Here's an idea that's long overdue. Separate travelers according to speed getting through security checks at the airport. Longs lines at security are like car traffic on the roads. One person's mistake/delay creates backups all the way through the line. This is attempt to give fast travelers priority access to fast lanes.
Using ski trail rating standards as the design icons is also smart (if you know what they mean). Green circles for beginners, blue squares for intermediates and black diamonds for experts.
The only problem with this solution is how to enforce it. Just like on a ski run, the travel lanes are self-selecting. And what we know from Tom Vanderbilt's book Traffic, most people overestimate their driving skill. I imagine most people overestimate their traveling skill as well.
This is indeed a great idea. I experienced this at La Guardia and though I managed to secure a spot in the black lane, I saw a couple of black-lane aspirants being summarily shunted in to the blue by surly TSA attendants...
Posted by: Francis | May 05, 2009 at 12:19 PM
They obviously failed to demonstrate the skills required to navigate the black diamond.
Hopefully, they weren't injured.
Posted by: Dave | May 14, 2009 at 09:19 AM