In my city there is a moderately busy intersection. Just as most traffic lights in Winston Salem seem to behave, this one allows left turns only when the left arrow is green (aka a "protected left turn"). When it's a red arrow, you can't turn, even when there is an opening as traffic is flowing straight on both sides. In other words, drivers are not allowed to "yield on green" when turning left.
The problem with this intersection is that most of the time, it would be very easy to turn left on a red arrow, as there are usually many openings. This seems to annoy many people. About 40% of the time that I go through the intersection, I'll see someone cut through the corner parking lot to make the left turn. They do this because they know they can turn left faster than waiting for the light.
For you local folks, I'm specifically talking about driving south on Reynolda Road turning left on Fairlawn Drive.
In many places, cutting through the parking lot is illegal, and it most likely annoys the heck out of the bank and gas station who own the lot. In fact, the increased traffic was enough to create potholes that had to be repaved recently.
Using your problem solving skills, can you think of any good remedies to fix this situation?
One solution implemented years ago: install speed bumps. Yet this does not deter these miscreant left-turners. It's still faster than waiting for the light.
Another more passive solution: educate people how to follow the laws, and then rely on them to make the right choices. (Yeah -- right.)
A couple of times I've seen a police car sitting in the parking lot. Now, this is an interesting solution. I've seen Winston Salem employ this tactic throughout the whole city. What they like to do is to park a random police car in a parking lot. Sometimes there will be someone in it, and sometimes not. I think the idea is that if you see the police car (empty or not), you're going to behave.
But how much does it cost to leave a police car parked in a lot? And how much more would it cost to have someone man the car waiting for left-turning miscreants? And how much crime is being missed because of these efforts?
If only there could be some other solution!
Why I bring up this conundrum: most of the time when a problem arises, more often than not, discussions center around how to deter the miscreants. How can we stop the jerks? How can we punish them?
And more often than not, the true problem is missed entirely. Think about it. If these miscreants are turning left, it's only because they are able to -- safely. This is nothing more than pointing out inefficiencies in the traffic light setup. If left-turns are prohibited during times when they could otherwise be executed safely, the prohibitions are doing nothing more than creating needless congestion and slowing down traffic.
The correct, least-expensive, and most efficient solution to this problem would be to install a yield on green traffic signal at this spot.
For you local folks, I'm specifically talking about driving south on Reynolda Road turning left on Fairlawn Drive.
In many places, cutting through the parking lot is illegal, and it most likely annoys the heck out of the bank and gas station who own the lot. In fact, the increased traffic was enough to create potholes that had to be repaved recently.
Using your problem solving skills, can you think of any good remedies to fix this situation?
One solution implemented years ago: install speed bumps. Yet this does not deter these miscreant left-turners. It's still faster than waiting for the light.
Another more passive solution: educate people how to follow the laws, and then rely on them to make the right choices. (Yeah -- right.)
A couple of times I've seen a police car sitting in the parking lot. Now, this is an interesting solution. I've seen Winston Salem employ this tactic throughout the whole city. What they like to do is to park a random police car in a parking lot. Sometimes there will be someone in it, and sometimes not. I think the idea is that if you see the police car (empty or not), you're going to behave.
But how much does it cost to leave a police car parked in a lot? And how much more would it cost to have someone man the car waiting for left-turning miscreants? And how much crime is being missed because of these efforts?
If only there could be some other solution!
Why I bring up this conundrum: most of the time when a problem arises, more often than not, discussions center around how to deter the miscreants. How can we stop the jerks? How can we punish them?
And more often than not, the true problem is missed entirely. Think about it. If these miscreants are turning left, it's only because they are able to -- safely. This is nothing more than pointing out inefficiencies in the traffic light setup. If left-turns are prohibited during times when they could otherwise be executed safely, the prohibitions are doing nothing more than creating needless congestion and slowing down traffic.
The correct, least-expensive, and most efficient solution to this problem would be to install a yield on green traffic signal at this spot.
Think about it. Once you understand the incentives of the miscreant left-turners, you'll see how this solution could change their behavior. Now, being able to yield on green, it would actually be faster to go up to the light and wait for that safe opening than to cut through the parking lot.
Then, all of a sudden there is no more need of the speed bumps or cops at the corner. Traffic through the lot decreases, cops can spend more time fighting real crime, congestion is lowed, efficiency is gained, and traffic flows more freely. A win-win solution!
Now I challenge you to look around. Look at politics, organizations, and anywhere decisions are made, and notice the stuff that annoys you. I bet you'll find that more often than not, decision makers will put the cop at the corner instead of solving the true problem.
Once you understand the true incentives that drive behaviors, it will most often lead to the most efficient and effective solutions.
I will come back to this idea in later posts ...
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