WHY L.A. TRAFFIC SUCKS #4: PESKY, ANNOYING LITTLE QUIRKS THAT SLOW DOWN TRAFFIC: UNPROTECTED LEFTS
Steev, an "angeleno" friend of mine, cynically jokes that angelenos "love unprotected lefts just like they love unprotected sex!" (hah-hah, very funny, Steev!)
L.A. must be one of the FEW cities in the world with such a ridiculous traffic light system. How is it possible that the second largest city in the country has a traffic light system from 40 or 50 years ago? It's absolutely ridiculous. No wonder there are traffic problems in L.A. In Dallas and Houston, to name just two other American cities, ALL the intersections - EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM - have PROTECTED LEFTS (I simply can't believe that, when it comes to traffic, Texas is more advanced and efficient than "cutting edge" California!!) . Protected lefts allow traffic to flow better.
There is NO QUESTION ABOUT IT: unprotected lefts are slowing down and clogging traffic in the L.A. area. Waiting in line for the last few seconds of a YELLOW light to make a left while all the oncoming cars whizz by and practically RUN A RED LIGHT EVERY TIME to get past the intersection, too many cars are stuck waiting in line to make a left. NOT enough cars are allowed to turn left. Sometimes, the line of cars spills out onto the left lane and blocks and clogs the lane, bloking and clogging traffic for all cars on that lane. Unprotected lefts are contributing to the unbelievable traffic mess in L.A. and someone needs to do something about it!
SOLUTION #4: WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FIX IT?
At whatever cost, PROTECTED LEFTS need to be added to ALL major intersections WITHOUT EXCEPTION as soon as possible in the whole L.A. area. Period. Case closed. End of story.
There are simply NO counter-arguments on this one. The cost? What cost? Put a $0.25 toll on everyone making a left in L.A. and you'll have enough millions to upgrade the traffic lights of the entire country. Even insurance companies would contribute to the fund: there'd be a lot fewer accidents in L.A. and a lot fewer people going in for "road rage" psychological treatment (don't you feel like SHOOTING those who RUN A RED LIGHT and keep you from making a left turn? :-)
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Photo: one of the few PROTECTED LEFTS in all of L.A.: FOCUSING ON THE SOLUTION [solutions are in GREEN: go! let's do it! problems are in RED: stop!]
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Friday, April 28, 2006
"WHY" L.A. traffic sucks #4: Pesky annoying quirks: Unprotected Lefts
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Before you add protected left-turn signals to all major intersections, try reading the following document: Left-Turn Arrows.
Left-turn arrows can definitely help improve the flow of traffic at certain intersections, but not all. Have you ever thought of the cycle length of an intersection to be that of a pie of time that needs to be shared? When you add left-turn phasing, the more pieces you'll have to cut out of the "pie." The slices of time designated for the other movements, especially through movements, may have to be made smaller to accomodate the new slice of time for a protected left-turn. The pie can only be made so big sometimes.
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