<story><title>In 2019 40% of San Francisco traffic fatalities are from left turns</title><url>https://www.saferleftturns.org</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rootusrootus</author><text>The closest calls I&amp;#x27;ve ever had with pedestrians were on left turns.  IMO the problem with modern cars is the airbags in the A-pillar.  The pillars have gotten so wide that you have to consciously bob your head around back and forth (like a fighter pilot, of course...) to look around both sides of it.  Otherwise people can easily vanish into that blind spot.  I think a lot of people just forget that there&amp;#x27;s a big blind spot there because they&amp;#x27;re used to just looking on either side and inferring what&amp;#x27;s not visible -- which is usually fine with something as big as a car.  But on a left turn, a pedestrian walking the same direction you are driving can be completely hidden as you turn because their motion will be synchronized with the blind spot.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>theluketaylor</author><text>Modern A-pillar thickness has become a real problem. My biggest fear when driving my modern cars is losing track of a pedestrian, especially in the A-pillar. It&amp;#x27;s likely time for legislation on the field of view offered by modern A-pillars as many of the thickest pillars are to use lower grade steel to save costs while still meeting rollover and crush requirements. More expensive high strength steel and more compact airbags can bring A-pillar widths back into safer territory. I&amp;#x27;m a lot less safe driving my vintage car around, but there isn&amp;#x27;t any chance I&amp;#x27;ll miss a pedestrian since the greenhouse is so great.&lt;p&gt;Ottawa, Ontario just published a guide to building protected intersections: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;documents.ottawa.ca&amp;#x2F;sites&amp;#x2F;documents&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;protectedintersection_dg_en.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;documents.ottawa.ca&amp;#x2F;sites&amp;#x2F;documents&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;protectedi...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;A lot of these changes are not particularly expensive and can have a huge impact on safety by limiting how much time a pedestrian is vulnerable and forcing cars to fully turn so pedestrians are in direct vision rather than peripheral.&lt;p&gt;For higher speed intersections we should be using a lot more roundabouts and things like diverging diamond to eliminate conflict between different travel modes and keep traffic flowing in a single direction.</text></comment>
<story><title>In 2019 40% of San Francisco traffic fatalities are from left turns</title><url>https://www.saferleftturns.org</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rootusrootus</author><text>The closest calls I&amp;#x27;ve ever had with pedestrians were on left turns.  IMO the problem with modern cars is the airbags in the A-pillar.  The pillars have gotten so wide that you have to consciously bob your head around back and forth (like a fighter pilot, of course...) to look around both sides of it.  Otherwise people can easily vanish into that blind spot.  I think a lot of people just forget that there&amp;#x27;s a big blind spot there because they&amp;#x27;re used to just looking on either side and inferring what&amp;#x27;s not visible -- which is usually fine with something as big as a car.  But on a left turn, a pedestrian walking the same direction you are driving can be completely hidden as you turn because their motion will be synchronized with the blind spot.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ozgune</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve been driving in the US for 16 years. The &amp;quot;left turn on green&amp;quot; is still the most non-intuitive part about driving here.&lt;p&gt;As a driver, when you have a green light, you need to pay attention to giving priority to incoming traffic and pedestrians crossing the street, while also maintaining your calm with cars lining up behind you. It&amp;#x27;s way more intuitive that when you have a green, you can go.</text></comment>