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Old 01-22-2015, 06:03 AM
 
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Overall the blame sits with road/highway planners. Where else in the country (outside of Florida) where there are roads constructed without sidewalks, without crosswalks and sufficiently timed crossing lights or a car-first mentality where pedestrians are seen as nuisances as a result of lacking signage and pedestrian crossings? Not surprisingly.....

Orlando is America's Most Dangerous Place for Pedestrians: Study - NBC News
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Old 01-22-2015, 06:25 AM
 
Location: Flawduh
17,175 posts, read 15,382,471 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kyle19125 View Post
Overall the blame sits with road/highway planners. Where else in the country (outside of Florida) where there are roads constructed without sidewalks, without crosswalks and sufficiently timed crossing lights or a car-first mentality where pedestrians are seen as nuisances as a result of lacking signage and pedestrian crossings? Not surprisingly.....

Orlando is America's Most Dangerous Place for Pedestrians: Study - NBC News
I believe the Orlando Metro road/highway planners were on some powerful drugs when designing them...
I can't help but point at I-4/408 interchange. What in the hell is that? I just don't understand how that could even pass safety inspections.
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Old 01-22-2015, 06:37 AM
 
27,212 posts, read 43,910,956 times
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Originally Posted by Arcenal352 View Post
I believe the Orlando Metro road/highway planners were on some powerful drugs when designing them...
I can't help but point at I-4/408 interchange. What in the hell is that? I just don't understand how that could even pass safety inspections.
They still are apparently, another fave of mine is the newer interchange at SR-46A onto I-4 in Lake Mary/Sanford where one cannot get onto I-4 eastbound and exit at SR46 (the next exit) and instead funnels all of the traffic onto heavily congested Rinehart Road and an already overloaded interchange at SR46 and I-4. In the same vein, what's the deal with these new prolonged on/off ramps that parallel I-4 for a couple of miles with contained speeds of 45-55mph other than to provide speed traps for local law enforcement?
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Old 01-22-2015, 06:43 AM
 
Location: Flawduh
17,175 posts, read 15,382,471 times
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Originally Posted by kyle19125 View Post
They still are apparently, another fave of mine is the newer interchange at SR-46A onto I-4 in Lake Mary/Sanford where one cannot get onto I-4 eastbound and exit at SR46 (the next exit) and instead funnels all of the traffic onto heavily congested Rinehart Road and an already overloaded interchange at SR46 and I-4. In the same vein, what's the deal with these new prolonged on/off ramps that parallel I-4 for a couple of miles with contained speeds of 45-55mph other than to provide speed traps for local law enforcement?
Haha! Yes!!! That thing! I can't tell you how many times I've made a left on H.E. Thomas from the South end of Rinehart, thinking I could get on I-4 to the 46 exit, only to find out I'm forced to cross over Lake Monroe because of those ridiculously long ramps. It LOOKS like the exit off of H.E. Thomas would have a lane to merge into the 46 ramp, but no, instead you shoot right over it. In other words, they basically force you to crawl through Rinehart at a snail's pace just to get to 46. Good job!
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Old 01-22-2015, 07:07 AM
 
626 posts, read 976,105 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kyle19125 View Post
Overall the blame sits with road/highway planners. Where else in the country (outside of Florida) where there are roads constructed without sidewalks, without crosswalks and sufficiently timed crossing lights or a car-first mentality where pedestrians are seen as nuisances as a result of lacking signage and pedestrian crossings? Not surprisingly.....

Orlando is America's Most Dangerous Place for Pedestrians: Study - NBC News
This could be true, but I also think it's the Hyper drivers.
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Old 01-22-2015, 09:21 AM
 
26,585 posts, read 62,038,899 times
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The "kid" killed in South Clermont was crossing a DARK DIVIDED HIGHWAY (50 mph zone) not in a crosswalk. Had he walked less than a quarter mile north of where he was hit, he would have been able to cross at a light in a crosswalk. Sometimes there is culpability that goes beyond the driver. I almost hit someone a couple of weeks ago who was standing in the middle of a road in dark clothing. They had the nerve to yell at me for coming "too close." Uh, yeah, a little Darwinism at work there buddy.
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Old 01-22-2015, 09:24 AM
 
26,585 posts, read 62,038,899 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcenal352 View Post
I believe the Orlando Metro road/highway planners were on some powerful drugs when designing them...
I can't help but point at I-4/408 interchange. What in the hell is that? I just don't understand how that could even pass safety inspections.
That was designed long before the eastern and western burbs were built up like they are now. It originally was planned to carry about half the traffic load 10 years out. Within five years the population in the burbs had burgeoned to triple what was originally expected, and infrastructure couldn't keep up. I know you are new to the area, but you should have seen the Turnpike between 272 and I-4 before it was widened. It was hideous. There were no automatic tolls at 272, and the traffic backed up a mile to get off the exit.
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Old 01-22-2015, 09:25 AM
 
26,585 posts, read 62,038,899 times
Reputation: 13166
Quote:
Originally Posted by kyle19125 View Post
Overall the blame sits with road/highway planners. Where else in the country (outside of Florida) where there are roads constructed without sidewalks, without crosswalks and sufficiently timed crossing lights or a car-first mentality where pedestrians are seen as nuisances as a result of lacking signage and pedestrian crossings? Not surprisingly.....

Orlando is America's Most Dangerous Place for Pedestrians: Study - NBC News
LA, Northern NJ, Philadephia, northern VA, St. Louis, Dallas, those are off the top of my head.
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Old 01-22-2015, 09:32 AM
 
Location: Windermere, FL
782 posts, read 1,368,622 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kyle19125 View Post
Overall the blame sits with road/highway planners. Where else in the country (outside of Florida) where there are roads constructed without sidewalks, without crosswalks and sufficiently timed crossing lights or a car-first mentality where pedestrians are seen as nuisances as a result of lacking signage and pedestrian crossings?
Where I was in Maryland, sidewalks were sometimes added as an afterthought, and crosswalks over major roads that didn't have them were only added after you reached a sufficient number of fatalities. You also had the amusing bit where a new house would be built and the homeowners would pay for a sidewalk, so it was put in out front of their house….but not for the rest of the block. In downtown DC, there were more sidewalks, but because of the way they were built and not maintained, they weren't really walkable.

In general, pedestrians in DC and the surrounding metros are seen as nuisances. And having been both a pedestrian and a driver in those areas, I think that it is accurate to say that most are a nuisance.

My favorite "solution" to the pedestrian problem was having pedestrians carry bright orange flags when they wanted to cross a street. They may have helped a bit, but it was hilarious to watch them being used.

Battle Flag of the Pedestrians (washingtonpost.com)

Recently, parts of DC and Maryland have started moving to HAWK signals, which I love. (There's a variation of a HAWK signal on 535 at Overstreet… you end up with an all-way stop and no right turn signals on when pedestrians are crossing the road.) I'd love to see more of that in this area, though:
HAWK signals come to D.C. | WJLA.com
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Old 01-22-2015, 10:33 AM
 
Location: Flawduh
17,175 posts, read 15,382,471 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk View Post
That was designed long before the eastern and western burbs were built up like they are now. It originally was planned to carry about half the traffic load 10 years out. Within five years the population in the burbs had burgeoned to triple what was originally expected, and infrastructure couldn't keep up. I know you are new to the area, but you should have seen the Turnpike between 272 and I-4 before it was widened. It was hideous. There were no automatic tolls at 272, and the traffic backed up a mile to get off the exit.
I can understand that... To an extent.
It just doesn't seem logical to have Eastbound and Westbound I-4 to 408 ramps merge into the same lane with two rapid exits going in each direction. Even with less traffic, I'd expect the design to be the cause of major accidents. Cars coming from Eastbound needing to go West on 408 you have to cross over I-4, merge onto the Eastbound 408 ramp, and violently cut into the left lane to make it Westbound. Makes absolutely no sense.
Same with West I-4 needing to go East on 408. Their exit ramp automatically puts them in the left (West 408) lane, and they, in turn, have to cut into the Eastbound lanes. So now you have a cars coming into a short ramp criss-crossing in an attempt to rush to the right lane to make it to their exit.

I don't understand why they didn't do this to begin with:


With the current design, you have to PASS the 408 to get on it from I-4...

Last edited by Arcenal813; 01-22-2015 at 10:43 AM..
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