[Talk-ca] Off Topic - Four way stops - possibly of interest to cyclists

john whelan jwhelan0112 at gmail.com
Wed Jul 28 21:07:29 BST 2010


Generally speaking Europe uses give way signs on the lessor road, or
stop signs on the lessor road not the four way stop system.

There are some misconceptions about them, that they reduce speed for
example, plus they are a fairly cheap in capital cost way for
councilors to respond to residents concerns.

It's only when to start to look at things like environmental impact
and the total cost of them that they don't look so good.  The only
costing research is about twenty years old and put the cost at roughly
$200,000 a year.  Gas and time are more expensive these days so adjust
for inflation.

Cheerio John

On 28 July 2010 15:52, Russell P <skiinfobc at gmail.com> wrote:
> What is wrong with no signs at all?? That is what they do in Europe,
> but it does require people to use common sense, which is fine with me.
>
> Russell
>
> On 2010-07-28, at 9:39 PM, Corey Burger <corey.burger at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Because they are cheap to install. A mini-roundabout can cost upwards
>> of 10k while two additional stop signs are only about 2k. That is
>> installed cost.
>>
>> They also don't prevent large vehicles from passing like a
>> mini-roundabout would. A bus or a large truck cannot operate down a
>> street with such traffic calming in place.
>>
>> They are also common and never discount institutional intertia.
>>
>> Corey
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 11:55 AM, john whelan <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I was talking to a cyclist a month or two ago at some planning thing
>>> or other and they mentioned that four way stop signs were their least
>>> favourite thing about cycling in the city.  Europe doesn't use them so
>>> I decided to have a dig into them.
>>>
>>> Apparently they aren't very cost effective, there are more pedestrian
>>> accidents where they are in place, and they do not control speeds
>>> effectively.
>>>
>>> There is more information here:
>>>
>>> http://troymi.gov/trafficengineering/multiway.htm
>>>
>>> I'm not quite certain why we have them.
>>>
>>> Cheerio John
>>>
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>>
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