Road diets: designing a safer street
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- Опубликовано: 18 июл 2018
- Reconfigure the lanes and the traffic will calm.
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Over the course of the 20th century, the car became America’s dominant mode of transportation. As vehicle miles travelled soared well past the rate of population growth, demands on the roadway surged. Congestion became a major issue. So transportation planners made the roads wider and added traffic lanes.
Today, we now know that bigger roads and extra traffic lanes do nothing to solve congestion. In fact, it tends to induce even more traffic. So we didn’t fix the congestion issues, and on top of that, we built wide roads that are relatively unsafe.
Transportation planners in the 21st century recognized that many of the roads that were overbuilt could be redesigned to calm speeding and add space for newer multimodal transportation options. And thus, the road diet was born.
The video above explains why road diets are implemented, and how planners survey the feasibility of a lane reconfiguration. You can learn more about road diets with the following resources:
www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications...
safety.fhwa.dot.gov/road_diet...
nacto.org/docs/usdg/conversio...
In India, the lines on the road are just decorations.
what lines?
Even express ways these days don't have markings but the cars beep at 80kph even though the speed limit is 100kph
Well, you're not wrong
In india the lines are just so we know where to go
True
The problem with this is it doesn’t take into account the fundamental problem with these kinds of roads: they’re stroads. The channel Not Just Bikes has some amazing videos on how the distinction between road and street in the US is a massive Frankenstein monster that results in inefficient, unsafe and uninviting spaces. Instead of designing these road diets for these massive 4 lane stroads, we should restrict traffic and significantly lower speeds in the inner and mid city and move all the high speed traffic to only highways and dedicated roads- with minimal points of conflict. In the inner city and mid city, use streets with low speeds, since people live and work there and there is no reason to have high speed traffic there anyways. Ring roads are a great example of how to handle this without sacrificing efficiency or travel time. Not only does this make the city far more human-friendly, but also drastically reduces maintenance costs that were previously being spent on the runway-sized stroads, which could now be put into public transit or other city services.
The shared turn lane is great for cars, but doesn’t solve the unnecessarily wide stroad and high speed problem. I’ve literally seen people trying to cross the street stranded in these things like islands in the midst of a torrential river. Cities should be built for people, not cars.
Finally someone said it. Vox needs to remove and redo this video. They mention Bike's once as if BIKES arent now forced to cross 5 lanes of traffic. Bikes are treated literally as an afterthought in this video. Needs an update.
You can't reduce speeds by lowering the speed limit
To do with the Netherlands does and make curvy roads forks in the roads and jagged zigzags with trees on both sides of the road if you wish to reduce speeds.
And as they said narrowing the lanes also slows people down naturally.
Man I just want to live in a place where I can get from point A to point B without selling not on a leg for the transport device and not have to worry about death.
I'm currently doing an internship for my city's department of transportation, and the most things we are working on are road diets, bike lanes, and complete streets. It seems really complex but its actually one of most fascinating and simple systems to implement. So when I saw this video pop up in my notifications I totally nerded out. Thanks for talking about interesting but fairly unknown topics!!
Wouldn't it be safer to use a roundabout instead? I see only 1 or 2 conflict points instead of 3.
Roundabouts are designed very well and are great to implement into cities and suburban areas; however, they do require space. In many areas, at least in my city, we don't have the landscaping nor the space to implement roundabouts. So to help alleviate issues on streets that are very wide, road diets are our best bet. Also road diets usually allow the concept of complete streets (having dedicated bike lanes, safe crosswalks, active roadways, active sidewalks, transit lanes, and greenspace all in one) better than how a roundabout's circular design would. No matter what both have pros and cons, and any improvements being made to city streets are good in my mind. :)
Franchesca J bike lanes are bike control. Only helps cops harass the poor. Kids ride in bike lanes?
Franchesca J roundabouts suck. Everyone hates them. Two way stops are fine.
Javier Fernandez roundabouts are wonderful when done properly. You can usually zoom staright through if there is no one coming, otherwise you slow down a bit to let whoever is in it pass by and squeeze in - safe and quick. Two lane roundabouts are confusing however and use more space, while only increasing throughout slightly. A small one lane roundabout indicated with an asphalt center that is raised by about 2-3cm to let trucks and emergency vehicles drive straight through fit in the space of an American 4-way stop but are safer and much quicker to drive through.
Greetings from Germany!
Thank you for mentioning that context matters. There are many situation where toad diets are not the answer. Or it may improve some aspects while making other aspects worse. Context is key!
Toad diets lmao
Epic Tien Hahaha that's what I get for trying to watch and comment on RUclips videos while at work.
Eating frogs is never the solution.
I've heard toad diets can be very healthy
No toad should have to diet!
Great video, although I have two comments about it. 1. You still have to cross two lanes since a bicycle lane also contains traffic. 2. In the end there is a list of the road diet effectiveness and I wonder why you put pedestrian/biker safety at nr 8 because that is the most important thing of all in this context. Safety for bikes/pedestrians attract people to use that specific road and that creates more purchase opportunities and therefore more tax income which means more roads can be built safe. And also it will cost less money for society in health care.
4:12 the video of that lady jogging on the side of the road next to a tractor is an extremes accurate representation of Iowa.
😂
same for south dakota
Phew, I thought they were going to take away fast food restaurants from roads because people want to go on a diet
Check My Playlist might be a good idea to reduce obesity?
HAHA! You people and your priorities :P
Yeah, self-discipline is a much better idea than taking away fast food restaurants.
lalaithan r/whooosh
Surely Not looks like you fell into the Sarchasm.
Awesome! I’d like to see more video from you about city planning and management!
City Conent!
On this same day last year, they posted another urban planning-related video that I love: ruclips.net/video/Akm7ik-H_7U/видео.html
Same!
Would love that too! It's such an underrated subject but it's just so fascinating to me!
There are really good Ted talks on city planning topics
how about we stop fat-shaming roads?! jesus....
Real roads have curves ;)
William R lol love this comment
William R: I want my roads Rubenesque. ..
Be need fatter roads, cough* 6 LANE ROADS
I feel like this is so common in The Netherlands by nature, but I’m unsure. That ‘road diet’ just felt natural to me already.
Ik raad je het kanaal ‘Not Just Bikes’ aan. Mocht je daar niet allang van weten. Super leuke informatieve video’s over infrastructuur in Nederland. Maar dan vanuit het oogpunt van een Canadees!
@@kubiekemeester The only thing I can read is "Not Just Bikes", but I know exactly what you're talking about! Was just watching the Stroad video.
No, in the Netherlands these roads would be two lanes, with a separate protected bike path. Because bike lanes are nice, but it doesn't stop cars from using them.
Road diets are a step in the right direction. If it's a cheap thing to do, then we should do it, but bicycle Lanes should be protected. Read The Book "Strong Towns..."
One of my major streets in my town has a design like this! I never knew what it was called but always appreciated the ease of turning into a property on the left.
The road diet in the Philippines is crazier. They're planning to turn a 10-lane road into a 12-lane.
Mal Yah I heard Burma's new capital has like, 20 planes. It's rumoured that it's an emergency runway for planes.
More than 4 lanes is too much anywhere 4 should be the international maximum honestly, 6 for motorways.
Tignan mo yung Katy Freeway sa US
Titignan ko. Pero I'm worried sa road diet ng Pilipinas, masyadong car-centric. Sobrang focused sa pagpapalawaknng daan. Dapat magfocus tayo sa bike lanes, pedestrian lanes, public transport sana.
It really is crazy once you stop and think of how massive the highway system is in the us.
Justin Y. oh boy
Justin Y. These comments are getting worse and worse
2/10 What the hell this comment isn't either funny or insightful. I thought I could expect more from you based on what I've been seeing lately, but I guess not.
Justin, do you spend your ENTIRE life on youtube??
It was built very quickly during the Cold War to allow people to travel in case of a nuclear attack
Good intent, but the advice seems decades out of date. Current recommendations are for 30km/h (not mph) max for (mixed use) streets; roads with higher limits would require physically separated cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. Also, planning parking beside a cycle lane is disastrous.
Please, put strong bollards in the lane or put some trees! Bike gutters are unsafe and may get hit by drivers.
Or...make that median a dedicated bus/tram lane.
I wish people would use that middle road to turn left instead of using it to merge into traffic.
@Bio Kimistry What you say is actually illegal.
These kind of videos are amazing. The animations are really great, its quick, simple and entertaining
@2:26 This graph depicts data for pedestrian deaths from being struck by an automobile, but the video describes auto-auto collisions.
I find that Vox often undercuts its credibility through misrepresented and poorly used data.
ncooty Wow, thanks for pointing that out. It all goes back to the saying: never trust a graph you haven't rigged yourself.
But the point is that narrower lanes reduce speeds by 6mph. They then use the graph to show that driving 6mph slower reduces pedestrian casualties by x %
+mrowe94 The preceding presentation is entirely about auto-auto collisions and the narration for this graph states that the reduced speeds "can make an auto accident much less deadly." This phrasing implies that the graph reflects the lethality of "auto accidents," of which auto-pedestrian accidents comprise a very small portion. If they're going to talk about "auto accidents", they should show data for all types of auto accidents--particularly if the preceding segment is about auto-auto collisions. It's an irresponsible misrepresentation... and Vox does this quite often, out of incompetence or carelessness, I presume.
I came down here to say the same thing, I’m glad someone pointed it out.
The Governors Highway Safety Association estimated that 5,984 pedestrians were killed in the U.S. in 2017. A 47% reduction in that number would translate into saving 2,812 lives. That number is not worth dismissing as a "small portion." Yes, that number is smaller than the 40,100 people overall that were killed on U.S. roads that same year as estimated by the National Safety Council, but a strategy that could potentially save thousands of lives every year is worth considering.
"from the people that don't understand roundabouts"
My city just did this and I love it
There are 3 villages of 15 km which is equal to one city
I want my MLA sir to make a beautiful city with great infrastructure.palm
Flower Street Light, Palm Tree in Mediterranean of the Road
river front view,
city bus stop
bus stand
stadium
Galla Mandi Vegetable Market
school college hospital
Parking
Gutter
Digging on the churahe,
light green and red (signal)
city bus start karva day,
We have all railway industry but no better infrastructure.
all in just 10 km, our MLA sahib focus on this
All will be well, the next 2 elections will be won
3 villages
(Nigari Mahuagaon Nivas)
abbreviation nimani
These 3 villages joined
nimani city
can someone give me a better autocad
I will tell my MLA sahib Construct such a infrastructure,
Please make it for me,
Love these videos, please keep them coming. I love urban planning stuff!
There's a community in Southern California who's road diet on their 3 paths to LA increased fatal accidents by 400% and travel times by 300%. So, while it's probably a good idea IN cities, it doesn't work between them.
the thing about traffic is that making bigger roads and adding more capacity encourages people to use a car instead of public transport
if you just had 2 lanes on most roads and 4 lanes on main roads and freeways, a lot of roads would get very congested, which would result in less people driving, which would increase the amount of people biking, walking or using public transport, and also, it would reduce the number of unnecessary trips, like do you really need to go to the supermarket 10 miles away instead of walking half a mile to a local grocery store?
to be fair once you add a ton of capacity you can't exactly go back to not having it because america doesn't work like china
America's issue is corporations and bulk pricing. Smaller stores can't afford/store enough inventory to buy enough where they get cheaper prices. So they become more expensive and make people drive to Walmart, target, etc. It's really not fair, the bull pricing. What's the difference if a single store order 10k units or 3-5 stores in close proximity order 10k combined? That's also not totally the issue either. There's more to it. With that said, I'm 28. I didn't experience the 1920-70s, but from the movies, it looks pretty cool to be able to go down the road and shop at a small place and buy what you need and not worry about price difference or being in a big place with giant lines and aisle congestion. Also helps you meet people in your area. Nowadays even your neighbor is a stranger let alone 5 houses down.
The bi8issue is America is truck/suv hungry with no need for it and so few motorcycles. There was a video that said (I forget the exact numbers so just an estimate) if about 10-15% of the population used motorcycles, traffic would be reduced by 20-30%. And realistically, motorcycles are super affordable, great on gas (40-70mpg for 300cc which is powerful enough), reduces road wear, much more parking, and you don't need a big vehicle just to go to work or go to the store for a few things. Going to work is a great use of a motorcycle. And even shopping... If I needed a few things, I'd just bring a backpack and get what I need.
There's a reason why left-hand turn lanes are nicknamed "suicide lanes." Because people end up having head-on collisions with oncoming vehicles because they're both trying to use the lane at the same time and same place. Parking lot outlets in cities where these left-turn lanes are commonplace have to be offset from one side of the street to the other in order to help keep these kinds of fatal collisions to a minimum.
An offset would actually make it worse. When the side roads are level with each other on both sides of the road, the place where you stop before making the turn, if there's on coming traffic, doesn't overlap. The place where you actually make the turn overlaps, but that's why there's right-of-way.
With an offset, the place where cars wait to turn from either direction could overlap, and you'll have way more issues with cars joining the left turn lane too early.
Source: There's one of these right outside my neighborhood.
This is true! I live on a street that they did a road diet on, and people are constantly almost hitting eachother because of the shared middle lane.
Source: Almost my entire city uses left-turn lanes without offset parking lot outlets, and we have around a dozen head-on collisions in those lanes per year.
That's because in the video they've done the lining dangerously. If you line out two sections with what we in Dutch call a 'verdrijvingsvlak' (a patch of solid white (or yellow have your damn colors lol) painting to mark an end) and create basically two opposing ending lanes, it would have the idea to create a wall. What they also do here is to end such a lane with elevated 'lines' (which are just curbs), preventing you from continuing.
Break1146, Some of the bigger American cities often have exactly that, raised and painted curbs that denote the places where it's safe to turn left. They do seem to reduce head-on collisions to nearly zero, but they dramatically INCREASE the chances of a rear-end collision from behind during high traffic periods because the last car in that space is often still sticking out a little bit into the normal traffic lane. I can't wait until self-driving cars get perfected enough to start being use en masse, because then it really won't matter what our streets look like or how they're laid out :)
There is a road like this near where I live here in Sydney, Australia. It runs for 3km along a busy road that has a lot of smaller streets, schools and industrial sites. I have seen many cars and trucks use the shared turn lanes. And so far, there has not been any reported collisions in that stretch of road.
Used this road concept last year visiting LA from EU and I've loved it.
And then in Virginia you have two-lane roads that get backed up because people want to avoid I-95 like the plague, but then get on country roads where they're too scared to go the 45/50mph speed limit because they've never dealt with windy back country roads before, causing us that DO know how to navigate them to get backed up because there are only about 2 spots that you can pass them but there's always oncoming traffic. Honestly, I abhor two-lane roads no matter what; there should always be a passing lane in my opinion, and then educate people so they understand HOW passing lanes work (I'm looking at you 'oh I have to turn left in 18 miles so I'll just hang out in the left lane until then' person).
JazzyNym my family lives there and yeah all the idiots that have no idea how to drive there is funny
People will drive at a speed they feel safe. On a straight road where the speed limit is 50mph they will go 70, on a windy road where the speed limit is 50mph they will go 30mph. Slowing down and getting tailgated is preferable to flying off the road because you trusted the speed limit sign too much.
Weenie
JazzyNym basically cities skylines traffic AI
Virginia, go over 80 or else.
Since you can't pass, this makes slow drivers the king of the lane, and can pick the speed of everyone else behind them, which causes road rage, which can cause dangerous maneuvers such as passing illegally.
ruclips.net/video/4O4iMZUB99U/видео.html
Well people should stop driving so fucken fast and have road rage. And by that I mean it's better to have CONSISTENT speeds rather than FLUCTUATING speeds between fast and slow moving.
Some people who "drive slower" may allow for efficient accelerate/braking in events of traffic unlike the morons who constantly accelerate/brake and slow the OVERALL flow of traffic even if they alleviate THEIR perspective of the flow of traffic (i.e. their own personal speeds).
Depends on the context of the road in question. If you have one single undisturbed lane of traffic it can flow faster than 2 lanes that are constantly being blocked by parking and vehicles turning. Sure, you might have slow vehicles holding up traffic, but at least the flow of traffic will be more consistent.
MrHotBagel I drive fast. I also keep a safe following distance so when people in front of me tap the brakes every 20 seconds because they're following too close, I don't have to and neither does anyone behind me and so forth.
Exactly. You fit the definition of "efficient" driving, not "inefficient" (or what I called fast driving) driving where someone fluctuates speed to constantly be very close to the back of - to the point of tailgating - someone.
We have a bunch of these popping up around Columbus, OH. Indianola, 3rd, and 4th all have these going almost to downtown. We thought it would have been a huge congestion problem but its actually about the same. A lot better for left turns and bikes. Students at Ohio St now can take their bikes pretty much anywhere, especially with new bike programs.
Road diets are a huge improvement to the roads that go on the diet, the problem is that the extra capacity gets pushed onto other parallel roads that are less well-designed to handle that capacity. It's like the spongebob meme, "let's take this traffic and push it somewhere else". It needs to be combined with high-density transit improvements along the route to reduce the total amount of traffic heading that direction, otherwise you aren't really solving a problem, just hiding it.
There are many roads in the United States where that extra capacity is never fully utilized, but instead just causes people to drive faster and crash into each other. Road diets are not meant for major arterial roads.
why do Americans hate round abouts so much? I just assumed they were common place in all countries but I went to the states last year & where a round about would have been more time/cost/life saving, there were giant intersections and a hundred stop signs....so many accidents/agression and so much congestion could have been prevented and I feel like it's the same with this video.
The main benefit they show, the fewer collision points, still just seems like a less effective alternative to a round about...
A roundabout is meant for intersections in place of a stoplight or stop sign. Road diets are more of a left turn lane for getting into a shopping centers, parking lots, and other places and are not used at real four way intersections. You cannot use a roundabout in place of a road diet. Roundabouts and road diets have completely different purposes but they do both have a time and place.
Our drivers are so aggressive they even cut off ambulances to make it to a red light 5 sec faster, I would dread to see what they would do in a roundabout
meow meow
I hate roundabouts!
MoceanRCT3 you can use round abouts for left turns into Carparks and shopping centres. I'm not denying that there's a place for these "road diets" but I'm asking what that place is when their main draw card is fewer collision zones, and a round about provides even fewer. Perhaps if there's physically no room for a roundabout - which is extremely unlikely given that this is being done to roads that are large by American standards, which are already large to other countries that most frequently use round abouts.
It just seems like an complex solution to a problem the rest of the world already fixed, but I'm no road scientist and if this works that's good I guess.
meow meow becuse americans are stubborn. They think they have the best system in the world and they don't need to copy.
Huh, this is basically how we've always done it in the UK (and probably Europe) lol
Yeah but the bike lanes are so small and kinda dangerous and the pavements are small as well. At least that’s how it is in my area
@@ReeceMarshallPersonal and cars never check their near side mirrors before turning across the bike lanes
@@nelsonglover3963 dutch road design prevents this
I have never seen in Europe a dedicated left turn lane for BOTH directions. Drivers just move towards the middle generally but there are not markings, let along for both directions as shown.
@@paveladamek3502 You don't get turn left lanes because they're useless when we're driving on the left. You get loads of turn right lanes though.
This is a fantastic idea that I would like to see implemented in my town. I live in a small town (17,000 people roughly), but the main road that crosses through town is really busy and sees a lot of accidents on it. This might not be a perfect idea, but it's a lot better than putting more stoplights in.
Another traffic solution I've seen recently, as well, is roundabouts. I live in Canada (Southern Ontario), and we're starting to see more of them pop up. Which is a fantastic thing!
My roads had that for years. Knoxville TN. Though my large apartment complex entrance is at the top of the hill where 200 cars come in and out of the entrance and exit every day. There's a dip where you can't see cars while at the top of the hill at all. Though I haven't seen in crashes yet. It's also leads to a 4 lane road.
The only thing I disagree with is the narrower lanes. I don’t think anyone who designs roads has ever driven a horse trailer through downtown Minneapolis.
Maximum Maxx when I spent a year at highschool in Colorado in exchange from Germany they redid the main road through town adding cycle lanes and narrowing the 4 travel + turning lane. All the adults at school whined about how many people will die, but there were no more crashes, speeds stayed about the same and people got used to narrower lanes. Unfortunately the bike Lanes were only about 50cm of sloped asphalt plus the gutter, both of which were littered with gravel so actually using them would be suicidal. Maybe they will move the curb and put the cycle lane on the then wider side walk (where it should be!) one day...
You raise a good point. Roads in cities should exist exclusively for commercial vehicles with no private vehicles permitted. Then the roads can be as wide as your ridiculous horse trailer requires.
Yea right it was done in Iowa and where in Colorado. That state alone is as big as Switzerland. And with everyone smoking MJ what speeding!☺️
I agree. I’m not a big rig trucker but I do drive a box truck as part of my job. It’s terrible driving that in narrow lanes. Especially when you have mirrors sticking out the side.
Very clever idea. More lanes might seem like it would solve the problem of congestion, but it really just encourages more people to use their car and the congestion returns to what it once was. This removes that issue while also making things safer.
More lanes can help congestion if the additional throughput exceeds latent demand, and in cases where it doesn't, the added lanes still increase total car volume, which is often the intended goal. For example, adding extra lanes to increase throughput to a shopping center can lead to a closer, shorter, cheaper, and more efficient shopping experience for consumers who had previously used a different location, even if congestion remains the same.
Especially if you realize that less people ride a bike today than in past decades.when you add in increased population density then you realize if you make something more convient to take by car then you will end up in the same place as you were before
Also, those on bikes reduce congestion massively
yall need to know bout this thing called induced demand
The issue isn't more cars on the road, the issue is a 4 lane road with no turn lane means the left lane is almost all ways congested with cars trying to make left turns.
I live in San Francisco and I see this first hand how well it worked on many streets here! I was initially skeptical when they first introduced this but now very much impressed!
More city planning videos, please! Planning student here who gets super excited to see these videos!
I love these traffic management videos. If there were a course that could teach common sense, these videos would be a huge part of it. These videos provide valuable information to the mental infrastructure of society.
It's "problem prevention" for just about any situation. 👍
As someone who lives in suburban California I was very skeptical watching this video until he mentioned how much more the volume of traffic is here than other places. It’s a nice idea for places like Iowa but I think if they tried to implement that where I live I’d spend the rest of my life sitting in traffic😂
if? they have. people complained so much they un-did it, but not completely.
Yup, like in Santa Monica
Caroline Little I love in Iowa and we have roads like this some make sense but the bike lanes make absolutely no sense
they tried this in a poorly designed area of LA which only has like 2 ways out of the area and the city got sued because traffic was already bad but the road diet plan created more traffic and didn't even improve public transport which would've actually cut traffic.
You don't get traffic if you cycle
I am so much glad when I see you uploaded a new video.
Vox, thank you for raising awareness of better street design. As a bike rider in Detroit, things are getting better but there is a lot of resistance from motorists.
0:28 who else was trying to wipe that smudge off ur screen😂
It can't be only me lol 😅
I guess only you
1:37 Doesn't take into account the bikes.
Simple line-separated edge-of-the-road bike lanes aren't good enough or safe enough.
I'd rather they cut the two bike lanes (one on each side) down to one wider lane. Maybe even have some sort of planter type situation separating the bike lanes from the road.
I love this video. One thing that was not brought up is that the left turn lane, in areas with it, is not only used to get off the road, but also is used as a merger when the traffic lights nearby have bad timing between (for example) northbound and southbound traffic. This has reduced accidents for people trying to get onto the busier roads.
In my country, Philippines, Metro Manila Skyway has added one more lane, completely removing the central median and replacing it with a simple metal guardrail embedded in asphalt. It even removed space like shoulders and reduced lane width as a result of road diet, plus extending restrictions from Tricycles, motorcycles with low torque capacity and bicycles to now jeepneys, high profile trucks and buses, only SUVs, pickup trucks and cars are allowed on the entire stretch. This happens during the last phases of Skyway Stage 3 construction. Its now 7 lanes, 4 for northbound and 3 in Southbound (unless if im wrong).
the reason there was a road diet in my city is because the lanes were too tight and cars were zooming down the road. causing both unsafe roads and narrow unsafe sidewalks. right now it’s in test state but in a few months they’ll start we the bus bays 12-foot decorative sidewalks with greenery, small median and two lane road shared with bikes. i love the idea. and also makes businesses earn more money and get more customers
We should have smarter transport systems like trams and bullet trains, one day
MONORAILS
Yeah, but there are tons of problems, like people not wanting a train line next to their house, the houses/businesses that need to be demolished to lay track, and the fact that everything in the US is pretty spread out, so you would have to travel a lot further to get say from your house to a store if you take public transport vs just driving.
nobody cares about what the people think,they are just a number
I hate trams. Would rather ride a bus.
Trams are great
The photo at 3:46 is a shot of US Highway 75 from the small rural town I grew up in. The population of the town is ~7000, although there is a decent amount of additional traffic that will pass through every day. They've had this setup for well over a decade (probably closer to 20 years if I remember correctly) and it seems to work pretty well for a smaller town like that.
I moved from a city with very few middle-lane roads (Dallas) to one where they are almost everywhere (Lubbock). Lubbock has 4-6 lane roads *with* a middle lane for turning, too. And I actually prefer it. Sure, you might not get somewhere as fast (speed-wise) as you would in Dallas, depending on the road, but it's a _lot_ less stressful. (And really, most of the time, I feel like I get places just as quick, if not quicker.) When I'm trying to turn left here, I'm really not worried about who is behind me. And I'm not getting stuck behind people turning left nearly as often (which used to drive me nuts).
Also helps being able to make a left-turn into a middle lane before merging with traffic (as opposed to trying to slide your way across oncoming traffic and merging at the same time). But like the video said, depends on the traffic.
There are never enough bike spaces
Bikes are freedom.
Me: I live in small town so the old roads still work for us, only about 1 car accident a year
Cranbrook B.C. has had this for many years on the main strip. We always called it the suicide lane. Its good to know that it makes the roads safer.
They did this to a street outside my home in Ames, Iowa and it did puzzle me in the beginning but I came to appreciate the simplicity of the design.
Wow America, welcome to the 21st century.
More like welcome to the 20th century. The 21st century uses 4 lane roads so a higher volume of people can travel instead of getting stuck on a 1 lane road behind grandma.
@@jacob2359 nah this system is used in germany for decades now.
@@jacob2359 Europe in 21st century decreases road capacity due to make more space for pedestrians/bikes. I see no more problems with traffic in city centers and I would say that everything goes more fluently than before despite of slower, opposite bike lanes or oneway streets. Europe is also investing in public transport because it can carry on (I mean tram/streetcar) +- 180 passengers in one 30 meter vehicle. They are potentially 120 cars (every has +- 5 meters). Do you see difference?
@@mienislav Yeah I do, Europe designs a system to work for them and the US could never fit that model into what we have. Right now it would take me equally as long to go to a bus stop, wait for the bus and ride it to the closest stop to my destination, then walk in, as it does to drive over on a 4 lane road and park in the parking lot. Plus it costs half as much with more time flexibility.
Sure maybe Europe can tolerate the longer commutes and the lack of transportation freedom, but out here there's no way anyone would tolerate that.
I am not sure how it can be safer when LA saw a roughly 400% increase in accidents and paramedics unable to respond due to increased (nearly double... funny how halving lanes doubles traffic) congestion.
Incarnant it’s not safer. Also, with all these yields on left turns only 2 cars can turn while a mile of cars wait in line. It’s aggravating . The infrastructure doesn’t support the population size. People aren’t gonna stop driving for bikes because the places they go are too far.
Great video! Another major benefit that was not mentioned: as a pedestrian crossing at a mid-block crosswalk, having only one lane in each direction eliminates the "double threat", where a car in the lane nearest you stops, but a car in the adjacent lane does not. This is particularly problematic when views are obscured due to small people and/or SUVs and trucks.
Wouldn’t only 1 lane make more traffic ?
TheBatchingis this isn't for all roads. Obviously it's targeted for certain streets. Some streets where there are more busy(people traffic) don't need 4 lanes. Yes it does lower speeds causes more vehicle traffic but it's already known when roads have less lanes. Less people drive. So it kind of evens out
They explained that in the video, there would be no left turning people blocking the road too.
Azenix I see your into this stuff to. :)
Depends. Main roads need 2 lanes and a middle lane for turning. The main road in my city has 5 lanes, 2 on each side and one in the middle for turning.
The number of lanes doesn't cause traffic congestion. You have to consider how much property access is on said road, where traffic turning off causes slowdowns. Intersections are a major cause of slowdowns as well.
Love it when you post early because when I accidentally binge RUclips, you're there.
I love when you guys do videos on driving!
In the uk we have one lane running each way everywhere except in slow-moving places like London and high-speed inter-city roads like dual-carriageways and motorways
According to dash cam videos you have one lane everywhere except in roundabouts where every lane can exit whenever they want. Problem with having only one lane in the countryside is when you get involverade ng traffic and the road just doesn't fit both cars, who couldn't see each other anyway because of the hedge right next to the road in a bend.
Oh, and you need to ban audis, appearantly.
I was playing Cities: Skylines when I got the notification for this video. ❤ #UrbanPlanning
Is anyone else in the UK watching this video thinking ...yeh, this is our roads
Super interesting! My city just did this to a stretch of road near my house it's interesting to see why.
Wow now that's something I had always been looking for that's just awesome
Great video, but I winced every time you said "accident". "Crash" or "collision" is more accurate.
If you are a thicc road and you saw this video don't worry, you are beautiful :) #stoproadshaming
thanks I almost fell into depression after watching this. all of these nice comments really uplift me
My daily route to work recently got a very large renovation. A bus only lane was installed to help ease congestion for bus riders but it made it a nightmare to commute by car. It's like trying to fit 10 pounds of crap into a 5 pound bag. You take out an entire lane of traffic, that lane has to go somewhere in rush hour. So what it equals out to is an extra 20 minutes to my commute one way. This has lead to more drivers using side streets and that just caused more traffic on residential roads and more pedestrian accidents. Long story short I can tell you from first hand experience that if you want traffic to flow properly you need as many lanes as possible.
In Spain those are called "death lanes" and they're not used anymore. But then, those were out of town roads, while this video talks about streets. In addition to roundabouts I see in a few places something similar here that doesn't involve a lane in both directions: Instead of the whole lane being for both directions, half of the lane is divided for half of the traffic and from your point of view you just see an additional lane that appeared for turning left.
Feature "not just bikes" immediately
What about Charles Marohn, the founder of Strong Towns?
Good design saves lives! Who knew 😉
and a bad name destroys lives. lol
So road diet in southern California that cased 100x more accidents, and 2x more travel time are safer? Vox is a democratic mouth piece at this point :/
finalbattle777 HALLELUJAH❗❗ preach and tell it like it is😊✊✊
@@finalbattle777 glad to see you are talking about yourself. You really do need to wake up I just read the number and since this was put into place there have been more accidents that have happened so it is by no means safer.
maybe you should work on your reading.
My home town in Iowa switched from 4 lane to 2 with center turn years ago. Slower traffic. Lot fewer accidents. Before people would stop to turn in right or left lane so other cars would weave in and out of cars slowing to turn. Accident daily. Now takes bit longer to cross town but lot more peaceful with almost no accidents. Plus with center turn you can pull out into it and wait for opening to come up from behind to turn into instead trying to watch both directions and 3 lanes to pull out. Just watch 1 at a time now. Also at busier right turn intersections added short right turn only lanes for cars to merge onto before slowing to turn so traffic flow doesn't stop
Some cities in the Philippines have a policy like this. But it is implemented on a four-lane road. For example if you're turning right (because the Ph lanes are left hand drive, and in the right to right lanes) you need to stay in the outermost lane (to the right), or if on six-lane roads, you need to be on the outermost left if turning left.
normal in germany since like 1960
we in america are late to everything
This idea only makes sense when traffic volumes are low; i.e., when a 4 lane road was never needed in the first place. As the end of the video points out - CA has had a big backlash with this design and this experiment had to be reverted.
I think some of the problem is that the backlash happens regardless of the volume of traffic. If you take away on a lane on a road that isn't even busy, people still get mad because the *might* need to pass somebody on that road at some point and don't care that bike lanes and slower traffic improve the neighborhood.
In many urban areas there is a resistance to "road diets" but in the long run they may prove to be very beneficial, it just takes time. Slower speeds are not necessarily a bad thing. In Glendale, CA they reduced the speed limit to 25mph on Brand Blvd (a major multi lane street lined with various merchants). That speed is usually reserved for residential neighborhoods but it does work well for Brand Blvd where most motorist are looking for a place to park or a driveway to enter so the low speed limit allows for shoppers to feel more comfortable doing business along this boulevard and pedestrian feel safer crossing the road.
So here in St. Louis, in South City, a few of these have been implemented. And for the most part they work... EXCEPT when public transportation (busses) get involved. They no longer have a lane to pull into, so they block the entire flow of traffic. And in some corridors, the bus stops, literally, every block. So, South Grand Ave, for example, went from less than three minutes to get through, to sometimes over 15 minutes when a Metro bus is in the road. This usually ends up with people using the turn lane as a passing lane *OR* using the side streets to barrel ahead of the bus. Now I suspect this actually is more in line with the California numbers of cars instead of the Iowa numbers as it is a very busy stretch of roadway. So, it works, but not when there's public transportation involved.
We all pretend as if we loath the comment section, when in reality we love it
Mass Debator we all love our abusers
i check the comments on almost every video i watch. I love to see peoples opinions and comments on the video and i also enjoy the jokes and memes. People who complain about youtube comment sections are just losers who let a single insult ruin their day.
That's true. It's always interesting to read the comments on videos, even though I almost never post any comments.
Mass Debator
Comments on most videos I like, but on some I despise.
Especially when every one is so funny and clever.
What if I get stuck behind a slow driver on a one lane road.
Jack the Bro pass them up lmao
Well, given that aggressive passing or other driving behaviors is one of the largest contributors to pedestrian injuries, you should probably just deal with it.
I've been seeing them pop up around my area and they make driving much less stressful.
We have a 4-lane road through an old section of Maple, ON, but I don't think they'll change it to the three-lane configuration because that road gets extremely congested at rush hour, and they need the capacity. However, newer roads here all have the middle lane.
In the US, you call it "road diet". In Western Europe, we call that..."roads". It reminds me of Corvette building a brand new car about 10 years ago with 'four individual suspensions'. Waaahhh...
And driving isn’t fun in Europe. Roads are small and unenjoyable. Nothing like winding through the wide lanes of a freshly paved country road. Paved by fracking companies, of course.
Anyone else find traffic so fascinating for no reason
good to hear my state is doing this (iowa)
Highway 78 in Atlanta Stone Mountain has that turning lane and crashes was terrible. The partitioned the turning lane and solved the problem.
The entire case for road diets is based on the assumption that the graphical representation at 2:57 doesn't happen IRL
4:24 A much lower crash reduction rate? Such a convoluted way say there were more crashes.
+Joseph M It's more convoluted by necessity. It is not true that there were more crashes: there were _fewer_ crashes, but the _reduction_ in the number of crashes was _lower_ in California than in Iowa.
Oh my god!!! As soon as I heard On Your Marks by Bonobo, it absolutely made my day!!
Where I'm from that third middle lane will appear a while before left hand turns. It's there when needes, but not all the time.
I thought this was how to eat while driving :/
Creating bike lanes and reducing amounts of lanes sound like a nightmare for car owners. If a junction has a high rate of accidents, put a bloody roundabout there and you'll solve the problem. Digital speed limits can also help reduce traffic speed during rush hours. So many more practical ideas that improve flow, not limit it.
Basih you don’t know Americans. They instantly wreck at the sight of a roundabout.
These aren't junctions. These are straight roads lined with small shops. Can't build a roundabout for a small shop every 100 meters.
2019, the cities have 24/7 bus lanes even though there are a few buses during off pick, but too much traffic for 2 usable lanes.
I can speak to the frustration it puts on drivers when big city planners get these road diet ideas. Side streets can get really busy, especially with Waze rerouting. Also when there are tons of special purpose lanes (mass transit only, etc) it gets stressful trying to figure out where you're supposed to be.
They took away one of the two lanes near my house to make a bike lane, and it almost never gets used
I've been honked at in those lanes.. By e scooter users
They've been adding bike lanes where I live (sometimes taking away car lanes)...in suburbia and I've hardly ever seen anybody use them in years...I understand why they did it, but they have a long way to go to get to the point where people will use it...but I'm not holding my breath.
Also put a barrier between the road and the bike lane for safety and also so that cars can't stop or veer into the bike lane.
R.B. No that doesn’t work. In The Netherlands that’s not the case either and it only limits the lane. Drivers and cyclists need to learn to share the space.
Tom Boerstra it usually is the case in the Netherlands. The bike lane is generally separated by at least a curb and sometimes a grass strip as well. Only small residential streets (usually) have an unprotected bike lane. Speeds are geberally much lower there than on American city streets however.
Lolwutfordawin The streets are only separated when vehicles can go up to 50 km p/h. If it’s below that, like 30 Zones it’s common to share the lanes, sometimes it’s not even marked.
Right so it does work, it's just unnecessary for areas where the cars drive super slowly. You really could have stated that more clearly. Although if you barrier the slow zones they become terrorist proof (I mean against vehicle attacks) so that's a bonus.
Or bikers can use the bike paths tax payers spent millions of dollars on. In my area they are turning the MOST MAJOR road into a road diet even though there’s is a perfectly immaculate bike path. We have 700,000 tourists a year and 35,000 residents and they seirously think it’s acceptable to do this to main roads. It’s a line of cars. Just a long line of cars.
I live in AR and we have super thin roads...and also a lot of semis. This is a dangerous combination. Narrower lanes may be effective in congested cities but not in rural states. We have some of the highest incidents of traffic deaths.
Glad they have been implementing this "diet" here in Cleveland. Wish they had gotten to Pearl Rd. before I got hit last year; would have probably been avoided.
I don’t want to drive 7 MPH slower, I want to get where I’m going