# When "road safety" bullshit makes the road LESS safe **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 12, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204 "2018-09-12T02:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/41 "2018-09-15T16:28:18Z")
The OP reminds me of an incident several years ago where my sister and I were returning from a concert in Puyallup, WA, heading back home to eastern WA. It was, of course, after dark. One stretch of highway was undergoing major construction/improvement. We came around a big curve and emerged from under an overpass, and were suddenly presented with what seemed like a solid wall of reflectors. They were covering _everything_. My sister, who was driving, already has poor night vision, and this sudden appearance of so many reflectors disoriented her enough that we nearly went off the road. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/42 "2018-09-17T00:46:14Z")
Coming home last week on the turnpike, and there was a tray-truck picking up a broken down car. Floodlights on top of the cabin, illuminating the tray, the car, and the traffic lane for miles behind. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/43 "2018-09-17T01:26:38Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > That’s almost happened to me as well. I started a 40-mile+ run around Canandaigua Lake in the winter around 5 am (by myself so there were cars on the road.) > > Invariably when vehicles were headed my way they _turned on their brights_ – what, now that you saw me you think that there’s someone else dressed in black sneaking behind me about to jump out into the road in front of your truck? It forced me to slow down, and look down, to make sure I didn’t stumble on any cracks / outright holes in the shoulder. I do it as, “oh, shit, there’s someone in the road. Who else am I not seeing, as they may not be alone?” I’ve had enough close calls with peds I never saw I’m wary. I nearly ran over a guy who I only noticed at the last moment due to the movement of the white legs of the little black and white dog he was walking caught my eye. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/44 "2018-09-17T01:52:27Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > I’m sorry you had to with that shit, but thank you for informing me that there is a town called Meat Cove. It is inn the same pantheon as Intercourse and Sugartit. Only in PA in Intercourse near Paradise. 🆒 I’ll add the bright lights at the turnpike exit. Our state doesn’t even have front license plates; why do you need to blind drivers by illuminating the front of their car (so EZPass can get a good reading) _immediately_ before the vehicles need to merge from multiple lanes at the toll booth down to two lanes. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > I often run after dark and my path along a semi-rural road is enlivened by drivers who see me coming and for “safety” reasons turn on their super-bright headlights. > > Now, I make an effort to wear light-colored clothing and and LED-flashing bracelet, so it’s not like I’m difficult to see, plus when I spot an oncoming car I run on the far edge of the road in the opposite lane. By using their brights, these drivers are partially blinding me and increasing the risk that I’ll trip over something at the road’s edge - plus, they can see me just as well with their regular headlights. I’m a runner & a cyclist; I look like the freakin’ Rockefeller Center Christmas tree out there. I think your problem is that they notice motion; at first they don’t know if you’re a person or a deer, & even after determining you’re a person, is there another runner near you. The dedicated running vests with reflective material are bullshit. I’d strongly recommend getting (at least) a [Class II](https://www.google.com/search?q=class+II+reflective+vest&source=lnms&tbm=isch) vest or shirt. Wider reflective material is exponentially brighter than a thin strip. I have one of [these](https://www.boscovs.com/wcsstore/boscovs/images/store/product/images/114384837w1105800320.jpg) as my top layer for winter running & an even brighter mesh Class III vest for warmer weather & or dark roads). Also, a bracelet that is bright from close-up is not necessarily bright & noticeable from a distance. Get light(s) that are obnoxiously bright. Try this test. Put your light at the end of a parking lot; walk 100’ away. Is it noticeable? Then remember you’re _looking_ for it. If you can see it but it doesn’t draw your attention do you think a driver that isn’t even looking for it will notice it or think it’s anything other than some kind of background light? My pet peeve is the pedestrian crossing signs they put up in the [middle of a road](https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6147/5923523615_e59b698fe9_b.jpg), on the yellow line. While they might make it safer for pedestrians, on a two lane road they make it impossible for a car to go over the center line a bit to pass a cyclist. The result is that the cyclist gets crowded out & they cause near misses or accidents. Yeah, if there’s not enough room, the car _should_ slow down until it’s safe to pass, but how often do you think that _really_ happens? ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/45 "2018-09-17T02:59:27Z")
I wonder if, for years (forever) until recently, the technology and budgets for night vision on roads (reflectors etc) were such that doing the maximum available was barely enough, and if some are still in that mindset. ISTM there’s an optimal “night reflection capacity per mile” or some such, and that the correct answer is “Significantly more than was used 40 years ago, but a lot less than is used today”. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/46 "2018-09-17T09:40:53Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Are they using LED’s now or something. It’s a real problem. Yes. I had to pass my car’s technical inspection last month. When I went to pick up my brand new sticker and its accompanying paperwork, one of the workers was explaining to another woman that the lights in her car are actually Not Approved. “Carmakers started putting LEDs in before the paperwork was completely through, and some lamp models are approved and some are not; these particular ones are a horror for anybody you cross on a narrow road. So what you do is, you take the papers and the car to the official store for this brand (you know where that is?) and they have to change your lamps free of cost. When you have the new lamps you need to come back”. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/47 "2018-09-17T12:52:04Z")
Several years ago my town started using LED emergency lights on all of their police cruisers–nice and bright so everyone can see them. Then one night I was going through a narrow intersection where a couple of police cars were stopped behind some random traffic scofflaw, and as I squeezed past I was shocked to see that I drove within a foot of a police officer who was standing next to the lead cruiser. It was all but impossible to see him because he was beside the super-bright lights. Thankfully I didn’t run into him, but it gave me a scare. A few months back I was talking to an officer who was doing one of those “meet the public” kinds of things at a supermarket and I told him about my situation. He said that this is a well known problem and they do train officers to be aware that they all but disappear when standing next to their brightly lit cruisers at night. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/48 "2018-09-17T13:17:17Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > … > > A few months back I was talking to an officer who was doing one of those “meet the public” kinds of things at a supermarket and I told him about my situation. He said that this is a well known problem and they do train officers to be aware that they all but disappear when standing next to their brightly lit cruisers at night. I wonder why they don’t also change their equipment so that they are not blinding drivers. Yes, put lights on the cruisers to attract the dirver’s attention to their presence so they can see you, but so bright that they are blinding the drivers is not a good solution. Surely, there is a happy medium. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/49 "2018-09-17T14:35:58Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > [`Passing us is risking your life’ : Plow operator](https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/02/12/passing_us_is_risking_your_life_plow_operator.html) I have a real problem with this cite. First, it’s from Toronto, Ontario where some driving laws are different. Secondly, the plow driver is incorrect, it is not specifically against the law to pass a snow plow in Ontario… or anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/50 "2018-09-17T14:53:00Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Secondly, the plow driver is incorrect, it is not specifically against the law to pass a snow plow in Ontario… or anywhere else. Six lanes of traffic, five of them cleared, and the plow in the right lane clearing the last lane, and it would be illegal to pass him in one of the five cleared lanes? Yeah, that dude was smoking pot. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204/51 "2018-09-17T14:59:14Z")
The snowplow may not even be plowing at the time, but on its way to a snow-covered area or back to the garage. They’re still slow as a doped-up turtle, but the road is otherwise fine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-road-safety-bullshit-makes-the-road-less-safe/821204.md?page=2)