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NYC Asks Google Maps For Fewer Left Turns
An anonymous reader writes: Members of the New York City Council have sent a letter to Google asking that its Maps navigation system provide users an option to "reduce left turns." Pedestrian safety is the issue they're trying to improve. In the U.S., a quarter of all accidents involving pedestrians happen while a vehicle is making a left turn. "The first cause of death for New York City children under 13 is not gangs, it's not poverty, not violence. It's being hit by cars and trucks. This is the time for the city to reach out to the private sector, so they can help us to provide information to drivers about where you should avoid making left turns." The council members are also asking for an option that would let truckers stay on known truck routes, hoping that would prevent the problems that arise when big-rigs wander onto streets not large enough to safely accommodate them.
This is obviously a nanny state act by the same government that forced everyone to drink less soda and is run by the SJWs that are ruining video games like Ellen Pao and Obama.
Holy crap, I just hit submit and it's already at +5 Insightful. And you've been modded to -1 Troll already. It's an AI! There are no moderators really modding these things!
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
they could just put up "no left turn" signs
It takes money to order and install such signs. Then those requirements impede profit later on, as well. That plan won't fly. Instead they spent a few days' worth of city council time writing a letter to ask someone else to provide an optional work-around.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Making a request like this seems very reasonable and hopefully Google will be able to improve their service in this regard.
Left turn = three right turns. Three times safer, right?
Had you stopped after your first line you'd be moderated "insightful". Instead you'll like be moderated "funny". I expect my second line may have moved my comment out of "troll" and into "funny" as well, though slashdot users with moderator points are not renowned for having a sense of humor about themselves.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Sometimes a left turn is necessary. Having Google maps put a higher cost in the algorithm for left turns, the system can then determine better if a left turn should be made or three rights. It isn't about eliminating them entirely (as it isn't practical to do so), it is about reducing.
I live in Ireland, you insensitive clod!
Apparently it also reduces fuel consumption and saves time
http://compass.ups.com/UPS-dri...
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
But i wanted to keep turning left in my stock car!!!! We dont make right turns
Truckers shouldn't use google maps anyway - they don't provide legal truck routes. There are other applications out there like ALK PC Miler that provides truck routes based on verified truck routes, height and weight limits, etc.
I'm not sure that Google wants to get into that game, at least not providing a free product.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
Wait, Ellen Pao and Obama are video games?
There are certain roads I prefer to take and others I prefer to avoid, certain maneuvers I prefer to make and others I dislike. Example: especially if I'm navigating someplace unfamiliar, I'd much rather take the "least complicated" route that involves the fewest turns, especially if the time saving is less than 15 minutes.
Google Maps tracks this, both if I'm putting together the route on the computer (for printing out and taking with me) or if I'm actually navigating. And yet its suggested directions never change. It seems like there'd be MORE than enough data accumulated in a relatively small number of drives for GMaps (or Waze, is after all owned by Google, or whatever) to notice "Ah, this person hates taking non-protected left turns," or, "this person will not take the beltway for any more than a half-hour's time savings," and to adjust the directions it gives accordingly. They personalize search results. Why not directions?
The request for right turn optimized routes seems reasonable, but the truck route seems stupid to me. If you're operating a large truck you should be using truck optimized commercial software, not freaking Google Maps. There are all sorts of things like bridge height, earlier lane alignment alerts (it takes a LOT longer to get an opening big enough for a big rig), hazmat restrictions, etc that the commercial packages take into account that google maps is unlikely to ever add so giving a truck route option seems like it would give drivers a false sense that google maps is an acceptable alternative to what they should really be using.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
As a motorcyclist, I avoid left turns like the plague.
Not for safety reasons, but because I don't want to sit there for 15 minutes waiting for a car that weighs enough to pull up behind me to trigger the lights to turn green.
We waste so much of our lives waiting at red lights its baffling!
</semi-tangent>
Switch to driving on the left.
Could someone explain for the non-Americans why it is possible to have cars turning left at a green light, at the same time as pedestrians crossing the road have a green light? What was the thinking behind this? And why is the solution not just to stop this happening?
NYC should just ask Google to track children in real-time and let drivers know when one is nearby. And especially flag the ones who aren't being watched by an adult; they're way more likely to play in traffic.
Pervasive surveillance... it's for the children!
Log in or piss off.
1/4th of accidents occur when going in 1 of 4 directions.... imagine that :)
It's Political Correctness gone mad!
BTW, did you notice this story is literally NYC asking Google Maps to have a leftward bias?
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
We could add a pedestrian cycle to all stop lights which halts all traffic and lets people walk in all four directions at once. ;)
-Xen
I fail to see how anyone could construe offering an additional option, rather than constraining people to that option, is acting like a nanny state. Most especially since it's simply a friendly request, not a law, so it's up to google to decide if the feature offers value to their customers or not.
Heck, I'd expect the right wing to be all over this as an example of how private companies and government can work together for mutual advancement.
Wait, you can buy a six figure truck, but $300 is too much to spend to have appropriate mapping?!? That's a complete BS excuse. Heck, I imagine one fine for having a truck on a route that doesn't allow them is enough to pay for the unit. Also I bet the fuel price search could save more in a month than the unit costs.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
BTW, did you notice this story is literally NYC asking Google Maps to have a leftward bias?
No, but I did notice the exact opposite of that.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I live in the UK. Here, traffic is stopped entirely across the intersection and pedestrians are allowed to use all the crossings. There's no crossing when any side of the intersection has a green light for cars.
After living in the UK for so long, I went to visit a friend in Germany and it took me by surprise when after making a left turn there was a pedestrian crossing the road... and he had a green light too.
I find the idea of letting both traffic and pedestrians on the road at the same time stupid and irresponsible.
"Everybody's naked underneath" -- The Doctor
In Germany to go left, you take the *Third Right*
Under the United States MUTCD, a turn facing a green arrow is a "protected" left turn. Pedestrians have a "don't cross" signal during this phase. A turn facing a green disk is considered a "permitted" left turn, where oncoming traffic has the right of way. As with a yield sign, it is permitted to enter the intersection and to proceed through it once vehicular and pedestrian traffic have cleared. Some cities are experimenting with using a flashing yellow arrow instead of a green disk for a permitted left turn to emphasize the "yield" interpretation.
Could someone explain for the non-Americans why it is possible to have cars turning left at a green light, at the same time as pedestrians crossing the road have a green light?
First, because there is nothing to physically prevent pedestrians from crossing the road at any time, even when it is inadvisable to do so or when signs even directly instruct the pedestrians not to cross.
Second, the general rule in most parts of the US is that pedestrians cross in the same direction as the traffic flow. That's how the cross-walk signals are programmed. Not all cross walks have crossing signals either though they are rather common. The vehicle traffic is always moving because stopping it for pedestrian traffic would seriously slow down traffic flow. In a city like NYC I cannot imagine the gridlock that would happen if they stopped the cars completely. If you argue that there is a better solution out there I might not disagree with you but that's how it is done for better or worse.
And why is the solution not just to stop this happening?
You can't stop it completely. You can mitigate it potentially but the only way to stop it completely is to prevent pedestrians from ever crossing the road ever.
they could just put up "no left turn" signs
That wold be fine, if Google cared. Hey, they fixed the "turn left" where there's a "no left turn" they send me the last time - but the U-turn they want me to do on the next intersection where there's a "no U-turn" sign is hardly better. At least in Germany Google Maps' database is still lousy.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
What happened to parents teaching their kids basic safety, and the old adage about "Looking both ways before crossing the street"?
Seriously...do parents not teach kids the basic things about life? Don't talk to strangers, look both ways, cross street at intersections, etc.
I guess I'm just puzzled why what used to be common sense has suddenly gone straight out the fucking window?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Of course, that's not the fundamental issue... which is:
The turning driver has a green light right when pedestrians have the walk light
When your city can reasonably be ranked as the top pedestrian city in the world, it might behoove you to plan accordingly by not putting your pedestrians directly into oncoming traffic.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
I have seen routes evolve on Google Maps - i.e. where it started to learn side roads and other shortcuts.
Granted, the two examples I can think of changed over a period of at least a year, and might not be as noticeable as after you've driven a route a few times, you might not be using Google Maps the next time you drive it.
Also, there's the "a faster route has become available" which will pop up, mostly due to reported accidents and changing traffic patterns.
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
but three rights make a left!
they could just put up "no left turn" signs
...which would snarl NYC traffic way worse than it already is. It's one thing to have a nav app work out a no-left-turn route for you, but are we going to expect to just know how to do so on their own?
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
If the driver has a green ARROW, then pedestrians do not have the right of way (and shouldn't have a walk sign). Green arrows are protected turns.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
That list shows 17 out of 25 of the world's top pedestrian cities as being in of the US, 2 of those outside being in Canada. That leaves 6 for the rest of the world.
I'm not usually one to complain about lists and articles being US-centric, but that is a little absurd.
Seriously, when was the last time you used Google maps? Not only the one on my mobile phone but the one on my desktop tries to give me first the quickest route (which usually involves hiways for long periods of time), second an optional route with no tolls, third several other route choices of different combinations. No seriously, they have had an "avoid tolls" check box on there site for the longest time.
Lastly, it tends to be faster than my garmin at recalculating (and more precise) but my garmin is like 6ish years old so that probably has little to do with them and far more to do with me failing to update my tech.
WTF Slashdot, why do I have to login 50 times to post?