NJ is Broken
Specifically the road system here in the Garden State is broken. As one of the state's newest residents I've noted a few things about this place that have started to get under my skin. Hopefully, divulging these things here will allow me to move past them and begin to try to find those other wonderful things about this state that makes natives swoon for it (besides gas prices, and the fact that you don't have to pump it yourself).
First up is a handicap parking spot in front of my building.
Now, I'm no handicapped person, but if I was, I think I might be better off in a regular parking spot than this joke of a space. As my friend Chris put it, "That handicapped parking spot is handicapped."
Next we have a sign that exists only a few hundred feet from that parking spot. When you look at it this way, it doesn't make any sense.
Take a good look in the distance and you'll notice that the roadway doesn't turn, nor have a diagonal intersection upcoming.
Come at the same sign from the other direction and you'll see:
Oh! A road that makes a 90 degree left hand turn, with a diagonal driveway at it's elbow!
Someone neglected to tell the maker of this sign, that the information only pertained to one flow of traffic (image #2). Thus, it is broken.
Broken point of transportation #3:
A traffic circle was just created where there should simply be a light or a stop sign. From this photo, can you tell what you are supposed to do if you want to go left at this intersection?
The funny thing here, is that this is thought to be an improvement over the previous traffic pattern, which would force the driver to make a right turn, go around a jug handle, and make a left hand turn at a stop light... instead of just making a left hand turn at this intersection.
This traffic circle (and most circles in NJ) are a problem, because people do not know how to drive in them. There is a need to yield to the traffic in the circle, yet most NJ drivers do not abide by that. It also creates a situation of constant merging and exiting, which in my mind, is a bigger potential for an accident than an ordinary four-way intersection.
New Jersey has a lot of people, and equally as many cars. So, it is not easy to thwart the problem of traffic in any area of the state. The DOT here is approaching the problem the wrong way, however. Drivers get frustrated by the inability to make left hand turns on major roads and the constant use of jug handles and exits on state roads. Roadways that are intended to keep traffic flowing, instead make the entire trip longer.
In my opinion, NJ would benefit from more local roads, making it easier for locals to use their own back-roads to avoid major highways, center turn lanes (instead of medians), and conventional traffic lights, with left hand turn lanes that allow for more driver understanding.
More traffic lights would also allow for shorter open stretches of multi-lane highways which encourages drag racing and speeding. Center turn lanes would also allow for emergency personnel to make U-turns and left hand turns more efficiently when needed, shortening their trips, and getting them to an accident scene, hospital, or speeding car more efficiently.
Fhew... okay, I'm done. For now.
First up is a handicap parking spot in front of my building.
Now, I'm no handicapped person, but if I was, I think I might be better off in a regular parking spot than this joke of a space. As my friend Chris put it, "That handicapped parking spot is handicapped."
Next we have a sign that exists only a few hundred feet from that parking spot. When you look at it this way, it doesn't make any sense.
Take a good look in the distance and you'll notice that the roadway doesn't turn, nor have a diagonal intersection upcoming.
Come at the same sign from the other direction and you'll see:
Oh! A road that makes a 90 degree left hand turn, with a diagonal driveway at it's elbow!
Someone neglected to tell the maker of this sign, that the information only pertained to one flow of traffic (image #2). Thus, it is broken.
Broken point of transportation #3:
A traffic circle was just created where there should simply be a light or a stop sign. From this photo, can you tell what you are supposed to do if you want to go left at this intersection?
The funny thing here, is that this is thought to be an improvement over the previous traffic pattern, which would force the driver to make a right turn, go around a jug handle, and make a left hand turn at a stop light... instead of just making a left hand turn at this intersection.
This traffic circle (and most circles in NJ) are a problem, because people do not know how to drive in them. There is a need to yield to the traffic in the circle, yet most NJ drivers do not abide by that. It also creates a situation of constant merging and exiting, which in my mind, is a bigger potential for an accident than an ordinary four-way intersection.
New Jersey has a lot of people, and equally as many cars. So, it is not easy to thwart the problem of traffic in any area of the state. The DOT here is approaching the problem the wrong way, however. Drivers get frustrated by the inability to make left hand turns on major roads and the constant use of jug handles and exits on state roads. Roadways that are intended to keep traffic flowing, instead make the entire trip longer.
In my opinion, NJ would benefit from more local roads, making it easier for locals to use their own back-roads to avoid major highways, center turn lanes (instead of medians), and conventional traffic lights, with left hand turn lanes that allow for more driver understanding.
More traffic lights would also allow for shorter open stretches of multi-lane highways which encourages drag racing and speeding. Center turn lanes would also allow for emergency personnel to make U-turns and left hand turns more efficiently when needed, shortening their trips, and getting them to an accident scene, hospital, or speeding car more efficiently.
Fhew... okay, I'm done. For now.
1 Comments:
Dude, it's taken me three years in NJ and I still can't deal with the jug handle thing. That's why I'm looking in Minneapolis now.
;-p
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