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Comment on California father arrested after repainting crosswalk, adding stop signs near children’s park

SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

It may be a science, but that doesn’t place it in some rarefied air of infallibility, any more than any other science. It’s only ever as good as how it’s applied, and how any science is applied is always subject to human fallibility. Traffic engineering is especially bad in that respect, routinely and as a matter of course being subverted by political considerations, not least by the fundamental choices about who and what matters, and who and what does not matter. It does not deserve much respect as a practice.

But with that said, in this case, even the traffic engineers agreed that a stop sign was an appropriate treatment for this intersection when they rejected it on the basis that the traffic volume wasn’t high enough to warrant installing one. Presumably, if there were more cars, it would be fine. So, yes, we can say confidently that this man made the area safer.

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Warl0k3@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

even the traffic engineers agreed that a stop sign was an appropriate treatment for this intersection when they rejected it on the basis that the traffic volume wasn’t high enough to warrant installing one

I’m not sure I follow your reasoning here.

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- SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  They allegedly did a study to see whether there was enough traffic, a step which requires a certain commitment of resources. If the placement of a stop sign would’ve harmed safety by displacing traffic flow, then they could’ve cited that without spending time on a study. But they didn’t, from which we can conclude that a stop sign is okay there.
  
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  - Warl0k3@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Ah, I understand. Thank you.
    
    That’s a decent example of what I’ve been saying - basing a conclusion like that on the wording of an uncited press statement is pretty spurious. There simply may have been more reasons and this was judged the easiest to explain (which happens frequently), and without more information we aren’t simply equipped to make an informed judgement. Much as he wasn’t when he made the initial decision (but we admittedly court far less severe consequences)
    
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    SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Thanks for the excellent reply. I don’t exactly agree, but I love that it’s logical, clear, and respectful.
    
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