Raced a Rhino This morning
You know when you pull up to a stop light and there are two lanes, and on the other side of the intersection it merges into one lane. Most poeple think that the extra lane is for inpatient jerks who jsut need to get ahead of the crowd. The truth is that traffic engineers put that lane there so that you can get as many car through the intersection on one green cycle of the light. I hate it when everyone lines up on that one single lane thinking they are being courtious, only to have traffic queue up. (that is jsut a public service note).
So I get to the 2nd of 2 stop lights on my morning commute. In the extra lane is a parks and rec yamaha rhino type cart. Light turns green and the guy punches it. Has me by about a cart length. Oh sh!T I didn't know we were racing, I'm about to get smoked by a golf cart!! Let the car wind out in first gear, reach about 25 mph, step in the clutch, I am about two car length out in front past the merge point, coast, pop it in third. (speed limit through town in 25mph). Pheeww that was a close one, almost had my ass handed to me. My wife looks over at me and says, "show off. was that really nessessary, it was a friken golf cart". Couldn't let him tell his freinds he beat a Z in his Rhino!
LMAO!
MaelstrØm Wrote:
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> Traffic engineers put that lane there because cars
> making a right hand turn from a perpendicular road
> can enter that direction of flow without
> interrupting the existing line of cars going
> through, and thus create a wave of delay through
> the single lane.
>
> A single lane road with a split, then merge after
> the light flows no more traffic than a single lane
> through the light because the traffic has to
> remerge into the same single line. Any benefit to
> higher flow post-green is minor, and it will
> reduce flow due to merge contention during an
> extended green light.
I don't agree with everything you are saying here. I am currently working as a traffic engineer, and have traffic model and simulations to back up my talk. I have also reworked several intersections with proven Level of Service improvements. We can get into this more in detail, but then I will have to send you a bill, since I do this for a living, and don't talk traffic for fun.
I'm with pulldown;
If the second lane after the light is there strictly for people making a right turn from a perpendicular road, why would there be a second lane BEFORE the light as well?
if you're a traffic engineer. is there any way you can make the lights sensors a little better. i had to run a light the other day in a random back street because the N/S light was green, and at 0600 there was no traffic. me wanting to make a left turn at a trafficl light i have to wait patiently for it to turn. so i wait approx 10 minutes. nothing, i figure theres a sensor, so i back up 3/4 car length, i notice about 3 minutes later the n/s light changes to red. mine stays red. i prepare to start going, and the n/s light turns green again without mine ever changing. f*ck it, no one is around and no one is comming im running his thing.
help is fix these =P
The lane on the entrance side - is to slow down for right turns leaving the main road.
Fair enough Mr Pulldown, but I'd like to see models showing it to be completely convinced. Basic flow theory for air travelling in pipes is analogous to traffic in many ways (traveling waves, compression/decompression over distance, and volume versus pressure of flow over expansion points). The single lane re-merge is a bottleneck to the flow on the other side of the intersection, and the output of that bottleneck should be similar to the single lane prior to the intersection, but I'll take your word that there is some theory at work that defies that.
MaelstrØm Wrote:
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> The lane on the entrance side - is to slow down
> for right turns leaving the main road.
didn't think of that, but why isn't it strictly a turn lane then?
(this discussion is ridiculous, I know.... but I'm bored at work haha)
Sure traffic flow is similar to flow of fluid in pipes. But we are not dealing with a fully developed laminare flow, like you study in fluid dynamics. With a traffic light you have interuptions that create an effect call platooning.
Accuated signals are triggers by magnetic sensors under the road surface (older pressure sensor are no longer around). I don't deal with the hardware, but I know that sometimes after many layers of asphalt they get less sensitive. Also repainted lines are not always place in the right spot and can make detection less effective. You can roll forwad and back, sometime that will help trigger it. Or jsut run it. There is some sipulation in the law books that allow for this due to a old faulty sensor.
I am a mechanical engineer, by schooling, and my real world experiance is with micro laser machineing, and have worked some in areospace on the space station. This traffic thing is jsut a gig I picked up in the last few year that allows me to live in the mountains. My real passion is still in mechanics, motors and wheels, though ourdoor activity seems to have driven my life in the past few years.
But we have gotten way off point. All I ment to tell people was a funny story about a Rhino that wanted to race off the line this morning, and the fact that it is OK to populate that extra lane, esspeically when traffic is heavy. Get through the intersection and then deal with the congestion and merging on the other side.
luminar do you think there's a connection between how often you run red lights and how many Zs you destroy?
300zx first car Wrote:
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> luminar do you think there's a connection between
> how often you run red lights and how many Zs you
> destroy?
Ouch. That's funny, but I think those are fightin words.
all in good fun, i mean no harm. nice to hear your z beat a rhino though haha. Just tell your wife you never back down from a challenge.
MaelstrØm, maybe your new blood on the job will result in teaching traffic engineers some new tricks. Whether the right blend-in lane is for traffic entering from an intersecting road or to allow more traffic through a light (?), maybe they should put up "Merging Traffic MUST YIELD" signs every 50 ft along these lanes -- to avoid the "challenge" of racing the ignoramus who tries to use it to cut around the 15 cars backed up in the normal lane. (Yeah, that'll work in today's world /sarc) You all know who you are, so don't be surprised if road rage results in a passing bullet.
With your aerospace experience, a step above traffic engineer, maybe you can become famous by inventing a working smart grid of interconnected, flow compensating computer traffic signals.
300zx first car Wrote:
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> luminar do you think there's a connection between
> how often you run red lights and how many Zs you
> destroy?
mmm no, first Z was me @ 16 bald tires and rain. 2nd was some little old lady (82 years old) that couldnt see over her steering wheel. power was out just about everywhere after a hurricane, and she drove right through an intersection at dusk without trying to stop for the large well lit red object infront of her.
ouch, I'm sorry man. I'll probably end up wrecking one too so you can feel free to laugh then. And then two females harming your other two isnt your fault. sorry if i offended.
haha nah its all good. just dont say anything becuase its your first Z and you're 5 years younger then i am. I was there once =P i learned the hard way. no worries though, we all like to screw with eachother on this board, so ive got thick skin.
Do you have any advice for a kid who was in your place 5 years ago?
yeah make sure you didnt buy a lemon like my first one. and keep up with the regular maint and take care of it. dont waste your time modding an NA except to improve the suspention if you plan on keeping it and eventually TT swapping it.
The main thing to do with your NA is enjoy it as it is, keep regular maint up to date and learn to drive it better. take some driving classes and try to participate in track days.
I have a rhino, it is quick off the line but is a dog after about 25 MPH. Hardly a golf cart....
Thanks luminar, I'll keep that in mind.
Traffic engineers put that lane there because cars making a right hand turn from a perpendicular road can enter that direction of flow without interrupting the existing line of cars going through, and thus create a wave of delay through the single lane.
A single lane road with a split, then merge after the light flows no more traffic than a single lane through the light because the traffic has to remerge into the same single line. Any benefit to higher flow post-green is minor, and it will reduce flow due to merge contention during an extended green light.