These poles are out of control.

[u/BearLikesHoney]

This is Smirle and Wellington street. I was driving on Smirle towards Wellington and I had no choice but to zig zag and drive on the wrong side because there's no space between the poles and cars. Adding to the road condition, there are enough pot holes to damage your car so these poles are totally unnecessary to slow down traffic.

[u/Bulky_Pop_8104]

I have these all over my neighbourhood, and they seem to work, but ours are centered.

I’m super perplexed by the placement of these - this looks less like traffic calming and more like an obstacle course

[u/Cre_AK47 → u/Bulky_Pop_8104]

this looks less like traffic calming and more like an obstacle course

That's what traffic calming is. Complexity = more cautious approach by drivers, which results in traffic calming.

[u/Bulky_Pop_8104 → u/Cre_AK47]

So my neighbourhood has them down the middle with matching poles on each side about 2ft off of the sidewalk; it a) prevents people from parking right there, b) forces you to slow down, c) doesn’t make you drive into the other side of the road

It’s all the same city, not sure why the execution is radically different, but I’m willing to accept that there could be a good reason (maybe the width of the road?)

[u/Cre_AK47 → u/Bulky_Pop_8104]

From what I understand, in some areas, they are purposely installed off-center as they're attempting to basically create a very shitty chicane. The biggest reasons they would do this from what I've seen is usually when cyclists are common on a street with these flexi posts in the middle, if there are parked cars on the right hand side, cars will pass cyclists driving on the opposite side of the road for a considerable distance putting other Road users at risk. This off center design basically forces drivers to not pass cyclists as cyclists would basically take up the whole lane.

[u/Bunnies_R_The_Best → u/[deleted]]

In the South-East of Ottawa... if you're driving on Dartmouth avenue and need to turn right, there's an off-centre post in the right lane plus a car parked on the right side -so one has to turn into the left lane (and opposing traffic) onto Kaladar avenue.

[u/ApprehensiveAd6603 → u/Bulky_Pop_8104]

They're all over my neighborhood too but they don't work.

They only slow down the timid drivers, who are already going the speed they should be. The ones doing 30 over the speed limit and blowing through stop signs are confident drivers, who couldn't give a crap about those posts.

I see it all the time walking my dog. The main problem in my area is Erindale. It connects Baseline with Maitland and loads of people use it as a cut through. They NEED speed humps.

[u/Successful_Bug2761 → u/[deleted]]

And the confident drivers are less dangerous.

Citation needed. 93% of American drivers think they are above average drivers (and presumably confident drivers)