Comment on The 11foot8 bridge opens another big can
nucleative@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I’m American but live outside the US in a developing country.
Here, the situation on the roads is wildly unstandardized. Every turn, road sign, curb size, lane width, bridge height, traffic signal duration, etc may or may not be consistent with anything else. Not to mention drivers going the wrong way, motorcycles on the sidewalks, people stopping in the road and more.
Because of the weirdness drivers know they have to pay attention or else death and injury awaits.
The fact that the 11’ 8" bridge still takes so many casualties suggests drivers confidently think they can drive all over the USA and the road is engineered to an exacting standard. Except for this one bridge.
I think it’s actually time for the city to just properly fix this bridge and bring it up to standard.
silverchase@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
If you’ve followed the news and history of this bridge, the city did actually try. They increased the clearance from the original 11 ft 8 in to 12 ft 4 in, but that’s still a bit too low for large vehicles. There’s limited room to expand since that bridge is a rail bridge and there are utilities under the ground.
That is one thing I admire about chaotic roads. I remember hearing the rule of crossing the street in Hanoi is to just look where you want to go and walk in a straight line at a constant speed, and expect traffic to work around you. Standardization and signage really just exists to make driving easier.
nucleative@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Yeah here in Bangkok the only rule is that there are no rules. I jokingly say that whomever believes in reincarnation the most has the right of way.
This system does work, but there are still way more casualties than necessary.