wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,012
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Apr 26, 2016 18:02:39 GMT
Have you heard of shared space concept? This is where all road signs, traffic lights, curbs, road markings etc are removed from an area. I believe the idea is that when it is unclear who was the right of way or priority that traffic slows down and is more cautious.
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Post by ScrapsontheRocks on Apr 29, 2016 5:40:03 GMT
Hi there! It is still as you described; if there is no additional static sign combined with the robot/traffic light, or an additional flashing red arrow (signifies stop, check, then proceed with caution) you must wait for green. Unless you are one of our minibus taxis, which is a whole 'nother thread altogether  Thanks for verifying that. One of my favorite words there was calling a red light a robot! Such a fun way to describe them! Now those minibus taxis are a whole 'nother thread. Hopefully they look better than they did while I was there. One thing that I saw there that I've never really seen elsewhere were bodies in the road from being run over.  There seemed to be a higher number of pedestrian deaths. In one year we saw at least 6 people who'd been run over, on various roadways. Several times one of the dreaded minibus taxis was involved. Because we had just the one car, I drove DH to and from Cedar Lakes to Rosebank almost daily, so I was on the road a good bit. Might be one reason I saw more, but even when I commuted here in the US I never encountered that. Hopefully things have improved on that front! Apologies for the late reply (and if this results in an odd thread-bump) as I have been off the board. On the minibus taxi thing- a couple of years ago a mostly successful govt initiative, a taxi upgrade (safer, new vehicles at very attractive prices with a finance package) contingent on "clean" licenses and safety training made the formal cities safer. Far from perfect, but a good scheme. The worst of the vehicles and drivers, unfortunately, still ply their trade in the old, untransformed areas, preying on the poorest of the poor  My pet hate? School run Moms on cellphones. I have seen so many near-tragedies less than a kilometre from my home that I take a very long way around. |
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Post by ScrapsontheRocks on Apr 29, 2016 7:52:48 GMT
don't know if it's still true but my mum tells stories of roundabouts in Belgium when she was there in the late 60s - Belgium had a priority from the right traffic rule that mean traffic coming INTO the roundabout had priority (right of way) over traffic already IN the roundabout. She said that every day during rush hour, the roundabouts would fill up and come to a stand-still and then the gendarmes would come and sort it all out. Hands-down the scariest driving experience of my ENTIRE life (and I used to rally as well as compete a bit on the track) was coming out of the high speed tunnels under Brussels and merging into the slow traffic in the narrow city streets, or vice versa by which I mean being on the surface and seeing someone emerge directly behind me at speed |
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There seemed to be a higher number of pedestrian deaths. In one year we saw at least 6 people who'd been run over, on various roadways. Several times one of the dreaded minibus taxis was involved. Because we had just the one car, I drove DH to and from Cedar Lakes to Rosebank almost daily, so I was on the road a good bit. Might be one reason I saw more, but even when I commuted here in the US I never encountered that. Hopefully things have improved on that front!
