There is a very aesthetically pleasing traffic accident waiting to happen right outside my apartment window. Really, I do believe that several accidents have already happened because people just don't understand how this particular lighted stop works.
Its near the center of downtown Topeka, at the crossing of three different streets, which makes for a lot of the confusion. Two of the streets are one way and they merge a half block east of the lights. The third is one of the most major streets in Topeka, Topeka Blvd.
Here's the reason its confusing. One set of lights is used to direct all of this traffic.
Once you've learned the way the lights work, its not all that difficult, however, most people don't pay attention and just drive however they feel like, which is how I was almost killed in a wreck today.
There are these beautifully designed left turn lanes, which are separated from the cross street traffic by triangular grass plots. This is, what I believe, causes most of the problem. If you manage to miss the turn lane you would have to actually go across the street and take a turn onto the other one way and turn right.... not all that complicated.
Again, people don't like change, or to have to go even a block out of their way, so most people just turn left when they feel like it.
Which causes a bit of a problem because then they are turning left into people going across the street.
There is another problem with this intersection that if you don't stop at the stop lines you end up in the middle of an intersection. Do remember we are dealing with two intersections at one set of lights. Its a rather Large section of roadway real estate.
I'm not sure if the man that nearly hit us just didn't see the traffic light at all and ran the red or if he was one of the people that turned left off of the one way into the cross traffic of the other one way, but he looked very confused as to why there would be another car going across the street. I could see him very closely from the passenger seat of my car as he stopped about an inch from the drivers door. He then pointed to the Yellow light that was green for us before we had to stop in the middle. I think maybe he realized that he was in the wrong, because he drove off as fast as he could after we got out of his way.
This would be why many of this call it the drug test intersection, because you're going to f it up if you're on drugs... or the person who built it was on drugs, who knows.