And it will likely take about 50 years before the US has something like that.
Don’t you have hawk crossings? I remember thinking it was cute that you’d inherited our naming system for them. And after a cursory search I find that I am correct but they barely exist outside of Arizona.
Seriously you guys need to unify your road regulations. Come join us with our magical triangle-shaped signs!
What we have are:
- crosswalks where the pedestrian has to push a button. The next time the light changes appropriately, the walk sign comes on for the pedestrian. The time allotted for the pedestrian to cross varies greatly (and has nothing to do with how many lanes of traffic the pedestrian has to cross).
- crosswalks where there is a “yield” sign or a “cars must stop for pedestrians”. The pedestrian must wait until cars actually stop before crossing, and endure honking horns. Technically, cars are not supposed to drive across while the pedestrian is on any part of the crosswalk, but that pretty much gets ignored (except for congenital idiots like myself).
- intersections with no crosswalks. If a pedestrian tries to cross, they may be arrested for attempted suicide. In some jurisdictions (i.e., some neighborhoods of San Francisco) the pedestrian may be given a ticket for jaywalking.
We also have some walkways elevated above the street, but these are in the minority and some people ignore them, whether due to the inconvenience or to a disability - yes, some of them are only reached by stairs, or have an incline too steep for a wheelchair.
I’m not sure what a “hawk crossing” is.
Your #2 sounds like normal zebra crossing behaviour, only sans Belisha Beacons. A flashing yellow light mounted by the road always means yield to pedestrians (which is why pelican crossings have a flashing yellow stage between red and green, to give those on the crossing time to finish).
A Hawk Crossing, according to wikipedia, looks like a UK railway crossing light, and works almost identically. A pedestrian presses a button, an amber light illuminates briefly and then changes to two red lights flashing wig-wag style. Then they reset to off when the crossing is clear. No green light though, which is apparently what is causing the problem with their adoption - most states make you yield at a dark lamp, just in case.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/truck-carrying-raw-sewage-overturns-i-285/npcN3/
Ewwww. It’s almost like Orange County traffic.
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So yeah, the best way between the East of Scotland and the rest of the UK is closed over Christmas. Perfect timing, especially since the East Coast Mainline railway is already at peak capacity, and there’s already roadworks on one of the other two bridges.
But you still have the first three bridges, right?
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puts on Monty Python voice
They said I was mad to build a bridge across the Firth! But I did it anyway! It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one, and that too sank into the swamp. So I built a third one; that burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one, it stayed up, and that’s what you’re getting son, the strongest Bridge on the Firth!
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Wait, isn’t this what Scotland voted on last year? I thought the measure failed.
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This storm Desmond is a bit of a beast! The River Tyne is 6 metres above average depth, which has caused no end of calamity in the Tyne Valley (and the rest of the UK, but Tynedale is my family place). They’ve issues three evacuation orders, the A69 cross-country trunk road closed, the alternative route impassible except for emergency, the east-west railway line has been washed out, three bridges have been pulled from their foundations, a £1.6m levee system has collapsed, and some idiot went and videoed a horse drowning instead of trying to save it.
I’m amazed the power is still on, frankly. … knock on wood…
Ow, really?
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Could be worse, the other colloquialism for that is “touch wood” hahaha
Is Chris Christie helping with urban design over there?
(Christie is the governor of New Jersey, a candidate for president, and had a PR issue a while back as he or one of his people may have scheduled road work with the intent of pissing people off for political gain. In an area where this kind of treatment is hardly needed, as everyone is almost-pissed-off most of the time.
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Haha no, I don’t think so (although it would explain a lot).
Most of our roadworks are carried out between October and March in order to fully drain the budget for roadworks by the end of the financial year, so that the councils can prove that they needed every penny that was spent and they’ll need the same amount, if not more, next time.
This is why budget cuts don’t work in the UK. Every time you show you can cut spending in one month or year, you’re expected to do the same for all consecutive months or years, even if that initial cut was a fluke because you didn’t need to spend on project X, or what have you, that time round.
I’d be pissed off too if I lived in New Jersey. 
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Ladies and gentlemen, your first 2016 Darwin Award nominee.
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Still no word on what happened to the bus. The driver claims it just did it on it’s own.
They’ve closed the district down for the day. I can’t say I agree with that, it would be easier to work with the kids together rather than have them all separated and alone today. I think it also sends a bad message about death and grief. Go home and hide when something bad happens.
In any case, a strong candidate for person of the year in my book. From the stories she could have saved herself and maybe a couple kids would have gotten hurt and killed, or she could have saved them and gotten hurt and killed.
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He wasn’t sure if he was coming or going!
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