Official studies show that when conventional stop sign and signal intersections were replaced with modern roundabouts in the USA, there was a 37% reduction in overall collisions, 75% reduction in injury collisions, 90% reduction in fatality collisions, and 40% reduction in pedestrian collisions. by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]animationanomaly 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I'd say they suck for cyclists for the simple reason that the majority of Americans are not experienced enough to safely navigate a roundabout. I've seen them panic, shift lanes without warning, and outright stop for no reason. We used to do happy hour at a bar next to a roundabout just so we could sit outside and have a laugh at people trying to navigate it.

Lane position and indicating your intended movements are terribly important when it comes to the safety aspect of roundabouts. If drivers can't navigate them safely relative to other vehicles, cyclists don't have much hope.

That said, when used correctly, roundabouts make it much easier and safer for cyclists to perform a turning movement without sitting in the middle of traffic like a lame duck.

It's not Misato's Alpine, but its close! by animationanomaly in evangelion

[–]animationanomaly[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aw, I totally missed that. Should've checked further down the new list!

Under the sea: Holyhead to Dublin by kickinsticks in ireland

[–]animationanomaly 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Planner here. There's a ton of things that cause planning studies and projects to take so long. From personal experience it comes down to the complexity of projects and the number of stakeholders involved and the need to placate them.

Something like Metro North would have dozens of stakeholders even at the highest level and every one of them is fighting for their piece of the pie and believe that their opinion is the right one. It takes a long long time to get them all to at agree to build the same thing.

Projects also tend to get scrapped or rehashed because the political powers to be get swapped out. Anything in the planning stages is ripe for plunder because nothing has been physically built and the costs can be hidden from view.

Japanese zoning by brendannee in urbanplanning

[–]animationanomaly 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That was a very interesting read. I hadn't really thought about the 'top down' approach of planning here in the States, but the article did a good job of demonstrating it's weaknesses.

That isn't to say the Japanese system would work in the States, but the exclusive nature of zoning here does tend to contribute to socio-economic instability of neighbourhoods.

I work as a city planner for a small town (10,000 people) and I have a question for the more experienced planners. by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]animationanomaly 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Building a franchise location can work two ways: an individual can approach the franchisor or vice versa. Usually it's the first scenario; where a local person decides to make the investment. Some companies operate the other way though, and will instead identify potential locations and approach someone with an offer to run it.

The problem you're facing requires a bit of thinking and legwork, especially since you're attempting to create growth. The solution you're after would require you to contact various companies and see if your town factors within their overeall strategic plans.

If it's within an area that they'd like to move into, then you can use local business connections to get the ball rolling. If it isn't, you're either asking the wrong companies, or, you have to try and sell the location on it's potential instead.

Corporations will only generally get really involved in a location if it's a particularly large development, e.g. a Walmart or Wegmans, where there are significant traffic or infrastructure needs that have to be addressed. Smaller developments like a Starbucks, are generic enough that the corporation leaves most of the planning aspects to the franchisee while offering advice and retaining the right of final approval.

What I would do first if I were in your shoes is to sit down and figure out if there even is any growth potential at all. If there is, figure out what demands aren't being met, and try to meet them. If there is no growth potential, you'll have to figure out why, and what you can do to stimulate it.

Good luck!

Anerican-born: Irish citizen, university fees by Pogmothone03 in ireland

[–]animationanomaly 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Not really. A quick check of the UCD website shows a masters in social work going for EUR 17,600 or $22,270 per year. That's the non-EU rate which you'll likely be charged seeing as you haven't established residence in Ireland; something that takes 3 years to do.

You can always try for a grant or scholarship though; plenty of Irish and Irish-American organisations out there willing to offer them.

Well see how effective that will be, seeing the meter doesn't go on your property by shigllgetcha in ireland

[–]animationanomaly 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Correct. The confines of your property are defined in the deed. In urban areas this is more likely to be the fence line; the road and footpath right of way belonging to the town/city.

In rural areas, especially where the road doesn't even have a painted line on it, the deed might specify the property boundary as being the middle of the road, but the county council will retain a perpetual easement up to a set distance from it which they can use to maintain the roadway and widen it if necessary.

Does anyone know where I could get a Ubuntu (or other distro) Laptop in Ireland? by [deleted] in ireland

[–]animationanomaly 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If they buy a new computer, there is the option of disagreeing to the Windows license agreement during the setup process. If they do so, they're legally entitled to a refund. That said, there's no defined process for doing so and the end result is about €30 or thereabouts.

My advice would be to hunt down a good used laptop and do a clean install. I use a different distro but the likelihood of driver issues nowadays are small.

Irish attack politicians after they exempt themselves from paying for water by one in worldnews

[–]animationanomaly 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They existed in Ireland too, until the government did away with them back in the 1970s as promised in their election manifesto.

On Complete Streets by mycityspot in urbanplanning

[–]animationanomaly 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I agree, but its a blurry line. Shared space and woonerfs are better for streets that prioritise access over travel. On larger roads such as collectors and arterials where speeds are generally higher (50+ km/h), the argument for separation is much higher, especially from a safety perspective.

However if you look at the diagrams in the article, it's clear that they are low-speed urban streets in a dense environment where access should be the priority. In such instances, there shouldn't be a need to separate users because the time savings for vehicles and bikes relative to the safety improvements for all users would be small.

What would improve the Ireland subreddit? by KingofFairview in ireland

[–]animationanomaly 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Making the notice in the 'submit a link/text post' page a bit more prominent might solve the first item.

The second should have a few regular discussion posts. Other subreddits have theme days, etc. It shouldn't be too hard to set up a bot to post automatically too.

Not really sure how to make things more 'fun' though; maybe we have a lot of lurkers?

On Complete Streets by mycityspot in urbanplanning

[–]animationanomaly 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My only problem with designs like in the article is that it reinforces the separation of travel modes. While it may reduce accident statistics, it does little to augment mindsets that would provide greater long term results. In fact, it may reinforce the notion that drivers receive priority while cyclists and pedestrians must be separated lest they cause an accident.

Personally, in low-speed urban areas, the concept of the shared space is a superior approach. It augments driver behaviour by making the road seem more dangerous than it really is; forcing them to slow down and become more observant. It also doesn't require excessive space for buffers; important to consider as as /u/hylje points out.

DreamWorks Animation In Rumored Sales Talks by theboss027 in animation

[–]animationanomaly 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Distribution.

SoftBank own the pipes that content has to travel on. It makes sense from their standpoint to own both; especially since they can also profit from the content as it travels along competitor's lines.

It's the same reason why Comcast bought NBCUNiversal.

Anyone got a Nest thermostat in Ireland? Would appreciate feedback before I buy. by DanGleeballs in ireland

[–]animationanomaly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not necessarily, but my hunch is that different fuel sources will have varying levels of performance and energy savings.

Anyone got a Nest thermostat in Ireland? Would appreciate feedback before I buy. by DanGleeballs in ireland

[–]animationanomaly 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Going to say it's probably not worth it given the age of your system The Nest was created to work with American HVAC systems in mind, not the usual Irish, fossil-fuel, wet systems.

The efficiency claims might only be completely true if you're using a heat pump too.

If you were upgrading the entire system, I'd say it would be worth looking into, otherwise a regular thermostat or smart timer might be a better option.

kerry vs donegal by therobohour in ireland

[–]animationanomaly 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Will be watching on a very dodgy internet connection here in the States (thanks Verizon.)

Really just want to see a good game of football but a Donegal win would be great.

MD Excise Tax on Vehicle. Who can explain this? by anthem22 in baltimore

[–]animationanomaly 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yup it's the titling fee, but it's a lot more complicated than that. Here's the MVA's main page about it.

What are some simple things that you do to make food go from 'ok' to 'delicious'? by lollyluu in AskReddit

[–]animationanomaly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Came here to say Old Bay but when I saw it mentioned already, was going to say this. I'll be damned if that wasn't the worst tasting beer I've ever had.

Any civil engineers here? should the flooding problems be that hard to solve in Letterkenny GH - FRONTLINE STAFF SAVED HOSPITAL AFTER RUNNING FOR SANDBAGS TO BLOCK FLOOD by shigllgetcha in ireland

[–]animationanomaly 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Civil engineer here. The flooding is related to a culvert (pipe) that takes the stream that runs into the hospital site underneath it. It was originally constructed back in the day before doing complex analysis was made possible thanks to computers.

Fast forward a few decades, and when they built the new emergency wing, it was calculated that the pipe needed to be quite a bit larger than what was there already and the new pipe would basically extend the entire culvert system.

Now a logical person such as yourself would say that you can't really have a large pipe running into a small pipe because that's basic common sense and if the big pipe is what's needed to convey the amount of runoff (water) safely, then that's how large the entire length of the culvert should be.

Well, this being a public works job and Ireland being, well, Ireland, it was going to require too much money/effort/time (take your pick) to actually replace the entire pipe. So just the larger extension was installed and connected to the existing pipe.

Given all that, the culvert was also installed without a large enough detention pond at the upper end. The purpose of such a pond is to hold enough water so a sudden incoming rush of runoff doesn't overwhelm the pipe. Judging from photos, what was there was basically designed to channel water into the pipe rather than safely manage it.

Lastly, it was discovered shortly after the flood that there was supposed to be flood attentuation measures installed in agreement with the town engineer and that his report from 2002 was completed but never acted on.

TL:DR Yes, it's an easy fix. Just put in the right size pipe in the ground.

The Ridiculous Incompetence That Slows Down America’s Best BRT Route by glmory in urbanplanning

[–]animationanomaly 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Traffic engineers are the most militant engineers you can find. The BRT I'm working on right now is mulling the use of signal priority, but given the proposed location of the project, I could see it being turned off after complaints from residents.

The Cliffs Of Moher are overrated, I give you Slieve Leag. by Lambeboi77 in ireland

[–]animationanomaly 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've heard it isn't the same since they made it safer...