, unnecessary. When I leave my town limits, the sign says '70 mph'. When I reach a town 37 miles away, there is another identical sign. Those in between could be dispensed with. |
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I don't think I'm unusual, as a Brit, in needing constant reminders of what any particular speed should be. I drive fifteen miles from my home into town, and the legal speed limit varies a dozen times in that distance -- even before you hit town. Multiply that by the two hundred miles a week I do on roads new to me, and half my thinking time is taken up by wondering what speed limit I'm currently in and checking for the speed limit signs, instead of worrying if there's a pedestrian in the road round the next corner. |
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It seems to me that paying attention to clearly marked signs is a system that doesn't really call for improvement. |
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"No more 'I didn't see the sign, officer, it must have been obscured by that truck I was looking to overtake', which let's face it is often true."
"angel says 'two signs' on 'a 37 mile stretch of road'. I don't know which country he's talking about, but here in the uk it seems we have about five speed signs for every mile!"
wait, isn't that a contradiction? |
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Maybe it is possible to change the colour of the line in red, when you are over speeding the max speed. |
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How about roads surfaces that detonate when someone drives too fast over them ... |
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Darn, going too fast to read the sign. |
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aadenny do you drive?
Paint makes the road surface slippery. Least paint is best.. especially for 2 wheeled vehicles where it can be deadly............... Im my city recently we've a new general speed limit introduced......... It has resulted in one speed for main roads (the previous general limit) and another for minor roads. |
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It prompted me to think of power poles or similar roadside features being marked with either colors or very simple large pictograms. |
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In our case here, it would just be on the major roads, and need not be on every pole. It should be enough to register on the awareness of the road-user entering from other (side or minor) streets. ....If you have many different zones it may not be feasible.. I don't think you want to increase demands of concentrarion and interpretation on the average road-user. |
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Also, and with all due respect, if you can't tell how fast you should be going around a blind corner, in a pedestrian-possible zone you should not be driving. |
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ahem...yes, well...I think it's rather clever |
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Perhaps "Speed Zones" could be used - instead of patterns, a colour system could be introduced - red for 100kph, yellow for 70, green for 50, etc, etc. |
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All the paint on a road could be a particular colour to remind drivers of the limit. For foreign drivers a limited no. of colour-coded signs would explain limits. |
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However, the current system seems OK, and using many different colours would be very expensive. |
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