On a rainy day at the Airport Dike Trail, Laura Minne walks her dog Bodhi. The airport border an admonition sign for speed limits tells drivers not to travel greater that 19 1/2 miles per hour.
When Minne was asked if she had an explanation for why this is a specific code, Minne laughs.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I can only imagine,” she says. “Whoever did it must be pretty amazing to be funny. .”
Airport Director Patty Wahto says that person was part of the airfield crew a few years back. The goal was to draw attention from the numerous workers driving faster than the maximum of 20 mph.
It’s a span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”When the 20 mph speed signs were put up You could ask the people about the speed limit,” Wahto wrote in an email. “They could either say they didn’t know or say that they didn’t know the speed limit was. .”
Research shows that drivers are less likely to remember specifics about the routes they’re familiar with. Dwight Hennessy is a professor at Buffalo State University who studies traffic psychology.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”The truth is that we aren’t able to pay complete, concentrated attention to every single thing,” Hennessy said. “If you’re in a dull environment where everything is identical break it up and is a great way to draw our attention. It is easier to be able to comprehend things after having observed them for a .”
This is why the 19 1/2-inch sign works the way it does, he explained. It’s distinctive and makes motorists consider what speed limits are more.
The explanation provided Minne the hiker the trail walker, the idea.
“So we’ll just do it on Egan you think?” she said.
In reality it is it is expected that the Alaska Department of Transportation will test the possibility of a lower speed restriction on Egan Drive in the winter months but not the 19-1/2 mph limit. From November. 1 through January. 31st The speed is 45 miles per hour starting from Mendenhall Loop Road to the Sunny Point interchange — an increase of 10 miles per hour. The new speed signs on radar will notify drivers of what speed they’re travelling at.
Nathan Purves, a engineer in the field of traffic and safety for the department, stated that the aim is to cut down on winter accidents near Fred Meyer.
Its style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”That was the location where the majority of crashes took place,” he said. “When it was cold outside and people tried to make that turn in the traffic. The idea is that by slowing people down, there will be more gaps in flow of traffic. It will also be simpler to get the crossing .”
However, a speed reduction that is greater than 10 mph may cause much more damage than benefit, he warned. Drivers make assumptions about the proper speed limit based on specifics of a road such as its size and the kind of buildings that surround it. If DOT abruptly reduced Egan’s speed limit from 25 miles per hour, Purves said, most drivers would likely feel more at ease driving faster.
It’s a span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”There could be extreme cases where people say”It says you’re supposed go for 25 on Egan but I’m 24 because I’m not up to speed’, and then you get someone saying, ‘I’m happy at 65 and I’m fine at 65,'” he said. “This person who is following the law is at risk. .”
As with the airport, a number of cities are working to make their speed limits more prominent. In Seattle Transportation officials have installed signs at greater intervals. They have also reduced the speed limit on residential and arterial streets of 5 miles/hour. The city also reported an increase of 22% in accidents.
The time will tell if the temporary speed limit and radar signs help reduce wintertime crashes on Egan. At the airport, however the 19 1/2 speed limit sign appears to be working.
