27 replies to this topic

[mac_convert]

I counted 8 out of 11 cars that rolled right through the stop sign as they turned right from Stewart to Willard in a 10 minute period today from 9:45am-9:55am. One of the three cars came to a full stop before the white line and the other two fully stopped, but after they crossed the white line. If our city is truly in economic distress they should post a police officer down the way on Willard to catch all of the people who don't stop. I didn't include the people who didn't stop at the stop sign when they turned right from Willard onto Stewart.

[asbestoshills]

Also, if Folsom really cared about children they would put speed bumps at Folsom High, Sutter and Folsom Middle schools and even some of the elementary could use them that are on busy streets, but the police supposedly don't like to slow down for them when on pursuit. Ridiclous. I just saw another child after they got hit from a car on Friday at FMS. How many children need to get hit before this town implements speed bumps? Also at Folsom High they don't even have a decent crosswalk and they got rid of the crosswalk by grover.

[cw68]

Also, if Folsom really cared about children they would put speed bumps at Folsom High, Sutter and Folsom Middle schools and even some of the elementary could use them that are on busy streets, but the police supposedly don't like to slow down for them when on pursuit. Ridiclous. I just saw another child after they got hit from a car on Friday at FMS. How many children need to get hit before this town implements speed bumps? Also at Folsom High they don't even have a decent crosswalk and they got rid of the crosswalk by grover.

Emergency response times are slowed by speed bumps, it's not about pursuit activities. Also, residents who live by the proposed speed bumps hate (so fight against) having speed bumps installed because of the increased traffic noise associated with braking and accelerating.

Pedestrian safety needs improvement most definitely. Plenty of you know this is my pet issue, but it first comes from us - the Folsomites who drive by the schools! Our collective lack of concern for anyone else's kid but our own is shameful. What can we do to make things significantly safer?

• Stop at stop signs.
• Don't park around the corners, effectively blocking views and safe street crossing at the crosswalks.
• Don't double park to let your kid out. If you need wait or to let him/her out a block away where it's less congested, do so.
• Don't double park to pick your kid up. If you need to wait or let him/her meet you a block away where it's less congested, do so.
• Don't pull a u-turn in the school zone.
• Walk with your kid, or - gasp! - let your kid walk to school to reduce traffic. Bikes work too.
• Carpool to reduce traffic.

[nomad]

Also, if Folsom really cared about children they would put speed bumps at Folsom High, Sutter and Folsom Middle schools and even some of the elementary could use them that are on busy streets, but the police supposedly don't like to slow down for them when on pursuit. Ridiclous. I just saw another child after they got hit from a car on Friday at FMS. How many children need to get hit before this town implements speed bumps? Also at Folsom High they don't even have a decent crosswalk and they got rid of the crosswalk by grover.

The student at FMS was not hit by a car. He was hurt on the bike path and they moved him to the corner once the emergency help arrived.

[Darth Lefty]

I heard something faux-profound lately that stuck with me: "Adding lanes to fix congestion is like loosening your belt to fix obesity." Maybe at these areas the right thing to do is delete or narrow the lanes and add some chicanes, and overly dramatic-looking crosswalks, as was done by the tennis courts on Natoma Station a few years ago. (That's the example I keep picking because I was living there and directly affected, both as a driver and as a pedestrian, and saw that it worked well.)

[cw68]

I heard something faux-profound lately that stuck with me: "Adding lanes to fix congestion is like loosening your belt to fix obesity." Maybe at these areas the right thing to do is delete or narrow the lanes and add some chicanes, as was done on Natoma Station a few years ago. (That's the example I keep picking because I was living there and directly affected, both as a driver and as a pedestrian, and saw that it worked well.)

Appropriate saying; what was done on Natoma Station Drive is referred to as a "road diet!"

[tony]

• Walk with your kid, or - gasp! - let your kid walk to school to reduce traffic. Bikes work too.

...and if you teach your kids how to ride to school safely, in a few years they will become much better drivers, as they will already have been using the "rules of the road" for years before getting behind the wheel of a car.

Speaking of walking and biking to school, tomorrow is International Walk and Bike to School Day. What better time to give it a try and do something positive for traffic safety in our town.

[tony]

Appropriate saying; what was done on Natoma Station Drive is referred to as a "road diet!"

...and not only that, widening roads to solve congestion is actually worse than metaphorically loosening a belt because it not only does not solve the obesity problem, but actually contributes to it. Wider roads make people less inclined to walk or bicycle because of the added distances required and the perception (and reality) that the roads are not safe for them, thereby directly contributing to a population that doesn't get enough exercise, and continues to get fatter.

[cw68]

...and not only that, widening roads to solve congestion is actually worse than metaphorically loosening a belt because it not only does not solve the obesity problem, but actually contributes to it. Wider roads make people less inclined to walk or bicycle because of the added distances required and the perception (and reality) that the roads are not safe for them, thereby directly contributing to a population that doesn't get enough exercise, and continues to get fatter.

Another downside of adding lanes, HOV especially, is that it increases overall traffic volume. You add a lane, the other lanes clear out for a bit and encourages more people to drive and soon the traffic is the same.

[andy]

I counted 8 out of 11 cars that rolled right through the stop sign as they turned right from Stewart to Willard in a 10 minute period today from 9:45am-9:55am. One of the three cars came to a full stop before the white line and the other two fully stopped, but after they crossed the white line. If our city is truly in economic distress they should post a police officer down the way on Willard to catch all of the people who don't stop. I didn't include the people who didn't stop at the stop sign when they turned right from Willard onto Stewart.

Was anyone honestly endangered? I really fail to see the importance of obsessing over the quality of someons's stop at a sign.

[Darth Lefty]

Was anyone honestly endangered? I really fail to see the importance of obsessing over the quality of someons's stop at a sign.

I've been thinking about this quite a lot lately. (See my exchanges with Tony in the "Idiot Bicyclist" thread.) We have rules that are usually far in excess of what is needed in a particular situation. So the driver rolled through a stop sign or the cyclist was riding on the sidewalk, what did it matter if there was no one around?

I think that collectively we've decided that our individual judgement, developed hunting prey and avoiding big cats and not getting poisoned by eating the wrong plant, is not up to the task of navigating modern traffic. Your 55mph tunnel vision is focused on the lights and the cars going along with you and not looking too hard for cross traffic or pedestrians which are a much smaller immediate threat to you. So we've codified a system of manners to keep ourselves from causing wrecks in spite of this: stop at the stop sign. Manners in a social group are enforced by the group. But a car takes an individual far from his social group to where he can be a sociopath without much consequence. If he runs a stop sign when he is visiting New York, who does he know in Folsom that will ever find out? So we have it enforced by our government, the larger social construct.

Which is how society is different from a family in general, I guess.

[nomad]

I rode my bike to/from school from 2nd grade thru H.S. until I got my license.

These days kids are spoiled with parents chauffeuring them to/from school.

Is it because the kids are lazy or because the parents are too paranoid to let their kid get to/from school on their own?

What's there to worry about on the bike trails these days?

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-woman-reports-assault-along-bike-trail-suspect-found-at-target-20121002,0,3469794.story

[cw68]

Is it because the kids are lazy or because the parents are too paranoid to let their kid get to/from school on their own?

Yes.