irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
I read an article in the paper a few weeks ago how a South OC city was changing the way they did the lights to 2-lane onramps for the freeway. Most have it so when the light turns green, one car from each lane goes.
But they said they were having problems because there was confusion about which car goes first and how they would merge to one lane. So their solution was to make it so 2 cars go in one lane when green and that would alternate lanes.
I thought that was stupid for a few reasons:
1. If someone wasn't paying attention, they wouldn't remember if they were the 2nd car and not go.
2. Many people don't read the sign and won't go as the 2nd car.
Well... as the article points out, it was an issue so they had to add additional signage to make sure that drivers know it's TWO cars per green but one lane at a time.
To me, the easier solution would be to keep it at one car per green each lane but just set one lane back farther than the other so it's obvious who goes first and it gives drivers time to merge. This is the way I've seen it an numerous onramps and it works fine. I don't see any reason why this shouldn't work for them.
Fast forward a few days and I notice that some of the 405 freeway onramps in Irvine also have changed to this 2-cars-per-green method and just like the article mentioned, people are confused. I was behind 3 cars... the light turns green, only 1 car goes... it turns green again, the second car only goes. And this is happening in the other lane too. The light turns green, I go with the car in front of me... I check my rear view mirror and only 1 car is behind me because in the other lane, the 2nd car didn't go. So what this does it cause even more of a slowdown on the onramp.
And I actually can't blame them... just the other day... I think I missed my green. Someone called me on my phone, I looked at my dashboard to see what number it was (my vehicle has a Bluetooth interface) and then I didn't know if I was the 1st or 2nd car at my green light so I just stopped (I'm sure the car behind me was yelling "IT'S TWO CARS PER GREEN YOU IDIOT!!!").
I still don't understand what genius thought that 2-per-green is better. It's counter intuitive to normal driving habits and the alternative is such an easy fix. Bah.
But they said they were having problems because there was confusion about which car goes first and how they would merge to one lane. So their solution was to make it so 2 cars go in one lane when green and that would alternate lanes.
I thought that was stupid for a few reasons:
1. If someone wasn't paying attention, they wouldn't remember if they were the 2nd car and not go.
2. Many people don't read the sign and won't go as the 2nd car.
Well... as the article points out, it was an issue so they had to add additional signage to make sure that drivers know it's TWO cars per green but one lane at a time.
To me, the easier solution would be to keep it at one car per green each lane but just set one lane back farther than the other so it's obvious who goes first and it gives drivers time to merge. This is the way I've seen it an numerous onramps and it works fine. I don't see any reason why this shouldn't work for them.
Fast forward a few days and I notice that some of the 405 freeway onramps in Irvine also have changed to this 2-cars-per-green method and just like the article mentioned, people are confused. I was behind 3 cars... the light turns green, only 1 car goes... it turns green again, the second car only goes. And this is happening in the other lane too. The light turns green, I go with the car in front of me... I check my rear view mirror and only 1 car is behind me because in the other lane, the 2nd car didn't go. So what this does it cause even more of a slowdown on the onramp.
And I actually can't blame them... just the other day... I think I missed my green. Someone called me on my phone, I looked at my dashboard to see what number it was (my vehicle has a Bluetooth interface) and then I didn't know if I was the 1st or 2nd car at my green light so I just stopped (I'm sure the car behind me was yelling "IT'S TWO CARS PER GREEN YOU IDIOT!!!").
I still don't understand what genius thought that 2-per-green is better. It's counter intuitive to normal driving habits and the alternative is such an easy fix. Bah.
