3745 replies to this topic

[Barrrister]

The secret is to avoid doing just about anything in the CofV.   I sure as hell would not want to have a business there.                              

[Victoria Watcher]

‘Somebody is going to be killed’: Fernwood residents demand change after cyclist struck at intersection

 

https://www.cheknews...ection-1174015/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe there would be less issues if our intersections didn't look so ridiculous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 October 2023 - 06:27 AM.

[Mike K.]

I didn’t know what to do when I drove up to that very intersection in the summer. My brain said a design that bad must be a four-way stop. Then I realized I can’t cross the street, then a car honked at me from behind, I thought oh ****, I better go, then a car comes down the hill not stopping, honks at me, driver took a moment to yell, she also pointed at my stop sign. Yes, thanks lady, just trying to figure out this dog’s breakfast on the fly.

That’s why accidents happen at that intersection.

[Victoria Watcher]

I also suspect the bike rider entered the intersection before he confirmed car or cars were going to stop.

 

 

 

Reddit thread from a year ago:

 

What the heck is with the signage at Fernwood and Haultain?

 

https://www.reddit.c...t_fernwood_and/

 

 

I'm so confused and wanted to check here before emailing the city in case I'm just an idiot. When travelling along Haultain, there is a stop sign, so that's pretty clear, but then on Fernwood the signs seem to indicate drivers should yield to cyclists and pedestrians. So if I'm cycling along Haultain, once I stop at the stop sign, does a car approaching on Fernwood yield? No matter if I'm driving or cycling I'm always yielding right of way at that intersection because I'm terrified of getting pancaked or doing the pancaking. It feels like everyone approaching that intersection exhibits similar confusion. Anyone know that the law is?

 

 

 

 

Prior to the City messing with it:

 

 

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 October 2023 - 06:49 AM.

[Mike K.]

Considering how few bikes there are on the roads, there is a staggering amount of collisions with vehicles.

It’s 1:100, and so many accidents.

[Darren14]

Oh yeah, it could be a huge project. But who knows what the final design will be.

The big delay will be the Goldstream upgrades.

 

I guess taking the Finlason Arm route in the summer will have to continue... 

[mbjj]

I'm through that Fernwood intersection several times a week. They should have left it as a four-way stop, or put the stop signs on Fernwood, not on Haultain. Haultain has the bike lanes and it seems cyclists want to go through there without slowing or stopping. 

[Nparker]

...Haultain has the bike lanes and it seems cyclists want to go through there without slowing or stopping. 

Since the plethora of bike lanes came into existence, it seems as though quite a number of cyclists have developed a very laissez-faire attitude towards road safety.

[aastra]

Methinks it would be much simpler and much more intuitive to have stop signs for the Fernwood vehicle traffic and have no stop signs for the Haultain cycle traffic.

[Mike K.]

Yes that’s intuitive, but they blocked vehicle traffic there, so cars -have- to stop. Because of this blockage, all users have to stop, otherwise you’d have an even worse scenario.

[Nparker]

I think "intuitive" was the first thing taken off the table when it came to designing our local cycling network.

[Mike K.]

Do we have statistics on car-bike collisions and how they compare to pre-bike lanes and the removal of travel lanes for bike lanes?

[aastra]

 

Do we have statistics on car-bike collisions

 

I haven't seen very many car-bikes in Victoria so I doubt they're crashing into each other all that often.

[FogPub]

Methinks it would be much simpler and much more intuitive to have stop signs for the Fernwood vehicle traffic and have no stop signs for the Haultain cycle traffic.

Other way around.  All traffic on Haultain (the minor road of the two) should have to stop, Fernwood should not.

[JimV]

I think "intuitive" was the first thing taken off the table when it came to designing our local cycling network.

Too true.  I hadn’t been on upper Fort street for a while.  Today I discovered that all the construction was to create a morass of confusing and dangerous curbs, bollards, lines, etc.  All to constrict traffic for the benefit of a handful of cyclists (I noticed two between Cook and Richardson.)  Another crazed nightmare from the dark Webb, presumably with the encouragement of the mid wits on council.

[aastra]

 

Other way around.  All traffic on Haultain (the minor road of the two) should have to stop, Fernwood should not.

 

Just to clarify, I was assuming the whole point of these changes was to optimize and prioritize Haultain bicycle traffic. That intersection was a perfectly functional 4-way stop for ages before the recent changes, so maintaining the stop for Fernwood traffic would have represented no change at all. And since vehicle traffic can now no longer cross that intersection along Haultain, it would have been logically consistent with the supposed spirit of the mission to do away with the stop for cycle traffic along Haultain while maintaining the stop for Fernwood traffic.

 

But I'm aware that logical consistency and the supposed spirit of the mission don't usually have any relevance to these kinds of controversies.

[aastra]

Ultimately they've created a cluttered and confusing new intersection which allows motorists to proceed along Fernwood without stopping while also seeming to encourage cyclists to proceed along Haultain without stopping. Even as a pedestrian it's confusing now, because the look and feel of the entire arrangement seems to be prioritizing the cycling traffic along Haultain, even though it actually isn't prioritizing the cycling traffic along Haultain (except it sorta kinda is, ideologically, in appearance and in principle, but not really).

[Nparker]

Welcome to the world of virtue signal engineering.

[Victoria Watcher]

Ultimately they've created a cluttered and confusing new intersection which allows motorists to proceed along Fernwood without stopping while also seeming to encourage cyclists to proceed along Haultain without stopping. 

 

Yup.

[FogPub]

Too true.  I hadn’t been on upper Fort street for a while.  Today I discovered that all the construction was to create a morass of confusing and dangerous curbs, bollards, lines, etc.  All to constrict traffic for the benefit of a handful of cyclists (I noticed two between Cook and Richardson.)  Another crazed nightmare from the dark Webb, presumably with the encouragement of the mid wits on council.

A lot of it is because the Fort St bike lane is - stupidly - on the left side of the road, and when Fort becomes two-way those cyclists have to cross.  There was one signalled crossing (at the school); it now looks like there'll be three: at the school, at Fernwood, and at Harrison.

 

Pathetic.