Complacency and Surprise

I’ve mentioned before that it’s easy to become complacent on residential streets where there is rarely other traffic. I used to have problems on Formosa (a bike route) because the local motorists were accustomed to not seeing traffic before crossing or turning onto it. I narrowly avoided getting hit by stop-sign runners several times, then changed my route.

These days, one of my regular rat paths goes through the intersection in the photo (google map). My path is the green line. This is the intersection of Montana St (the horizontal part) with Utah and Georgia Blvds. When I started using this route, I identified that there is no stop sign for southbound drivers on Georgia. When I stop at the southbound stop sign on Utah, I have no way of seeing southbound traffic on Georgia. I typically creep around the corner until I can determine it is clear to proceed. There is rarely traffic on Georgia, but if a car is coming, it is usually moving fast (IMO, too fast for a neighborhood).

This morning I had a headache and my thoughts were elsewhere. I haven’t seen a car in that intersection in many, many trips. So I was not mindful of it as I entered that intersection. Next thing I knew, a car (yellow line) was shooting across my path. This is the first time in a long time I’ve had to hit the brakes in surprise. A crash would have been my fault. I’m grateful the timing of our convergence was such that it all it did was shake me up.

Andrew wrote an excellent post a while back about the combination of causes (chain of events) that lead to a crash. It’s worth a read (or another read, as the case may be). Complacency ranks high as the first-link in the chain.

12 replies
    • Keri
      Keri says:

      Yeah, I’ve often wondered what people were smoking when they designed that neighborhood, there’s another strange X south of there.

      You can see why we need wayfinding… especially considering a lot of the grid streets are brick. The good part is, cut-thru motorists can’t find their way either, so it’s really peaceful if you know the good routes.

  1. Will
    Will says:

    Makes me wonder how we could handle shared space in this country. So does the crosswalk thing. We’re very rule bound, regimented. This is where you go, this is where I go.

    Then again, it cements the idea in place. A regimented system like this places the onus on one person to stay safe, and not the other. In a low speed residential neighborhood, that’s not good.

    • Keri
      Keri says:

      Will, it makes me wonder the same about shared space. Perhaps if none of the streets had stop signs and everyone knew that, the approach would be different. The problem is, we’ve dumbed down drivers by overusing stop signs. The assumption is, if there is no stop sign that means everyone else stops and you don’t have to be cautious. If we got rid of all neighborhood stop signs, maybe we could go back to the expectation that one should approach an intersection with caution.

      While we’re at it we could get rid of double yellow lines on residential streets, too.

      • Will
        Will says:

        I’m ready to rip out all traffic control from the neighborhood streets. There’s a traffic light right near me that only seems to exist because the streets are offset. Maybe we can just put up yield signs everywhere to remind people its not just their road.

        I’m all for starting an unpainting movement.

  2. Will
    Will says:

    Winter park did something pretty crazy for this burg, they dropped the cubs and put benches in in the median of morse by park ave. I love the look. Maybe we can put some benches and other decorations in the middle of this intersection.

    This article made me go into a small bout of wikipediaitus, and I found these cool nuggets:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_reclamation
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_party

    Thinking about it, this would be a great spot to have a party. I’ll bring the grill.

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