What if We Couldn’t Turn Left?
Zoolander, famous for his ‘Blue Steel’ gaze is also famed for not being an ambi-turner. The fictional lead in the 2001 comedy of the same name, played by Ben Stiller was a mild mannered, likable fool who suffered with an inability to turn left. According to research carried out by the North Carolina State University he may not have been so silly after all, as it turns out removing motorists ability to turn left actually speeds up journey times and reduces reported collisions by an impressive 46%.
The concept is known as Super Street, and the general principal is that if you remove a drivers ability to cross a major artery from a side road, but instead take them onto and then across the traffic via special U-turn zones, they are then able to safely turn right to continue on their previous path, all without hindering the journey of others.
Super Street has lived as text book concept for some 20 years, but it has taken until now for anyone to test the theory in a live situation, and the results have been promising. Whilst its too early to tell whether the system could be implemented on a large national, or even international scale, one pressing concern of the system would be whether you could adapt the driving populations perception to that of the rather different Super Street system? The jury is certainly out on that one, but what is clear is that adaptation and development of the way we use our roads is a good thing, and if Super Street proves itself to be a viable solution to the constant stop, start of driving, thus reducing emissions from cars, it can only be a good thing.
via: [Uber Gizmo]
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shaun
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Anonymous
