I was crossing Lincoln St. this morning heading to Bread & Chocolate for brunch when a car passed behind me, turning in the street to reverse direction and then for a second pass through the crosswalk. The driver did slow down to let me complete my passage across the street, otherwise I would have missed the special french today on the specials menu. I mentioned, in an elevated tone, still three quarters the way between the North and South sides of Lincoln St. that I thought the maneuver was unwise for several reasons but thinking about it perhaps I am not familiar with the traffic signs used in Massachusetts. Perhaps V14 readers can help me understand what the pictured signs means in today’s poll question.
[polldaddy poll=9086878]
Crazy Divers: Men be like...
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As you probably know, Groot, this has been an issue for some time ( thus the sign). Your experience verifies old data that show signs are less effective than infrastructure. On this case, two possible solutions come to mind: one is proper, demand-based parking pricing, so there’s always a spot available on your side of the street. The other is to narrow that excessively long crossing so u- turns can only be executed with difficulty
@Andreae – I doubt narrowing the crossing would help, since many people make their U-turns well before they get near the intersection. For some reason, people think that Lincoln St. is made for U-turns. That and in front of the library seem to be the most popular places in Newton for that maneuver, as far as I can tell.
It would help if police ticketed. Twice I have seen police parked in a spot, and a driver doing a U-Turn in the Highlands. Actually the police could do a joint ticketing for that and also not stopping for a pedestrian in a crosswalk. 🙂
@Andreae, I think that parking management can be helpful but for today there were lots of spaces on both sides of the street and parking was free on a Sunday. The issue today is likely a space right in front of the desired shop was open. Like how people fight for the space in front of their gym.
I also find it discouraging that on the occasions I have offered advice about not doing U-Turns to drivers, it is my fault for interrupting their progress with no acknowledgement of any wrongdoing or possible endangerment.
It’s a sign duplicating the conversation of two errant drivers:
“No, you turn!”
“No, you turn!”
(Confession: that’s not original, not is it plagiarism…I can’t remember what comedian I heard say it!)
Andreae’s got it right. Signage is the least effective way to change people’s behaviors, and enforcement is never going to be consistent enough to be a deterrent. It’s all about infrastructure and parking. That intersection was designed for trolleys and wagons, not cars. (Note the trolley pole in the distance) It was even wider prior to the 1980’s. How long are those crosswalks? Consider that two lanes of traffic require a width of only 20-24 feet. How hard would it be to redesign that intersection so that a full 360 were no longer possible? Imagine even more table seating for Bread and Chocolate.
Highlands resident here. Structurally impeding a U turn at that spot (Lincoln & Hartford) will be a huge step in the right direction. It would be good to deal with the second trouble spot on that stretch of Lincoln at the same time: illegal U turns at the corner of Bowdoin and Lincoln across from the Hude playground, which happen once drivers pass through the Village without having found a spot that they feel is suitable. Once the Hartford intersection becomes more difficult to pull the U, Bowdoin will become the turnaround of choice. It already is for some.
*Hyde*
On Lincoln between Walnut and Hartford (the intersection with the U-turn sign), a lot of people make U-turns – not to get into parking spaces but when getting out of them. People think nothing of leaving a space and immediately making a U-turn to go the direction they want. None of the suggested infrastructure changes will help with those – and they can be extremely dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers. It would be nice to see some enforcement – I don’t think I’ve seen anyone ticketed for that in the past 20 years.