Hierarchy of Road Users - 29th January 2022

mark1959

They did really well considering they didn't even see you.

zagfles

Well it's been a week now, has anyone noticed any difference? Pedestrians seem totally clueless about the new rules, appear to be surprised when turning motorists try to give way to them. I can understand them being wary, but a few times I've stopped and waited it's been obvious there's nothing else for me to wait for and they still don't cross without me waving them on.

Norman_Castle

Absolutely no difference. I haven't changed my behaviour when driving or walking and it appears no one else has. I haven't inconvenienced any pedestrians or struggled when crossing roads.  Ill conceived nonsense.

kobe84

I had an encounter yesterday when I was waiting to cross a road that has a mini roundabout at it's junction at the bottom, it used to be a T junction at one time. A lady turning left at the roundabout and into my road stopped to give way to me but I couldn't cross because there were cars coming down the road to my left, she just sat there for a second or two holding up traffic at the junction until I had to wave her on.

Ibrahim5

You need a road system where motorised vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians have their own space. The Netherlands have sorted it all out so it just needs copying. At junctions motorists generally have to give way to cyclists but cyclists are never on the road in front of them. Cyclists are on the cycle path which is where they want to be because they are well designed, well maintained and generally have priority over motorists. Here some cyclists are on the pavement, some on the side of the road and some in the middle of the road. It's a total mess. If the HS2 money had been spent on the roads copying the Dutch model it would have brought much more benefits to everyone than HS2 ever will.

zagfles

Norman_Castle said:

Absolutely no difference. I haven't changed my behaviour when driving or walking and it appears no one else has. I haven't inconvenienced any pedestrians or struggled when crossing roads.  Ill conceived nonsense.

Well if motorists and pedestrians can't understand fairly simple give way rules, I guess we're stuck with the sort of junctions where traffic in all directions has to be stopped by a red light because one pedestrian wants to cross, even if no traffic is crossing the pedestrian's path.

zagfles

Ibrahim5 said:

You need a road system where motorised vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians have their own space. The Netherlands have sorted it all out so it just needs copying. At junctions motorists generally have to give way to cyclists but cyclists are never on the road in front of them. Cyclists are on the cycle path which is where they want to be because they are well designed, well maintained and generally have priority over motorists. Here some cyclists are on the pavement, some on the side of the road and some in the middle of the road. It's a total mess. If the HS2 money had been spent on the roads copying the Dutch model it would have brought much more benefits to everyone than HS2 ever will.

Have you been to Milton Keynes? Pedestrians and cyclists are completely separated from cars, they have separate routes for bikes and pedestrians (redways). Outside the very centre most roads are 60mph as there are no pedestrians or bikes.

I found that a lot better than NL, driving in NL was a nightmare in some places.

zagfles

kobe84 said:

I had an encounter yesterday when I was waiting to cross a road that has a mini roundabout at it's junction at the bottom, it used to be a T junction at one time. A lady turning left at the roundabout and into my road stopped to give way to me but I couldn't cross because there were cars coming down the road to my left, she just sat there for a second or two holding up traffic at the junction until I had to wave her on.

And of course the opposite can happen eg if a car is waiting to turn right into a side road but is prevented by oncoming traffic, and pedestrians are waiting to cross the side road.

elsien

I have been to Milton Keynes and got ridiculously lost. No pedestrians to stop and ask the way Going from identical island to identical island and back again. Wouldn’t recommend. 

zagfles

elsien said:

I have been to Milton Keynes and got ridiculously lost. No pedestrians to stop and ask the way Going from identical island to identical island and back again. Wouldn’t recommend. 

Yes that is an issue if you don't know where you're going and particularly with 60mph roads. But everyone has sat navs or a smart phone they can get google maps on now don't they?