Eh. I’m more interested in questions of how these effects interact with each other. For example, I find it much easier to be engaged as a driver when I’m driving 5-20 mph faster than other cars on the road (or, if there are no cars or only fast cars, at somewhere between 80 and 100 mph, assuming clear skies and a straight highway), and so I’m less likely to get into an accident because of the increased attention, but I’m much more likely to die in an accident if it does happen.
Similarly, the increased fatalities due to driving at night are probably primarily due to fatigue (with reduced visibility likely as the secondary cause). Notice the difference in traffic accidents due to daylight savings time- picturestudy (notice the scale on the picture- it looks like it doubles and halves, but it’s really just an increase or decrease of a few hundred accidents). If you’re not fatigued, there are many less other drivers on the road- which suggests that it’s safer, so long as you’re extra careful when someone else shows up.
I’m also skeptical about the value of defensive driving courses (at least, the sort that you can take to dismiss speeding tickets), though in-car tutoring by skilled drivers seems effective. (If there are driving courses that offer that, I’d suspect they’re worth trying.)
though in-car tutoring by skilled drivers seems effective
I did one that involved a lot of practice. Learning how to actually hit the brakes for real was awesome. It is especially useful if you still have a car without break assistant (which you should not). Other parts were driving on wet roads, partially wet roads. How to get control back when loosing it. Effects of aquaplaning. And a visible demonstration of the square law of motion. 10 km/h really can make an impressive difference on bad road conditions.
Similarly, the increased fatalities due to driving at night is probably primarily due to fatigue (with reduced visibility likely as the secondary cause). Notice the difference in traffic fatalities due to daylight savings time- picture study (notice the scale on the picture- it looks like it doubles and halves, but it’s really just an increase or decrease of a few hundred accidents).
Indeed, all other things (including my level of tiredness) being equal, I find it easier to drive at night than during the day. (The darkness for some reason makes it easier for me to concentrate on the road and harder for me to be distracted by other stuff, it’s easier for me to see distant cars (with their lights on) in the dark than in the light—especially if the sun is shining and it has been raining—the reflection of the sunlight on the wet road nearly blinds me.)
Oh man, the sun. So glad that I don’t have to regularly drive at sunrise and sunset (which, unfortunately, tend to be most people’s commute times). I wish more roads were NW/SE and NE/SW to make the sun’s position less of an issue, but that’s difficult to change now.
I wish more roads were NW/SE and NE/SW to make the sun’s position less of an issue
In June, the sun rises in the NE and sets in the NW; in December, it rises in the SE and sets in the SW. If I’m modelling the geometry in my head correctly, W/E roads are indeed worst overall, but N/S roads are best.
ETA: I’m pretty sure that a global change as you suggest would still be an overall improvement.
Assuming you’re not in a polar region, you should be able to set up a network of NW/SE, and NE/SW roads that never face directly towards the sun; using these, you can get anywhere. As you get farther from the equator, however, the NW/SE and NE/SW roads have to get ever closer to being due N/S roads, so travelling E or W becomes ever more inconvenient. And once you reach an (Ant)-Arctic Circle, no directions are safe.
The effect exists at all latitudes where a sunrise or sunset actually occurs, but the precise direction (how much N or S of W or E) will vary with latitude (as well as date, of course). The extreme case is the point near the pole where the sunrise or sunset is barely averted, where the position of the sun will be due N or S (neither W nor E since it is simultaneously rise and set); even at the equator, however, the sun will be somewhat N or S of W or E. The exception is when sunrise or sunset occurs at the precise moment of equinox; then all latitudes will experience a sunrise or sunset, and all (except at the poles themselves where these directions don’t exist) will experience it as due W or E. (All exact claims are theoretical assuming a perfectly spherical Earth, but the general phenomenon should occur any time that’s not very close to the equinox and any place that’s not right up next to a cliff or something.)
(Dunno how much of this is because I first started learning to drive in December when it was dark most of the time, and even now I mostly drive at night—I prefer using public transportation during the day.)
Eh. I’m more interested in questions of how these effects interact with each other. For example, I find it much easier to be engaged as a driver when I’m driving 5-20 mph faster than other cars on the road (or, if there are no cars or only fast cars, at somewhere between 80 and 100 mph, assuming clear skies and a straight highway), and so I’m less likely to get into an accident because of the increased attention, but I’m much more likely to die in an accident if it does happen.
Similarly, the increased fatalities due to driving at night are probably primarily due to fatigue (with reduced visibility likely as the secondary cause). Notice the difference in traffic accidents due to daylight savings time- picture study (notice the scale on the picture- it looks like it doubles and halves, but it’s really just an increase or decrease of a few hundred accidents). If you’re not fatigued, there are many less other drivers on the road- which suggests that it’s safer, so long as you’re extra careful when someone else shows up.
I’m also skeptical about the value of defensive driving courses (at least, the sort that you can take to dismiss speeding tickets), though in-car tutoring by skilled drivers seems effective. (If there are driving courses that offer that, I’d suspect they’re worth trying.)
I did one that involved a lot of practice. Learning how to actually hit the brakes for real was awesome. It is especially useful if you still have a car without break assistant (which you should not). Other parts were driving on wet roads, partially wet roads. How to get control back when loosing it. Effects of aquaplaning. And a visible demonstration of the square law of motion. 10 km/h really can make an impressive difference on bad road conditions.
Indeed, all other things (including my level of tiredness) being equal, I find it easier to drive at night than during the day. (The darkness for some reason makes it easier for me to concentrate on the road and harder for me to be distracted by other stuff, it’s easier for me to see distant cars (with their lights on) in the dark than in the light—especially if the sun is shining and it has been raining—the reflection of the sunlight on the wet road nearly blinds me.)
Oh man, the sun. So glad that I don’t have to regularly drive at sunrise and sunset (which, unfortunately, tend to be most people’s commute times). I wish more roads were NW/SE and NE/SW to make the sun’s position less of an issue, but that’s difficult to change now.
In June, the sun rises in the NE and sets in the NW; in December, it rises in the SE and sets in the SW. If I’m modelling the geometry in my head correctly, W/E roads are indeed worst overall, but N/S roads are best.
ETA: I’m pretty sure that a global change as you suggest would still be an overall improvement.
Unless, of course, I want to get somewhere east or west of me.
Then they aren’t so useful.
Assuming you’re not in a polar region, you should be able to set up a network of NW/SE, and NE/SW roads that never face directly towards the sun; using these, you can get anywhere. As you get farther from the equator, however, the NW/SE and NE/SW roads have to get ever closer to being due N/S roads, so travelling E or W becomes ever more inconvenient. And once you reach an (Ant)-Arctic Circle, no directions are safe.
Are those effects latitude dependent?
The effect exists at all latitudes where a sunrise or sunset actually occurs, but the precise direction (how much N or S of W or E) will vary with latitude (as well as date, of course). The extreme case is the point near the pole where the sunrise or sunset is barely averted, where the position of the sun will be due N or S (neither W nor E since it is simultaneously rise and set); even at the equator, however, the sun will be somewhat N or S of W or E. The exception is when sunrise or sunset occurs at the precise moment of equinox; then all latitudes will experience a sunrise or sunset, and all (except at the poles themselves where these directions don’t exist) will experience it as due W or E. (All exact claims are theoretical assuming a perfectly spherical Earth, but the general phenomenon should occur any time that’s not very close to the equinox and any place that’s not right up next to a cliff or something.)
(Dunno how much of this is because I first started learning to drive in December when it was dark most of the time, and even now I mostly drive at night—I prefer using public transportation during the day.)