Are YOU causing traffic jams? You might be and not know it.

[SMOGZINN]

yep, that's the problem. and again, why people are the problem. asshat has no idea why you are leaving space, what could possibly be the value of that, was never actually taught how to drive--or simply doesn't care.

all the more reason to eliminate the driver.

and of course one manual driver would ruin the auto system, which is simply why it's all auto for everyone, or nothing. Of course, I'd hate to eliminate the driving experience--no one would want that. However, I don't see any reason why this can't be put into the major commuter routes--as shown on that list, or on all major highway systems, and leave free driving for local roads.

Face it--No one enjoys commuting to work, or driving on any of those roads, at almost any time. Hell, what would be better then getting to or leaving work, sitting back in your small private cabin, do some reading, finish up some work, watch some news or whatever, as you are in transit?
Zero stress.
Fuck. Yes.

All cars would be free + auto. entering onto the designated roadway would force auto. You would probably have to allow a manual takeover for certain emergency situations, and I could see, at least in the beginning, auto only during the heaviest commute hours on such roads. If such a system were to work flawlessly for some time, I could imagine a large number of people fully willing to just let the car do all the work, permanently (on designated roads).

You can’t just decide that certain roads are automated only, there will simply be to many legacy cars out there, either because people can’t afford to buy new cars, and eventually because luddites refuse to allow a computer to control their car. But, what we can do is designate lanes on highways as automated only, a lot like we have HOV lanes now. As the number of cars in the automated only lanes grow we switch manual lanes over to automated, eventually I think the efficiency of automated cars will cause most people to switch over.

 

[bignateyk]

That whole "reversible" lanes concepts sound like a very VERY bad idea.

They have reversible lanes in Pittsburgh going over some of the bridges. In the morning the inbound side gets an extra lane. In the afternoon the outbound side gets the extra lane. Seems to work pretty well.

 

[zinfamous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKcSZfY1sf4

God, I love that clip. The GF and I probably won't make a ~1 mile local drive without commenting, at least once on the trip "Good luck, Everybody Else!" due to whatever is happening in front of us.

I live in the Bay Area, CA and I can tell you it's because most people are too stupid and most people don't give a $hit about anyone else. The culture (and drivers) are very selfish and self centered and will cut in and out of traffic and speed up and slow down as long as they get home 3 minutes faster they don't care if they stop up 100,000 other people for 20 minutes.

:thumbsup: x100. Reason number 1, and 2, that everything is so fucked here.

Soon after we moved up here, I'm driving down San Pablo (4-laner) just into Emmeryville, about 35mph in the right lane, and some old lady who had recently started up her car which is parked on the side, about 20 feet in front of me, pulls straight out into the lane, at a crawling 5mph.

what. the. fucking. shit

and this kind of thing is not an isolated event. Just about every driver on the roads here seems to believe that they are the only driver on the road.
I don't know if they are in some perpetual fantasy land while driving, imagining tracks of rainbows and flowers flowing out behind their Prius, or 1956 Fiat (the other car you see, all the time), or if they simply think that World Peace is accomplished by their zippy electric scooters burning through red lights across all intersections. I really don't get it.

It seems that the UTurn law here, universally understood to be "U-Turn ALWAYS YIELDS," does not apply. no sirree.

Of course, it doesn't help that the "Pedestrian Entitlement Law" as I call it (I think this is CA-wide), essentially gives the Pedestrian the right to step out into oncoming traffic, if there is a crosswalk, intersection or no, stop or no. Yes, by risk of $200? fine, you are required, as a driver, to stop at crosswalks if a pedestrian is waiting on the sidewalk, to cross at a designated crosswalk. This both emboldens pedestrians (many of whom are clearly looking for a fucking payday), and is a serious danger considering the mindless, unaware mentality of the ave. driver here. ...and the bike Nazis.

 

[purbeast0]

FYI for those of you that don't know ... #1 and #7 on that list are the same road for a good portion of #7.

 

[zinfamous]

You can’t just decide that certain roads are automated only, there will simply be to many legacy cars out there, either because people can’t afford to buy new cars, and eventually because luddites refuse to allow a computer to control their car. But, what we can do is designate lanes on highways as automated only, a lot like we have HOV lanes now. As the number of cars in the automated only lanes grow we switch manual lanes over to automated, eventually I think the efficiency of automated cars will cause most people to switch over.

sounds totally reasonable to me. This hypothetical certainly isn't something that could happen O/N, as I suggested designated times of day, designated highways and roads. Assuming that, after the awesomeness is realized by the general public, it would probably become standard.

I like the idea of designated lanes even better, and it makes much more sense, expense-wise.

Imagine the self-satisfaction that train riders get today, chugging along in the middle of the expressway as they watch the saps in the 6 lane highway next to them, stopped, all lines jammed, cursing and hating life, every freaking morning--and now throw in your own private space, nap time, maybe, time to read, relax, whatever....dare I say it, maybe even a little drink to unwind? :sneaky:

 

[zinfamous]

They have reversible lanes in Pittsburgh going over some of the bridges. In the morning the inbound side gets an extra lane. In the afternoon the outbound side gets the extra lane. Seems to work pretty well.

Yup. Golden Gate bridge has used reversible lanes for years. Most people have heard of this bridge. :hmm:

 

[timosyy]

Relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suugn-p5C1M

Cars told to go around track at the same speed-- You can see however that very slight braking/slowing down eventually leads to a stopped car a few cars down the line.

 

[Teknic]

I think it holds that as a population, they have a higher incidence of bad drivers than others--and no, it's not a race thing, it's economic history. this is how I explain it:

Actually I think it's more like this: http://xkcd.com/385/

You can't generalize "immigrant rural Chinese population" = all asians. What about asians who grew up in the US? Or those who immigrated from other areas of Asia? Japan?

I was sitting in a car with some white and Asian people, all of which grew up in the US. One guy is complaining and going on and on about how bad Asian drivers are and spouting all these stereotypes about Asian drivers.

Anyways, this white guy is going on and on, when it is revealed that the white guy has 40+ traffic infractions, has been jailed for reckless driving several times before, has lost his license and is supposed to be jailed if caught driving. Also he has DUIs....

...and he's the one who always complains about how bad asians are at driving Stereotypes are just an excuse to be racist