I read an article recently that explained how many cities are converting their streets from one-way to two-way. There is a push by many business owners to have the streets converted to increase the flow of traffic by their businesses. The public also supports the conversion because they believe it is more convenient.
I lived in Tampa, Florida for a brief period. Many of the streets there are one way, which can be confusing at first, but which I found to be incredibly efficient at getting me home. One of the greatest benefits for my purposes was that the city could synchronize the traffic lights. Once I had gotten one green light, I often caught all the rest of the green lights on a given street. As such, there was much less stop and go traffic. From reading the article, I learned that one-way streets are also safer, and having them actually increases the flow of traffic by local area businesses.
It is ironic to me that people are pushing for reform out of a belief that the new system will be more efficient without realizing that they will actually be sacrificing efficiency and safety if they achieve the reform they desire. I think it is easy to gravitate to what we are used to, and to believe basic common sense is always right. Most cities have two-way streets. We are used to driving on them. It also seems to make good sense that if you have two-way streets you'll get twice the amount of business or cars flowing by, which evidently, is a false assumption.
I was reminded of "A Beautiful Mind", and the scene in the bar, where three women enter, and all the guys at the table want to ask out the most attractive one. John Nash, played by Russell Crowe, points out that the best approach for the men to take is to ask out the less attractive women first. This approach seems counter intuitive and backwards, but, he explains, will produce the most favorable outcome.
Things fascinate me that way. Oftentimes, common sense is just wrong. If I knew nothing about science, common sense would have me believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth. It is not terribly hard to see how one may think this. However, through science and experiment, this belief has been proven wrong.
(This post was tremendously shortened through either a copy and past mishap, or more likely, a Blogger accident.)
I lived in Tampa, Florida for a brief period. Many of the streets there are one way, which can be confusing at first, but which I found to be incredibly efficient at getting me home. One of the greatest benefits for my purposes was that the city could synchronize the traffic lights. Once I had gotten one green light, I often caught all the rest of the green lights on a given street. As such, there was much less stop and go traffic. From reading the article, I learned that one-way streets are also safer, and having them actually increases the flow of traffic by local area businesses.
It is ironic to me that people are pushing for reform out of a belief that the new system will be more efficient without realizing that they will actually be sacrificing efficiency and safety if they achieve the reform they desire. I think it is easy to gravitate to what we are used to, and to believe basic common sense is always right. Most cities have two-way streets. We are used to driving on them. It also seems to make good sense that if you have two-way streets you'll get twice the amount of business or cars flowing by, which evidently, is a false assumption.
I was reminded of "A Beautiful Mind", and the scene in the bar, where three women enter, and all the guys at the table want to ask out the most attractive one. John Nash, played by Russell Crowe, points out that the best approach for the men to take is to ask out the less attractive women first. This approach seems counter intuitive and backwards, but, he explains, will produce the most favorable outcome.
Things fascinate me that way. Oftentimes, common sense is just wrong. If I knew nothing about science, common sense would have me believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth. It is not terribly hard to see how one may think this. However, through science and experiment, this belief has been proven wrong.
(This post was tremendously shortened through either a copy and past mishap, or more likely, a Blogger accident.)
The bank I work at faces a one way street and I see people turn down the wrong way all the time while incoming traffic is on it's way. Prety scary stuff. In Phoenix you couldn't turn left at any stoplight downtown between 4-6pm. It drove me crazy trying to get where I needed to go.
ReplyDeleteIf I ignored science I would believe the stars were all my dead relatives and that water was as clean and pure as it looks.
ReplyDeletePeople are afraid of change. The Earth shatters when we are forced to step off the straight line of our routines. I always get a rush of adrenaline going around a blind curve.
If I ignored science I would believe the stars were all my dead relatives and that water was as clean and pure as it looks.
ReplyDeletePeople are afraid of change. The Earth shatters when we are forced to step off the straight line of our routines. I always get a rush of adrenaline going around a blind curve.