Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: too many ?


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Posted by Rick Denney on May 06, 2003 at 12:42:59:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: too many ? posted by js on May 05, 2003 at 21:15:44:

Show me a technology-based industry that doesn't turn over its technology every three to five years, and I'll show you an industry that is stagnant and ripe for being replaced.

I know how to time traffic signals on a street using a graphical method developed by Jim Kell in the early 50's. I know how to calculate traffic signal timings using the Critical Lane Analysis method that was developed by Carroll Messer at Texas A&M in the middle 70's. (Carroll was one of my early research bosses.) Does any graduating civil engineer going into traffic know how to do these things anymore? Not many--most use Synchro or PASSER II or TRANSYT or any of several other signal timing computer programs. But they should. I am developing a training course for the National Highway Institute as we speak on traffic signals, and my course includes Critical Lane Analysis. Why? Because if you can't do it manually, you'll always be a victim of the computer.

(It took me an hour to learn Synchro, while the normal training course for it is a week.)

So far, every single really experienced public or private-sector traffic engineer that I've talked to has gotten visibly excited when I've told them that the new course will teach manual signal timing methods. They are all frustrated that graduates of some specialized traffic engineering programs don't know the basics, and thus don't properly apply the up-to-date tools.

It's kinda like knowing scales.

Or, let's say you have your choice between two technicians who want a job from you. One has been thoroughly trained in advanced techniques, and can run a dent machine just fine, and knows in intimate detail about lathes. But he can't solder, and he can't use a dent hammer. The other one is well skilled with the flame and the dent hammer, but has never been taught how to use a dent machine or a lathe. Which would you hire? Why?

Even this example misses the point, however. Colleges don't teach either soldering or dent machines (figuratively speaking, of course). When I hire people, I moan that they only know the latest software tools and can't do the traditional manual methods, but I moan more that they don't know the underlying theories behind those manual methods. Lots of people can calculate signal cycle length (again, drawing from my own expertise) using Synchro, and a few of them can do it using Webster's Method (an old-fashioned manual method that I still like). But fewer still can explain (mathematically) why the curve in Webster's Method is the shape that it is. I can. Thus, I can explain why I like Webster's Method, and believe me, that ability is rare as hen's teeth and is the sole reason for any success that might have come my way as an engineer in this small industry. Nobody at college taught me why Webster's curve is the shape it is, but they taught me the theories of how traffic moves, and I explained the curve on my own.

Rick "who thinks those who know the why always accomplish more than those who only know the what" Denney


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