You’re reading Transit Time, a weekly newsletter for Charlotte people who leave the house. Cars, buses, light rail, bikes, scooters … if you use it to get around the city, we write about it. Transit Time is produced in partnership among The Charlotte Ledger
Not to sound cynical, but in the Netherlands, there is an ethic of responsibility which means people are willing to share the road for the benefit of all. That is a huge reason why the Dutch lead the rest of the world when it comes to the % who ride bikes, and at all ages and abilities. In the USA it's every man-for-himself (and a few women too). And for cars in the city, the speed limits are much lower than ours.
Winston is right, people speed because our streets are designed for it. Almost every singe design feature of our streets is designed for speed: wide lanes, broad turning radii, wide clear zones, and barely any traffic calming measures at all. No wonder people go fast, everything about the street design gives you plenty of space and leeway and so you hardly notice how fast you are going until you are speeding! Things get especially dangerous when you combine these types of speed-inducing design choices with frequent low-speed conflict points such as intersections, curb cuts, and median U-turn cutouts. Then you have created a stroad, and Charlotte is full of them.
I moved to Charlotte in 2013 from the Washington DC area where traffic is about as bad as it can be. I was amazed at the speed limits here on what I considered to be city/residential streets. I had a theory that Charlotte has grown so quickly, traffic planners are not looking clearly at the amount of traffic currently. 45 mph seems to be the official speed on streets that were/are heavily traveled when 35 mph makes sense. I think the electric signs that indicate travel speeds tend to slow many people down, not everybody, of course. I also know the camera on certain speedy streets slowed down the traffic in areas in the neighborhoods in Maryland. The fee wasn't so low as to be figured just part of commuting expense - $40-$50, I think. People knew where the cameras were after a period of time, so they automatically drove the speed limit on that stretch of street. It worked; it slowed the traffic, and when some of the drivers slowed down, even the ones who might have driven faster also slowed down. If all of us who feel it's important to drive more safely, drive the speed limit, it would influence some others who sort of unconsciously drive the speed that everybody else is driving. It's contagious. I rarely encounter the "slow" driver mentioned in a different comment and I wonder if some people think the "slow" driver is actually driving the speed limit, while everybody around them is going the time-honored 10mph faster. A sidebar: How did it ever become legal to have tinted glass in every window of the car? Insane! How did the roaring engines ON PURPOSE become legal? Why are the WRONG WAY signs placed on the divided highways always in the wrong place??
The red light running is happening at scary frequency… I witnessed it just this morning on the Plaza at Matheson. Speeding is absolutely an epidemic regardless of the road design. Larken mentioned Parkwood as an example of newer designed road The people still speed on it… there are separators though that help keep pedestrians and cyclists safe. There’s a lot more we can do to make roads safer and create more sidewalks and Waze for pedestrians to cross the street safely
Sharon Road West is not designed to speed like a certain City Council person stated. It is just like every other street in Charlotte where drivers disobey the law and break stated speed limits. Drivers of school buses, buses and automobiles routinely and purposely run the red lights at the intersection of Hopeton Road and Sharon Road West.
Red light cameras should be reinstated. In the Southpark area this is a serious common issue. Another issue is the current condition on the roads in Charlotte- Sharon, Providence, Colony, Carmel to name a few, are terrible!
Technology is the distraction that is contributing to many of these accidents, so let’s use it to solve some of these issues. I recognize that red-light cameras were controversial but they worked, so let’s reinstall them. If police resources are a challenge, then use cameras to catch/deter speeders, drones for following traffic lawbreakers, and potentially even satellites. If roads (e.g. Sharon Road West) currently are too conducive to speeding, then redesign them with speed calming techniques such as humps, bumps, rumble strips, lane reductions, etc.
The number of people running red lights in the the city has become dangerous and unacceptable. Red light cameras need to be reimplimented
Not to sound cynical, but in the Netherlands, there is an ethic of responsibility which means people are willing to share the road for the benefit of all. That is a huge reason why the Dutch lead the rest of the world when it comes to the % who ride bikes, and at all ages and abilities. In the USA it's every man-for-himself (and a few women too). And for cars in the city, the speed limits are much lower than ours.
Safety for pedestrians and cyclists = no turn right on red. That should be the rule at all streetlights.
Winston is right, people speed because our streets are designed for it. Almost every singe design feature of our streets is designed for speed: wide lanes, broad turning radii, wide clear zones, and barely any traffic calming measures at all. No wonder people go fast, everything about the street design gives you plenty of space and leeway and so you hardly notice how fast you are going until you are speeding! Things get especially dangerous when you combine these types of speed-inducing design choices with frequent low-speed conflict points such as intersections, curb cuts, and median U-turn cutouts. Then you have created a stroad, and Charlotte is full of them.
I moved to Charlotte in 2013 from the Washington DC area where traffic is about as bad as it can be. I was amazed at the speed limits here on what I considered to be city/residential streets. I had a theory that Charlotte has grown so quickly, traffic planners are not looking clearly at the amount of traffic currently. 45 mph seems to be the official speed on streets that were/are heavily traveled when 35 mph makes sense. I think the electric signs that indicate travel speeds tend to slow many people down, not everybody, of course. I also know the camera on certain speedy streets slowed down the traffic in areas in the neighborhoods in Maryland. The fee wasn't so low as to be figured just part of commuting expense - $40-$50, I think. People knew where the cameras were after a period of time, so they automatically drove the speed limit on that stretch of street. It worked; it slowed the traffic, and when some of the drivers slowed down, even the ones who might have driven faster also slowed down. If all of us who feel it's important to drive more safely, drive the speed limit, it would influence some others who sort of unconsciously drive the speed that everybody else is driving. It's contagious. I rarely encounter the "slow" driver mentioned in a different comment and I wonder if some people think the "slow" driver is actually driving the speed limit, while everybody around them is going the time-honored 10mph faster. A sidebar: How did it ever become legal to have tinted glass in every window of the car? Insane! How did the roaring engines ON PURPOSE become legal? Why are the WRONG WAY signs placed on the divided highways always in the wrong place??
The red light running is happening at scary frequency… I witnessed it just this morning on the Plaza at Matheson. Speeding is absolutely an epidemic regardless of the road design. Larken mentioned Parkwood as an example of newer designed road The people still speed on it… there are separators though that help keep pedestrians and cyclists safe. There’s a lot more we can do to make roads safer and create more sidewalks and Waze for pedestrians to cross the street safely
Sharon Road West is not designed to speed like a certain City Council person stated. It is just like every other street in Charlotte where drivers disobey the law and break stated speed limits. Drivers of school buses, buses and automobiles routinely and purposely run the red lights at the intersection of Hopeton Road and Sharon Road West.
So we need to redesign streets to keep people from speeding?? What about personal responsibility?
Red light cameras should be reinstated. In the Southpark area this is a serious common issue. Another issue is the current condition on the roads in Charlotte- Sharon, Providence, Colony, Carmel to name a few, are terrible!
Technology is the distraction that is contributing to many of these accidents, so let’s use it to solve some of these issues. I recognize that red-light cameras were controversial but they worked, so let’s reinstall them. If police resources are a challenge, then use cameras to catch/deter speeders, drones for following traffic lawbreakers, and potentially even satellites. If roads (e.g. Sharon Road West) currently are too conducive to speeding, then redesign them with speed calming techniques such as humps, bumps, rumble strips, lane reductions, etc.