xoxoxoBruce Thursday Jun 17 12:30 AMJune 17, 2010: Flipper Bridge
Problem ~
Chinese drivers, being a modern progressive country, drive on the right side of the road.
Hong Kong drivers, being a vestige of the empire, drive on the wrong side of the road.
Solution ~
The Flipper Bridge, which flips traffic to the opposite side of the road in the middle of the crossing.
Damn clever these Chinese... oh, wait... a Dutch company came up with this.
link
monster Thursday Jun 17 12:33 AMI like.
Cloud Thursday Jun 17 12:40 AMI watched the video and I still don't get it.
HungLikeJesus Thursday Jun 17 12:46 AMIt would be more fun if it flipped the cars upside down.
monster Thursday Jun 17 01:04 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cloud
I watched the video and I still don't get it.
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What don't you get?
xoxoxoBruce Thursday Jun 17 01:05 AMThe fact you're suposed to drive on one side of the road?
monster Thursday Jun 17 01:05 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus
It would be more fun if it flipped the cars upside down.
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Yeah, I reckon they could add a little hotwheels-style loop-the-loop in there. Maybe they should cross at the pinnacle of the loop.
Clodfobble Thursday Jun 17 01:07 AMI guess that area's not prone to flooding...
Trilby Thursday Jun 17 06:07 AMYou'll put your eye out!
SPUCK Thursday Jun 17 06:26 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clodfobble
I guess that area's not prone to flooding...
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Yet...
And I don't getit neither! I donnah seen no dollfins anywheres. So how comes it's named after one?
monster Thursday Jun 17 09:16 AMFlipper was really a shark. He's currently under the bridge eating the toll trolls.
Clodfobble Thursday Jun 17 09:17 AMYou know how it is with Chinese food though... an hour later, and you're hungry again.
glatt Thursday Jun 17 09:19 AMI remember a family trip to England when we lived in Germany, and as we drove off the ferry, there was only one place to drive. It took us around the ferry terminal and then before we realized it, we had been dumped onto a two lane road on the left side. We never had the choice of which side to drive on. They just funneled us onto the correct side. Smart people, those Brits.
I also remember that when I got to sit in the front passenger seat of our vw bus with it's huge front window, whenever we approached an oncoming car on a narrow two lane county road, I would take both my hands and lift them up into view in an attempt to startle the other driver. Scratch my face or something. You see, they would think for a split second that I was the driver and I had taken both hands off the steering wheel. It's the little things.
newtimer Thursday Jun 17 10:11 AM"Say, for instance, you're coming from Zhuhai. As you cross the bridge on the right into Hong Kong..."
Those Dutch may be good at computer-generated bridges, but not geography. Zhuhai doesn't connect with Hongkong; it connects with Macau. (There's about 30 miles of sea between the two.)
ToastyOhs Thursday Jun 17 10:12 AMIs no one thinking like an American here? If you drive a big enough car, it does not matter what side of the road you drive on. What ever side you are on is the right side if everyone else is getting out of your way.
xoxoxoBruce Thursday Jun 17 11:36 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by newtimer
"Say, for instance, you're coming from Zhuhai. As you cross the bridge on the right into Hong Kong..."
Those Dutch may be good at computer-generated bridges, but not geography. Zhuhai doesn't connect with Hongkong; it connects with Macau. (There's about 30 miles of sea between the two.)
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This project is connecting all three. This bridge would be just one part of it.
Cloud Thursday Jun 17 11:41 AMI don't get how it fixes the problem. Too much of a lefty/righty spacial conundrum for me.
monster Thursday Jun 17 11:49 AMSo, heading down the freeway, you -I hope- choose one of the lanes on the right half of the road because in America we drive on the Right.
However, if you were on a motorway in England, you would choose one of the lanes on the Left half of the road, because in the UK, they drive on the left.
Currently not a problem because there's a huge fucking ocean between them, so cars roll onto the ship from one side of the road and roll off it onto the other.
If we built a huge bridge, however, the cars would crash mid point:
UK
^ I V
^ I V
^ I V
<<<< CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
V I ^
V I ^
V I ^
USA
STOP STOP! OK let's have a huge parking lot where we all stop and then leave driving on the correct side of the road for the country we're heading into.....
Or build a super bridge which solves this by lifting up the traffic coming from the US on the right side of the road and places it over to the left of the traffic coming from the UK, so it is on the correct side of the road as it enters the UK without having to interact with the oncoming traffic at all.
Pete Zicato Thursday Jun 17 12:12 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cloud
I don't get how it fixes the problem. Too much of a lefty/righty spacial conundrum for me.
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Look at the picture. See the white van at the far left of the picture? He's driving on the right-hand side of the road, correct? Now follow his route to the other side of the river. Now which side of the road will he be driving on?
Cloud Thursday Jun 17 12:28 PMOkay, I see it now. I guess I was confused because I wasn't getting that it was joined, then split, then joined again.
or I was just confused 'cause I'm a dumbass, either way.
Flint Thursday Jun 17 12:52 PMAll they needed was one of these:
Lamplighter Thursday Jun 17 01:55 PMThat would never work in Texas...
As soon as drivers there got off the bridge they would still pass on the shoulder and yell "Hoody" as they went by.
Shawnee123 Thursday Jun 17 01:57 PMI must confess it confuzzled me too, until monster's explanation. I was thinking that you are still on the same road still going in the same direction as the other cars, and the road just zig-zagged. NOW I get it. I do have direction dyslexia, though.
Diaphone Jim Thursday Jun 17 02:58 PMIn 1967, Sweden was the last continental European country to switch from left to right.
To ease the transition, buses and trucks made the change a week before autos.
tombstone Thursday Jun 17 03:39 PMNo title. Who needs a title for a statement?
Absolutely, Diaphone! Wonderful way to make a whole country aware of the intention!
Pete Zicato Thursday Jun 17 04:46 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flint
All they needed was one of these:
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Sure. If you don't mind the cars flying in the air and flipping end for end when they meet at the crossover.
At least that's what they did when my brother and I had a model car layout when we were kids.
SPUCK Friday Jun 18 06:36 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Diaphone Jim
In 1967, Sweden was the last continental European country to switch from left to right.
To ease the transition, buses and trucks made the change a week before autos.
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Right? So now they drive like in the US?
Flint Friday Jun 18 12:28 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete Zicato
Sure. If you don't mind the cars flying in the air and flipping end for end when they meet at the crossover.
At least that's what they did when my brother and I had a model car layout when we were kids.
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If they didn't fly off the track first because you pulled the accelerator down too hard.
Pete Zicato Friday Jun 18 12:46 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flint
If they didn't fly off the track first because you pulled the accelerator down too hard.
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Yeah, that happened too.
Good times. Good times.
monster Friday Jun 18 09:21 PMwhen you were kids? beest has more of that stuff now thn he did when he was a kid.....
busterb Saturday Jun 19 12:58 PMI heard the same story while working in Nigeria back in 67. Was to change the trucks on one day and cars next. Nigeria, that I can buy.
Chocolatl Saturday Jun 19 01:24 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SPUCK
I donnah seen no dollfins anywheres. So how comes it's named after one?
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Problem solved!
chrisinhouston Saturday Jun 19 01:29 PM"The Flipper Bridge, which flips traffic to the opposite side of the road in the middle of the crossing."
The Chinese don't need this,. I've been on the roads in China and they don't need a reason to change sides of the road, they just do it as it suits them!
wolf Saturday Jun 19 01:41 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisinhouston
"The Flipper Bridge, which flips traffic to the opposite side of the road in the middle of the crossing."
The Chinese don't need this,. I've been on the roads in China and they don't need a reason to change sides of the road, they just do it as it suits them!
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They drive that way here, too.
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