| Re: Signal timing foiled by inattentive drivers [message #797043] |
Tue, 04 March 2008 19:06 |
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On Mar 4, 11:02 am, Scott in SoCal <scottenazt... [at] yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:14:38 -0500, Nate Nagel <njna... [at] roosters.net>
> wrote:
>
> >Scott in SoCal wrote:
> > > On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 10:42:12 -0800 (PST), Ad absurdum per aspera
> > > <jtc... [at] california.com> wrote:
>
> ><snip>
>
> >>>I was taught that smoothly, continuously flowing traffic is the
> >>>collectively fastest and my job is to avoid fouling it up by either
> >>>going too slowly *or* introducing turbulence and resistance by working
> >>>it too hard.
>
> >> Was your teacher's name "Claybrook," by any chance?
>
> >I'm finding it hard to argue with his paragraph, sometimes it really
> >does pay to go slow to go fast.
>
> Yeah, and sometimes man bites dog.
>
> The "Sloth Coaster" philosophy is, more often than not, a
> self-fulfilling prophecy, especially when traffic lights are
> controlled by sensors instead of timers.
Uh huh...
> >I don't know how many times I'll
> >approach a red light and simply lift off as soon as I see it's red.
> >Someone behind me will become impatient, pass me, and end up stopped at
> >the red light... which turns green 20 yards before I hit the stop line,
>
> First of all, I know you're an intelligent person, and you no doubt
> apply the coasting strategy intelligently. Most Sloth Coaster drivers
> do not. They end up MISSING green lights and waiting longer at red
> lights because they coast slowly up to the intersection; this results
> in a delay when tripping the sensor, which in the case of a red light
> results in a delay in getting the green which is the whole reason they
> are coasting in the first place.
>
> Another reason why someone might "race" up to the red light is to get
> into a better position to escape the Phalanx of Sloth on the next
> green. I won't hesitate to pass someone going slowly even if the light
> is red, because I know that after the light turns green that guy will
> STILL be driving slowly, and I prefer not to be stuck behind him.
Uh huh.
So, you trip the light for us. And there is no shortage of drivers of
your ilk.
> Let me close with a little story I posted almost two years ago which
> is also relevant to the current thread:
>
> So as I was driving to work today, I spotted a co-worker of mine who
> takes a similar route as I do. In fact, from the time I spotted him
> until we each arrived at the office our routes were identical (total
> distance about 4.2 miles, according to Microsoft MapPoint). He's an
> older gentleman and tends to drive a bit on the Slothy side; for
> example, when I first noticed his SUV, I was behind him in traffic; a
> car ahead of him was slowing down to make a turn, so he was doing
> about SL - 20. Once the turning car got out of his way, he was very
> lackadasical about speeding back up again, which is how I caught up to
> him and passed him. After a couple of blocks, he got trapped at a red
> light which I had long since sailed through; I lost sight of him at
> that point. After I arrived at the office, I was at my desk for a good
> 7 minutes before he even pulled into the parking lot.
You can't see the vehicles in the parking lot from your desk.
> So the next time some Sloth gives you a smug laugh and tells you that
> driving alertly and assertively doesn't get you to your destination
> any faster, you can fire off a deep belly-laugh in return knowing the
> sanctimonious bastard is completely full of shit. :)
Lol. So, in the mind of a college graduate and "engineer", a single
(either entirely invented or greatly exaggerated) example is adequate
to form such a conclusion...?
Don't you ever tire of posting additional evidence that you're an
idiot?
-----
- gpsman
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