www.csua.org/u/qz2 -> www.fastcompany.com/1660258/traffic-report-how-to-switch-to-the-other-side-of-the-road-without-causing-a-70-car-pileup?partner=yahoobuzz
Username or e-mail address: * E-mail new password Sign Up*Required Field Registering for Fast Company is easy, just fill in the blanks above and submit a comment. Once your account is approved, update your profile page and start a discussion. Your email will not be shared with the public, or any third-party advertisers.
Suzanne LaBarreTue Jun 15, 2010 Hong Kong drives on the left side of the road, mainland China on the right. So how do you prevent crashes when driving between them? Chinese Flipper bridge One of the most vexing aspects of traveling between mainland China and Hong Kong is the car travel: People in the former drive on the right side of the road; people in the latter drive on the left (a vestige of the British empire).
NL Architects proposed a brilliant, simple solution, the Flipper bridge. Flipper bridge The bridge does exactly what the name suggests: It flips traffic around. The key here is separating the two sides of traffic, using a figure-eight shape. One side of the road dips under the other, funneling cars that were traveling on the left to the right (and vice versa), without forcing them to encounter head-on traffic at an intersection. The bridge makes what should be a disorienting switch exquisitely easy.
Traffic, is that dangerous roads are actually safer precisely because they're perceived as dangerous; that is, they make drivers more vigilant and therefore less likely to get into a collision. Facing apparent peril, people became more cautious behind the wheel (and others probably stayed off the road altogether). But what if a driver, lulled by the easy left-right transition, forgot that the change over had even been made?
|