vernon levy wrote:
>>So you put up some signs saying something like "20 foot diameter holes in
>
> road
>
>>in several places, all obscured from view until 10 foot from hole". Let's
>
> even
>
>>assume that this particular statement is true i.e. that the holes exist.
>
> How
>
>>many drivers would actually reduce their speed to the level required to
>
> avoid
>
>>plunging into one of the holes?
>
>
> You have totally missed the point.
No, I haven't, but perhaps I haven't made my point quite as clearly as I had hoped.
Many roads have been where they are for probably hundreds of years. They will
have started as a footpath then will have widened as they were used by people on
horseback. The introduction of horse drawn carts will have changed the track
into a major road and so on. Such roads will have followed the easiest route for
walking and may have changed later to accommodate horses and then carts or
carriages. Later generations will have laid down a harder surface to accommodate
the heavy wheeled traffic. All that the 20th Century road builder had to do was
lay a strip of tarmac on top of what was already there. The road, with all its
corners, deep gorges and other 'hazards' just happened.
> The current state of affairs is such
> that the hazards are so varied and difficult to 'advertise' that a first
> time user to the road is likely to have problems
I was not actually advocating that the hazards should be advertised as such. I
realise that such an exercise would be very difficult not to mention expensive.
If we now go back to my hypothetical ancient road, the first time users would
have been on foot, what road hazards would they have faced?
> bearing in mind that I know
> the road, have used it several times in each direction and still found
> myself in situations that I'd rather not have been in - not all of them
> being my fault.
The problem with the hypopthetical road as it now stands is the fact that the
road user is no longer able to modify the route to accommodate a different form
of transport. The horse rider would have cut down overhanging branches, the
carriage driver would have altered the route where possible to round out the
sharp corners. We now have good surfaces which allow rapid progress and rules to
prevent us from going too quickly. As motorists we tend to drive at, or slightly
above, the speed limit and assume that the road ahead will be clear. We expect
that 'They' will have designed a road which allows us to drive at that speed in
safety. There will be stretches of road which really require a motorist to slow
down to 10 mph in order to be able to deal with an unseen hazard like a car
waiting to turn right, but would motorists observe such a limit? It is only when
an occasional motorist actually meets the hazard that he considers the fact that
he might be travelling too quickly.
> It is a scary road and has to be experienced before voicing
> childish suggestions.
Roads are not generally dangerous in themselves, it is the way we use them that
creates a dangerous environment.
> Grow up or shut up.
I shall do neither! Nor will I trade insults.
>
> Intemperately yours
>
> Vernon in Leeds
>
>
--
Terry Duckmanton.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/terry.duckmanton
A website mostly dedicated to cycling
http://tduckmanton.bravejournal.com
A daily log of my cycling exploits
