Lincolnite

1. I agree.

2. Why? This doesn’t decrease congestion, really. I only makes it more convenient if you happen to be out driving late at night.

3. Mmmmmaybe. Instead I’d rather plan for fewer autos in certain areas, and develop a convenient interface from one mode to the other.

4. Doesn’t seem like a big problem. I live in a neighborhood with many uncontrolled T-intersections, and people seem to negotiate them just fine.

5. What kind of rights? How does this improve traffic flow? (FWIW, though, I agree.)

We need to stop planning for cars and start planning for transportation. What do I mean by that? Well, when planning a residential development, a lot of thought is given to whether or not the local arterials can handle the average number of trips per day per household in the development. If they can’t, can we wonder if we can make improvements to the roads to support the development. How much thought do you think goes into the bus routes? The bike routes? Services available via pedestrian mode? How much goes into reducing the miles driven per day per household?
Virtually none, and that’s what needs to change.
Though I’m sorry for anyone who might lose his livelihood, I would love to see some attitudes change down at city hall. The traffic engineer position was mostly concerned with volume of auto traffic and making it move faster, like sewage through a pipe. The city will benefit from a more holistic approach to transportation planning and policy.

Gah, pardon my ordered list.

In the middle of the night, turn off the usual traffic signal cycle and replace it with a more sensible four-way stop or other set-up, as local conditions allow

Hallelujah!!!!  I’ve been to towns around Lincoln’s size or even bigger, where at 10pm or so they change the lights at many of the smaller intersections to flashing yellows and reds.  You’re still mandated to stop or show caution, but you can go if there are no cars coming.  Like I mentioned in another post, Skyway and O (between 70th and 84th) has a light that if you’re looking to turn onto O Street, you’re going to be waiting for a long time.  Also, if you’re going down O Street, for whatever reason it seems you always have to stop for the Skyway traffic.  Doesn’t make much sense to me.  I would vote for Howard Dean for mayor if he pledged to change all minor intersections to flashing lights after a certain time.

Dave: No problem re: the fubar list. I’m not sure why the system doesn’t like it. I’ll have to look into that. In the mean time, I just edited your comment to take a non-html approach to the list.

2. It only makes it more convenient if you happen to be out driving late at night.

That’s the point.

4. I live in a neighborhood with many uncontrolled T-intersections, and people seem to negotiate them just fine.

Do you mean 4-way intersections? Because T- (3-way) intersections aren’t really a problem. In my experience there are few problems at 4-way intersections where the perceived “value” of the two intersecting streets is equal. But where one street “feels” higher up the hierarchy than the other, drivers on that street become more dominant. That works out fine if drivers on the other street assume a more passive role (i.e. give up their right of way), but if they don’t and they assert their rights according to local traffic rules, problems ensue. There was an excellent example near Zemann Elementary earlier this year, where a day care van was toppled when a driver assumed that traffic on South 52nd Street had the right-of-way over cross streets. The police further muddied the issue of rights-of-way when they failed to issue a ticket to anybody in the accident, even though one driver clearly was in the right, and the other was clearly wrong.

5. How does this improve traffic flow?

In all likelihood it doesn’t. It’s a suggestion driven mainly by notions of pedestrian safety and convenience.

The reason why there was no ticket issued is because there is a section under the General Orders of the local police department which states that they will cite no one in an uncontrolled intersection.

IIRC, when approaching an uncontrolled intersection, a driver is supposed to yield to traffic approaching the same intersection from the driver’s right. I believe this is true for both three and four way interesections (though no one treats them this way).

Maybe people just need to learn to drive?

OTOH, if we reversed the precedence at uncontrolled intersection—that is, drivers must yield to traffic on their left—then vóila! uncontrolled intersections become de facto roundabouts.

...they will cite no one in an uncontrolled intersection.

Really? So the “yield to the right” rule is really just a suggestion? I have no protection under the law if some yahoo slams into the side of my car at an uncontrolled intersection? (Assuming he broke no other laws in the process.) That’s a bit disconcerting.