News & Discussion: Roads & Traffic

[[Shuz]]

Well, my award for the stupidest road design would have to go to the Gateway south (Darlington) project. I took a look at the final road layout on the DPTI website and I can see three areas which are crash hotspots in the making.

The biggest error is allowing right hand turns from Brookside Drive into Main South Road. The person turning right has to navigate 4 lanes of south bound traffic, two from the expressway and two from the service roads; which converge into three lanes at that point, and the service roads will be coming in from a blind corner because of the trees in the way from Sturt River. Furthermore, they then have to navigate another 5 northbound lanes, one which is a single seperated land to allow access to Riverside Drive, the other four being two lanes into the northbound expressway and 2 lanes northbound service road, of which the split occurs immediately as the driver turns right - there is no room, nor time to allow a driver to ascertain which lane they need to be in, and will end up straddling and blocking any one of those lanes on Main South Road in order to cut across.

A poor outcome, given that a hallmark feature of Victoria's freeway upgrades is focused very much on eliminating where possible any scenario in which lane straddling occurs on the freeway at convergence points.

[mawsonguy]

When it comes to stupid road design my 2 nominations are:

1. The junctions of Port Wakefield Road with Ryans Road and Martins Road at Greenfields. Both junctions have traffic lights. Ryans Road and Martins Rd meet at an intersection about 420m - 520m back from Pt Wakfeild Rd. The section on Martins Rd from this intersection to the junction with Pt Wakefield Rd has about 6 businesses on it, the section of Ryans Rd has about 4 businesses on it. So traffic on Pt Wakefield Rd is being held up to save 4 businsses a 420m detour. They should block off either Ryans Rd or Martins Rd at Pt Wakefield Rd.

2. The intersection of Magill and Penfold Rds at Magill. There is a pedestrian or school crossing within 150m or less of the insection on 3 of the approach roads with none of them synchronised with the intersection's lights. Apparently, you cannot expect school children to walk an extra 150m between their parents 4WD and their school. No wonder we have an obesity epidemic!

[bits]

The biggest error is allowing right hand turns from Brookside Drive into Main South Road

They should put a bridge from Brookeside Drive to Riverside Drive so they can exit out left there and use the U-Turn.
Or just connect it to Klar Avenue.

[rev]

When it comes to stupid road design my 2 nominations are:

1. The junctions of Port Wakefield Road with Ryans Road and Martins Road at Greenfields. Both junctions have traffic lights. Ryans Road and Martins Rd meet at an intersection about 420m - 520m back from Pt Wakfeild Rd. The section on Martins Rd from this intersection to the junction with Pt Wakefield Rd has about 6 businesses on it, the section of Ryans Rd has about 4 businesses on it. So traffic on Pt Wakefield Rd is being held up to save 4 businsses a 420m detour. They should block off either Ryans Rd or Martins Rd at Pt Wakefield Rd.

2. The intersection of Magill and Penfold Rds at Magill. There is a pedestrian or school crossing within 150m or less of the insection on 3 of the approach roads with none of them synchronised with the intersection's lights. Apparently, you cannot expect school children to walk an extra 150m between their parents 4WD and their school. No wonder we have an obesity epidemic!

Young children shouldn't be dropped off anywhere except the front of the school, where the parent/s see them walking onto school grounds safely.
I'll let you go and do the Googling and see what was happening a couple months ago in suburban Adelaide regarding school children.


All schools should have a drop off/pick up zone built.

[OlympusAnt]

Worst piece of road for me would have to be how Majors/Black Road is done at Main South Road - I feel it could be so much better. I don't really use it much anyway, but it seems like it could develop into a bottleneck easily.

Still, nothing is as bad at the Spit Road Bridge in Sydney

[mshagg]

I noticed this morning that they have introduced an additional 'scatter' sequence to the lights at the intersection of Waymouth, Topham and Bentham Street.

Presumably this is a result of the constant running of red lights by aggrieved motorists who find it hard to believe that there can be congestion when entering and exiting the most centralised car park in the city during peak hour. I walk past here twice a day and the interactions with pedestrians are terrifying at times, given many people assume the 'green man' means there wont be a car accelerating across the intersection at full throttle.

A good move by council given their attempts to promote this as a pedestrian thoroughfare. Now all they need to do is widen the dangerously narrow footpath on bentham... but of course whilst maintaining 100% of existing on street car parks...

[muzzamo]

Worst piece of road for me would have to be how Majors/Black Road is done at Main South Road - I feel it could be so much better. I don't really use it much anyway, but it seems like it could develop into a bottleneck easily.

Still, nothing is as bad at the Spit Road Bridge in Sydney

That whole section of South Road is nowhere near capacity since the build of the Southern Expressway.

[Vee]

Govt press release.
Road safety on rural roads - RIAWS

State of the art technology to be trialled at 4 rural intersections

In an Australian-first, state-of-the-art technology which triggers safety measures when vehicles are detected approaching intersections will be installed at four key rural locations.

The Rural Intersection Active Warning System is able to reduce the speed limit when it detects vehicles approaching an intersection.

The innovative technology was originally developed in Sweden.
It is currently in use in New Zealand where, together with static safety signs which warn vehicles to slow or alert motorists to intersections ahead, the technology has been found to slow vehicles by as much as 20kmh.
One of the first locations to receive the technology will be a T-junction at the intersection of Bakers Gully and McLaren Flat roads in Kangarilla, where a fatal crash occurred in 2015.

The other intersections where the technology will be trialled are at Paris Creek and Bull Creek roads in Paris Creek, Fox Creek and Cudlee Creek roads in Cudlee Creek and the intersection of the Horrocks Highway and Stradbrooke Road in Stanley Flat.

Background

Rural Intersection Activated Warning Signs have been proven to reduce fatal and serious crashes by slowing motorists and making them aware of an approaching intersection.

The technology to be installed at the Kangarilla intersection works by detecting a vehicle on the minor road approaching the intersection. It lowers the speed limit on the major rural road by changing the electronic speed limit sign on the major road.

The signs are similar to those used on the South Eastern Freeway and on Port Road at the Entertainment Centre.

http://www.premier.sa.gov.au/index.php/ ... ersections

[SouthAussie94]

Govt press release.
Road safety on rural roads - RIAWS

State of the art technology to be trialled at 4 rural intersections

In an Australian-first, state-of-the-art technology which triggers safety measures when vehicles are detected approaching intersections will be installed at four key rural locations.

The Rural Intersection Active Warning System is able to reduce the speed limit when it detects vehicles approaching an intersection.

The innovative technology was originally developed in Sweden.
It is currently in use in New Zealand where, together with static safety signs which warn vehicles to slow or alert motorists to intersections ahead, the technology has been found to slow vehicles by as much as 20kmh.
One of the first locations to receive the technology will be a T-junction at the intersection of Bakers Gully and McLaren Flat roads in Kangarilla, where a fatal crash occurred in 2015.

The other intersections where the technology will be trialled are at Paris Creek and Bull Creek roads in Paris Creek, Fox Creek and Cudlee Creek roads in Cudlee Creek and the intersection of the Horrocks Highway and Stradbrooke Road in Stanley Flat.

Background

Rural Intersection Activated Warning Signs have been proven to reduce fatal and serious crashes by slowing motorists and making them aware of an approaching intersection.

The technology to be installed at the Kangarilla intersection works by detecting a vehicle on the minor road approaching the intersection. It lowers the speed limit on the major rural road by changing the electronic speed limit sign on the major road.

The signs are similar to those used on the South Eastern Freeway and on Port Road at the Entertainment Centre.

http://www.premier.sa.gov.au/index.php/ ... ersections

Could be interesting to see this in action.

The Paris Creek/Bull Creek intersection is horrible, although realistically there isn't much that could be done to reprofile it. Signage may be the best solution.

[Llessur2002]

Posted here to avoid derailing the buses topic but it relates to the current discussion about the potential reasons for the removal of the ANZAC Highway bus lanes.

bus priority lanes work well elsewhere. What was different about ours? Inability of Adelaide drivers to accept change and be able to merge properly? SMH.

For a city with such light traffic compared to say Sydney, there are a lot of overly aggressive drivers here

As a relatively recent Adelaide resident (5 and a bit years now) I still cannot believe how merging just doesn't seem to be a 'thing' here. Only a couple of weeks ago I saw an accident on a slip lane where someone just stopped abruptly at the end of it, despite the lane they were pulling in to being completely free from traffic - it quite understandably took the driver behind them by surprise and they rear-ended them (technically that driver's fault but a ridiculous manoeuvre by the car in front).

The slip lanes leading onto Port Road (i.e. from Rosetta Street heading west and East Ave heading east) seem to just completely confound most drivers. Despite Port Road being three lanes in either direction, in driving it at least weekly for the past three years I can count on the fingers on one hand the amount of times I've seen a driver move out of their lane to allow cars to merge into the traffic flow. A couple of weeks back I saw a driver move *into* the right hand lane while drivers were merging into it from the slip lane - another rear-ending accident was only very narrowly avoided.

The slip lane from SDB Drive onto Tapley's Hill Road southbound is another nightmare - drivers in the left lane seem completely unable or unwilling to pull in to the right hand lane to let people out of the slip lane, leading to cars banking up stationary in the slip lane. Certainly in the UK, and I'm pretty sure much of Europe, stopping at all in a slip road is pretty much unheard of - I always thought it was illegal in fact.

A few weeks ago on Tapley's Hill Road I indicated and pulled into the right hand lane to allow cars to merge from SDB drive and the driver behind me in the right hand lane went seemingly mental that I'd dared to pull out in front of them (despite there being more than enough room to do so safely - even taking stopping distances into account) with much sounding of their horn and hand gestures following.

In other countries and probably elsewhere in Oz, drivers in all lanes will read the road ahead and if a slip lane is approaching they'll pull back a little to allow drivers to move into the right-hand lane to, in turn, allow other drivers to merge into the left lane from a slip lane. It's just standard safe driving practice. It works really well even on three or four lane roads.

What's the deal here? Is it a mentality thing? Is it a driver training thing? Whilst Adelaide driving does seem to be on the aggressive side overall, this particular problem does my nut.

[rev]

The problem isn't just that people struggle to merge using the slip lanes, the problem is that many other drivers out there in this city see you wanting to merge in front of them so they speed up to prevent you from doing so.
It makes it much harder to judge traffic that you need to merge into when some cunt accelerates to stop you from safely merging.
It's happened to me a few times where I've had time to merge and then suddenly I have to come almost to a complete stop, if not actually stop, because the cunt in the nearest lane has decided he's going to do me a solid and speed up.
Especially on Port Road near East Tce, where the middle and left lane heading into the city are empty..
Most of the time it's easily overcome by simply putting your foot down and getting in front of the cunt. I've been honked/high beamed, a few break checks soon fix that with the cunt backing right off. I don't get angry anymore on the roads, I just make extra use of my accelerator, break, and the occasional smile and wave at some raving lunatic

Sir Donald Bradman Drive slip lane south onto Tapleys Hill the view to your right is obscured by the crappy bushes and vegetation. Unless you're in a jacked up 4WD or something higher then a sedan/hatch.

What they should do is extend these slip lanes. The Sir Don. lane onto Tapleys Hill rd shouldn't end where it does but it should continue on as it's own lane up until the Harbor Town/West Beach road intersection. And from there after the lights merge into two lanes.

Never mind if people know what to do or not do, there's far too many cunts on Adelaide's roads.

[claybro]

The slip lane from SDB Drive onto Tapley's Hill Road southbound is another nightmare - drivers in the left lane seem completely unable or unwilling to pull in to the right hand lane to let people out of the slip lane, leading to cars banking up stationary in the slip lane. Certainly in the UK, and I'm pretty sure much of Europe, stopping at all in a slip road is pretty much unheard of - I always thought it was illegal in fact.

In some countries it is actually mandatory for drivers on the main roadway to yield to traffic entering the road/motorway or whatever. This avoids the need for traffic to stop and que in the slip lane. One of the more ridiculous things seen in Oz is that on entry to some freeways in Melbourne, and I believe coming soon to Perth, and possibly elsewhere are traffic lights on the slip lanes controlling entry on to the freeway proper in peak periods.
Regarding Adelaide motorists merging, I think a defensive driving course should be mandatory before getting P plates. It might help with some courteous driving techiniques.

[bits]

One of the more ridiculous things seen in Oz is that on entry to some freeways in Melbourne, and I believe coming soon to Perth, and possibly elsewhere are traffic lights on the slip lanes controlling entry on to the freeway proper in peak periods.

https://youtu.be/N4PW66_g6XA

[rhino]

In some countries it is actually mandatory for drivers on the main roadway to yield to traffic entering the road/motorway or whatever.

In a way, this is also one of those countries. According to the rules of the road (being a dad of L plate drivers, you learn rules that you had forgotten about), in any merge scenario, the car in front has the right of way, regardless of whether they are on the road or the slipway. This allows for smoother flow of traffic, although it may slow the journey for the person on the road by a second or two.

Just out of interest, another rule states that a roundabout (the road part, not the island part) is a road in itself, and you are supposed to indicate before exiting it, even if you are going straight through. I don't think you are ever going to get pulled over for non-compliance of this one, but it's in the rules and L platers are supposed to abide by it to pass their test.

[mshagg]

On a recent drive through country NSW I noted a few roundabouts with "remember to blink off" signs. I think signalling an exit is well known, but as you say, rarely executed. Personally speaking I usually only do so if the roundabout is busy, with a view to signalling that people further around are free to enter.

That said, negotiating roundabouts seems to be poorly understood in general. There is a profound difference between giving way to the right and giving way to vehicles already on the roundabout, although I'd rather not deal with the consequences and so just go along with the default behaviour.