I run OSMAnd on a cheap Android phone. It stores the maps on the SD card, so you don't need a data plan to use it.
I couldn't get OSMAnd to work, but that was over a year ago. Does it store vector maps, or bitmap images?
I use MapDroyd, which stores vector maps. A large European country (UK, Germany, etc) is around a few hundred megabytes. However, it's commercial software, and there are a few niggles with it.
The signals to the trains can't fail?
They "fail safe". A signal with no light at all means the same as red (to the train driver), should that happen. No power to the barriers at the crossing causes them to fall and block the road. The system that stops the train if it passes a red signal requires power to hold it in the "ok to proceed" position.
Also, level crossings aren't anywhere near as common in the UK as they are in the USA. They're still by far the most dangerous part of the railway, but the fault is almost always (or even always?) the fault of impatient or incompetent drivers and pedestrians. I don't think it's permitted to build them on a new line.
The principle safety feature is turning traffic doesn't turn across oncoming traffic, and it's impossible to drive through at high speed.
They're more common in Europe since, as evidenced by most of this discussion, America isn't willing to invest in its infrastructure.
Cloverleaf junctions use a *huge* amount of land -- far more than a large roundabout -- and are much more expensive to construct and maintain.
On medium-sized roads roundabouts are more efficient than a set of lights on a normal junction.
Take a look (zoomed in) at any town in the UK -- there's no need to look at Streetview.
Roundabouts are easy to spot. Mini-roundabouts mean "roundabout rules" (give way to traffic waiting on the junction, or to your right) in a smaller space. They're just a big white dot in the middle of the junction.
The markings on the road at traffic lights are a thick, solid line across the left lane(s), and nothing on the right.
The markings at a non-signalled junction are a thick, double dashed line on the left, and a single-dashed line on the right. Also, there's often a large inverted triangle (a giant "Give Way"/Yield) sign painted on the road.
Most junctions are the third type, being minor roads. Second most will be traffic lights (on dense, inner city roads). But most major roads use roundabouts.
Even if your roundabout has more accidents than a simple intersection, they will be less severe as the traffic speeds are lower.
More accidents, but fewer injuries, is a good outcome.
(Though roundabouts normally give fewer accidents and fewer injuries.)
Same as railroad crossings. There's no guarantee that the lights or the gates work... so I slow down or stop every time I cross.
In the UK, there is a guarantee that the signal (to the train) is red if the level crossing lights / barriers (for car drivers) are off/raised, or defective. Any train passing a red signal has the emergency brake applied automatically.
(Though there was a case last year of a small passenger train taking about 5km to stop, as the company that was required to maintain it hadn't refilled the sand (to add friction while braking) and high winds plus autumn leaf fall made the rails as slippery as they ever get.)
but the trigger usually requires you to stop at the light. Also you seem to forget that rural lights at night can have a several minute wait on the "low-priority" side
Round here, one sensor is at the junction, but another is some way down the road. The driver may need to slow slightly, but often doesn't need to stop.
On larger roads, there's often a third sensor *after* the junction, to see if the road ahead is blocked with traffic.
(And FWIW, my bicycle activates these sensors.)
I think it's just the Netherlands and Finland that don't make 1 and 2 cent coins.
If you get rid of the nickel, you essentially need to get rid of the quarter.
Interesting. Could this be why every other country on earth* has (or had) 20 cent coins instead of 25c?
No, that's because it makes change a bit more efficient. If your coins are 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, etc (1x, 2x, 5x, x is 1, 10, 100 etc) you almost always need less coins to make change than if your coins are 1, 5, 10 and 25.
Hmmm... my manager curses occasionally. Generally only when something especially annoying happens -- e.g. her manager has an accident, and she has to cover for him.
But one of my colleagues says "fuck" as much as some people say "like". "I was, like, arguing with the other guys on the project, like, and they were like, 'Let's do it this way'." becomes, "Fuck, I was arguing with the other guys on the fucking project, and they fucking said 'Let's fucking do it this way'". It's very unprofessional, and I find it hard to take him seriously when he can't talk without swearing. He often raises eyebrows around the office "Fuck, Sam, come and look at this! Fucking amazing!". What's wrong with "Hey Sam!"?
I don't think I've ever heard anyone else in my office swear (while at the office).
Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet.