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Phase: Explore Discussion Areas: Inspire Innovation // Inspirar la innovación

3 Simple Steps to Alleviate Our Traffic Woes

1. Change laws for uninsured motorists 2. Enforce strict Passing on Left ONLY laws 3. Align traffic lights to flow with traffic

Photo of Christine Linden
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Congestion and accidents are the major cause of traffic in S FL. Removing vehicles from our roadways that are not properly insured could potentially cut congestion by 20-30%. Simple fact, if you don't have insurance you should not be on the road. There is nothing more frustrating than cars weaving in and out of traffic, this is also a major accident cause. If we educate drivers by ticketing them for passing on right, and post more signs that state the LAW FOR SLOWER TRAFFIC TO KEEP RIGHT, we could have a better traffic flow. I can't tell you how many times I drive down a road to stop at a red light and once the light turns green the next light several blocks away turns red, again and again. If these traffic lights would be regulated to traffic flow, we would be headed in the right direction for alleviating our traffic nightmares. Drivers in Miami need to be re-educated. Sure we could add more mass transit, but there will still be drivers on the road regardless. It is a shame that people have to have "uninsured motorist" policy on their insurance. Countless accidents caused by uninsured motorists and drivers leaving the scene. We should not have to pay extra for the few that take advantage of the system. I know that if these simple steps were put into motion, driving would not be so much of a headache.
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Attachments (4)

Traffic Patterns.pdf

Algorithm describing alignment of Traffic Lights . I can't tell you how many times I have driven on a road to stop at a red light, and once the light turns green, the next light several blocks away turns red, again and again, red light after red light. If we could implement better traffic flow in heavily congested areas by aligning our traffic patterns and lights, then we are 1 step closer to alleviating our traffic nightmares.

Passing on right.docx

Florida Statutes regarding passing on right. This law is never enforced. Cars weave in and out of traffic from all lanes and the slower traffic has no idea to stay out of the left lane. You can be sure that this weaving is causing major accidents all over our roadways. If we would just educate our drivers with more signs that state it is the LAW for SLOWER TRAFFIC to KEEP RIGHT and enforce this law, we could re-educate our drivers and have a better traffic flow.

Passing on left.pdf

Passing on Left and entering highway. Another simple solution. Why is it than when people are entering the highway they step on their brakes? I will never understand this. We have forgotten that driving is a privilege and not our right. It is important for drivers to be polite and move over for other drivers entering and merging onto our roadways. It has become a more me first attitude and without help nothing will change.

Penalties For Driving Without Insurance.docx

These are the current penalties for driving without insurance, but imagine if the driver had to surrender their car to the state. If they had 45 days to come up with money for fines and insurance, or their cars became property of the state to dispose of. This would solve our uninsured motorist problem and remove a large percentage of vehicles from our roadways. Clearing up the congestion problem. Plus it could potentially add money to the state to employ more officers to enforce these laws.

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Photo of Aly Stone

Hi Christine, welcome and thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'm interested in the education idea you brought up - any ideas for increasing driving/traffic education in an innovative way? I think that changing traffic laws may not exactly be within the scope of this project per se - though it is really useful to hear about your driving experience and observations overall. Also, thanks for attaching that research paper! I do wonder what the current reasoning may be for the traffic light patterns being the way they are, any ideas?
Thanks!
-Aly, community facilitator

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