The Trans-Texas Corridor, which according to just about all official counts isn’t actually happening, was planned out further at a meeting last night. Officials insist they have no plans yet. Frankly we don’t believe them! We applaud the residents in Texas for fighting this project and fighting the push to dilute our national sovereignty to create a de facto North American union.
Nothing readers of STOPandGO.org didn’t already know: traffic lights work best when they’re configured properly. The town of Knoxville, TN, is preparing to implement an intelligent traffic control system using loop sensors, cameras, and a centralized computer control to coordinate traffic in the city. This normally wouldn’t be too notable, but check out the bizarre picture of the traffic light featured in this article!
Congress is really trying to ensure it’s approval rating is lower than George Bush now — according to the Wall Street Journal, a congressionally mandated commission will recommend broad upgrades to the nation’s transportation infrastructure financed by a hefty 40 cent per gallon increase in the gas tax. They cite increased need for maintenance and increased cost of that maintenance as a reason for the need to increase the taxes. STOPandGO.org strongly opposes such a sharp rise in gas taxes. A better solution would punish the drivers that cause the damage to the roads in the first place — namely by removing the current tax breaks that provides incentives for individuals to buy large trucks. Registration fees should be raised on “extreme” oversize vehicles to force the owners to bear the burden of the externalities they are imposing on others. Raising the gas tax somewhat achieves this, but also punishes all drivers which is not fair.
In the United States, unlike the now standard “0.08″ blood alcohol concentration limit that most states have adopted, different states have different laws on drugged driving. Canada seems to have a similar problem, based on this article, which calls attention to and discusses the issues of quantitatively analyzing a drugged driver’s ability to operate a motor vehicle.
After the European Union created a law requiring drivers to carry a safety vest in their car at all times, Warntex Inc. became one of the largest safety vest suppliers. Now, it’s setting its sights on the United States.
One thing that we beat around here regularly is that we don’t believe law is always the answer. This is a case where passing a law requiring drivers to have more equipment in their car will have dubious benefits at best. While a safety vest is important if you plan to be standing in the middle of the road, the best way to handle dangerous roadside repairs is to avoid them in the first place. Always pull your car completely out of traffic if you need to make a repair. Otherwise, what are you doing in the road in the first place? On the other hand, if you are qualified with CPR or First Aid, you may want to consider carrying a safety vest in case you ever stop to assist after a motor vehicle accident. But safety vests for everyone? That just sounds like corporatism to the benefit of Warntex at our expense.
The National Motorists Association and STOPandGO.org both agree: red light cameras are a detriment to safety and exist for purely political reasons. The NMA has taken the time to compile a list of five major studies that revealed traffic cameras actually increase, and not decrease, the number of accidents at intersections. This is an excellent resource for anyone researching traffic cameras.
A tip for aspiring sign thieves: don’t post photos of your exploits on Facebook with captions like “I steal signs when I’m drunk.” One teen from Omaha learned that lesson the hard way. Since he was already being charged with vehicular homicide, stemming from an alcohol related accident that happened prior to the discovery of his immense cache of signs, it’s unlikely he is too worried about a misdemeanor charge of possession of stolen property.
To bring New York State code in line with federal highway design standards, the state has decided to move forward with requiring thousands of “stop ahead” signs at intersections that previously had none, even at intersections where you can see the stop sign ahead of you. But the change is actually required because federal standards now require a graphic “stop ahead” sign in lieu of signs with the equivalent text. Residents of Syracuse were adopting the new code, but grudgingly. Dave Cooper, with the Onondaga County Transportation Department says, “It’s definitely necessary for liability reasons, we have to conform to the codes.”
Jalopnik, another automotive blog, posted an interesting article on speed limit enforcement by state, including a nifty graph showing the states issuing the least (and most) tickets. Washington, D.C. tops the list with 78.5% of tickets per-capita. Anyone who has ever been to Washington D.C. knows how easy it is to be ticket, not to mention how expensive a ticket can be. To further compound the matter of the voluminous amount of speeding tickets, Washington D.C. also notably is one of the few places that prohibits passenger vehicles from having radar detectors.
Your local government constructs a stop sign in your neighborhood. You’re infuriated. Do you write letters to your town council? Contact your local traffic engineer and voice your outrage? Or do you run over the stop sign every morning? One driver in Texas has apparently opted to do the latter. This is the story of the stop sign he hates.
