Fuck Cars
A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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To be fair speed cameras are a terrible way to address the problem of speeding. The solution isn't speed limit enforcement, it is road design. If you build a wide straight open road that feels like you're driving on a highway, drivers will naturally tend to drive on it at highway speeds. Slapping a low speed limit on a road like that will make following said speed limit extremely uncomfortable and drivers will naturally tend to go too fast the moment they stop monitoring their speedometer. Hiding a speed camera on a road like that is essentially tricking people into paying an extra tax and speed cameras are often being blatantly used in that way.
The real solution to keeping speeds low is narrowing the street and also if possible making it windy. Use the space to add trees and protected bike lanes. Suddenly drivers will feel comfortable driving a slower speed without the need for a speeding camera. As a bonus it improves the safety for cyclists and pedestrians far more than a stupid speed camera ever would, and it makes the road far more enjoyable to use for everyone, including the car drivers.
The people signing this petition are also opposed to road redesigns, particularly ones involving road diets.
Is this a feeling or opinion you have, or do you have a source stating as such?
I find it very predatory how where I live, there are fully unmarked, tinted windowed SUVs parked on the least suspect places on the side of the road just for secret speed cameras, and it's even worse when the roads are as you mentioned, not designed for the speed limits imposed, but also the fact that the fines here are around $220 AUD (~€130 / ~$140 USD) is even worse.
If you believe enforcement is a viable method of keeping people safe (it's not) then this is justified.
☝This, and also even if they didn't suck for the reasons you wrote, they would still be unacceptable because they further enable the surveillance state.
I would generally agree with this sentiment. However, the behaviour of drivers these days goes well beyond road design. It's rabid entitlement, often aggressively so.
As an example, we design intersections so that vehicles can STOP and then proceed when safe. However, I very frequently see people ignoring stop signs and red lights. We NEED enforcement here, and no amount of acceptable* design will help.
*by acceptable, I mean something that NIMBYs won't complain about... which is often the biggest barrier to road design intended to keep speeds low or roads safe for other users.
And yes, road design helps. But we need to also make sure that those who ignore road design and legal speed limits are fined, and that's what speed cameras do - by the tens of thousands per location. Have them pay for better road design 🤭
Stop signs should generally be replaced with roundabouts and speed tables. Stop signs that get ignored are a great example of design not matching needs.
You should see how drivers navigate roundabouts around here 😂😂
And NIMBYs are against them, too!
If people are bad at driving, then you need more non-driving options so they don't have to drive.
I've got a friend in the Toronto area who is a terrible driver, knows she's a terrible driver, and is insured at terrible driver rates; but there's just no practical alternative for her.
Do you guys not put speed bumps on roads?
Speed bumps only leads to oversized trucks
Not here in Europe. But now that I think about it, European streets and roads are small so it is impractical to be driving huge cars to begin with.