Cleanup of 5th wheel accident in California

BurbMan wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
The yellow time is typically set to account for perception/reaction time plus the time to come to a stop.

The issue is that many yellow light times are set too short...compounded by the fact that many roads regularly run faster than the speed limit.

It's not uncommon for the traffic on a 45 mph-limit road to run 55-60 on a regular basis. Cars today, even the cheap ones, perform so much better than the cars we drove when speed limits were set on these roads, it's no issue for a car to run 60 in a 45 and stop with ease, even in sub-par road conditions (rain, snow). The big rig guys (semis and RVs) run with the traffic and now don't have sufficient time to stop on yellow.

Not sure why state DOTs are determined to set yellow times at the minimum calculated times instead of making them a little longer and a little safer.

FYI, *TECHNICALLY* the speed limit is technically the maximum allowable speed in optimal conditions. Anything that makes it less than optimal conditions (snow, rain, heavy traffic, fog, etc) requires the driver to reduce speed. I'm not disagreeing that most cars are more than capable of exceeding those limits, even in less than ideal situations, just pointing out that from a DOT standpoint, the speed limit is only for optimal conditions.

And why they set yellow lights for a shorter, rather than longer, period of time is simply for traffic flow. If you allow a longer yellow light then you have set the standard for at least 2 negative outcomes. #1 is that you will still have people slamming on their brakes for a yellow light, thus creating a longer period for stopped traffic. #2 is that longer yellow lights will directly or indirectly result in longer periods of time to clear a certain amount of cars per cycle, thus creating more traffic.

Believe it or not, DOT's are supposed to try to create steady flowing traffic conditions. In Maryland all the lights seem perfectly timed to make you stop at each intersection... I'm almost convinced that the supervisors at Marylands DOT all own stock in brake pad and scrap metal companies. In Maryland you are almost always in a constant state of slowing or stopping for traffic control devices...