TRAFFIC REGULATION AND PUBLIC POLICY

The article notes that the traffic system in its present form is inherently inefficient, uneconomical, unsafe, and contrary to the purpose of traffic control and to public policy. It shows how traffic laws provoke accidents, and examines if traffic laws are reasonable (crossing a one-way street, signalized mid-block crosswalks, automatic obedience to a traffic control device, legislating by statistics, jaywalking, traffic signal warrants, wrong right-of-way rule). Early traffic regulations created unnecessary complexities. Correcting the many misconceptions and controlling traffic on less restrictive lines, mainly by a wider use of the yield sign, more pedestrian refuges, better intersection designs and other methods that simplify road user decisions but keep traffic fluid, could eliminate much of today's control equipment, reduce the need for highway construction by making better use of existing roads, and put traffic regulation on the path to achieving goals.

• Record URL:
  https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015012659853?urlappend=%3Bseq=499
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/7938948
• Corporate Authors:

  Eno Transportation Foundation

  1250 I Street, NW, Suite 750
  Washington, DC  United States  20005
• Authors:
  • Todd, K
• Publication Date: 1987-10

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 477-502
• Serial:
  • Transportation Quarterly
  • Volume: 41
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: Eno Transportation Foundation
  • ISSN: 0278-9434

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Intersections; Public policy; Traffic control; Traffic islands; Traffic regulations; Traffic safety; Yield signs
• Uncontrolled Terms: Traffic laws
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Operations and Traffic Management; Policy; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00474845
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 31 1987 12:00AM