reaperexpress
Senior Member
I think it's partly due to the insular nature of the English-speaking traffic engineering world. When the MTO is making manuals, the international literature they consult is mostly from the US and to a lesser extent the UK and Australia - which are all countries which do the same crap we do. Nowadays any self-respecting traffic manual will also cite a CROW (Dutch traffic guidance) traffic manual as a reference, but while the general guidance from the CROW is available in both Dutch and English, most of the detailed manuals are only available in Dutch. (Which is why I learned Dutch.)It seems in Toronto and Ontario, they do not want to EVER change their "guide book". I'm sure in Europe, if they want to try something new, they'll just experiment despite the "guide book", and if it works, then the change the "guide book" based on the experience.
In general Dutch engineers are mostly focused on improving the situation in the Netherlands, and not on promoting their engineering abroad. Since they are so far ahead of the English-speaking world, there's not much benefit to them in maintaining relationship with Canadian engineers. In recent years there have been some Dutch consulting companies (e.g. Mobycon) who have realized the market value of Dutch engineering, and have expanded to Canada, but the concepts they're spreading are mostly in the realm of physical design. Efficient traffic signal operation is not something you can physically see, so it's harder to convey Dutch signal operations to Canadians than, say, the geometry of a roundabout. The really frustrating part is that Canadian engineers are clearly interested in the results of Dutch design (e.g. fully-protected right-turn signals), but proceed to implement those things without understanding the signal operations framework which allows them to operate efficiently in the Netherlands.
Canadian drivers will quickly become frustrated with the proliferation of fully-protected left- and right-turn signals, because it feels extremely stupid to be sitting at a red left turn signal, when you can clearly see that there is no oncoming traffic. Unfortunately drivers will oppose the installation of the protected signals themselves, rather demanding a traffic signal controller which is flexible enough to add an extra left turn green arrow into the cycle if there happens to be an opportunity to do so.
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