Crosstown traffic

You jump in front of my car when you,
you know all the time
Ninty miles an hour, girl, is the speed I drive
You tell me it's alright, you don't mind a little pain
You say you just want me to take you for a drive

You're just like crosstown traffic
So hard to get through to you
Crosstown traffic
I don't need to run over you
Crosstown traffic
All you do is slow me down
And I'm tryin' to get on the other side of town

I'm not the only soul who's accused of hit and run
Tire tracks all across your back
I can, I can see you had your fun
But, darlin' can't you see my signals turn from green to red
And with you I can see a traffic jam straight up ahead

You're just like crosstown traffic
So hard to get through to you
Crosstown traffic
I don't need to run over you
Crosstown traffic
All you do is slow me down
And I got better things on the other side of town

Jimmy Hendrix, November 21, 1968

One sign I haven't found in Australia

The above sign is quite common in Europe. Most of the European countries have it and in Greece the official name translates to “Start of residential area marked as traffic calm”. 

In Netherlands is called “woonerf” which is the most used international term from the Dutch words wonen 'reside' + erf 'premises, ground'.

Historically this scheme originates from Holland. The Dutch government developed traffic regulations for woonerfs in 1976, though the first woonerf was built in the city of Delft a decade earlier.

In the UK they have the “Home Zone” sign which is much similar. 

In Australia we have the 10 Km Shared Zone which is a quite different in colours. 

 Maybe we need to rethink about not only the sign design but the sign usage as well.

Road safety: A tale with a dragon with big teeth.

The other day I was discussing some road safety issues and a treatment with the name of “Dragon’s teeth” was mentioned. To tell you the truth it was the first time that I heard of the term so I asked myself “What are Dragon’s teeth?”

By the term Dragon’s teeth in traffic management we mean one of the following three things:

1. Triangular road markings that have been installed at the entry points to all 10,000 school zones across New South Wales up to 32.5 metres at the start of each school zone, to improve road safety for students. The Dragon’s Teeth markings further increase the visibility of school zones for motorists and provide a constant reinforcement to keep to the 40 km/h speed limit around schools.

 

2. Calibrated edge and centre line markings used as a secondary method to check vehicle's speed manually by calculating its speed between them when using a road side speed camera.

3. Road surface mechanical devices used to enforce one way traffic. They are mostly used on private road.