Our friend Paul Minett at Trip Convergence wrote asking for our help. Paul's group is taking part in the Just Means/Green Mountain Coffee Corporate Social Responsibility Challenge called 'changing climate change.' In the first round of voting they made it onto the short list but they need our help to get them over the top. Paul's group, based in Australia, has developed a concept for flexible carpooling. As we have seen with the Slug Lines in this region this sort of thing can go a long way to reducing the number of cars on the roads during peak hours. The contest in which Trip Convergence is involved has a grand prize of $40,000 per year for five years to bring this carpooling concept to Seattle. This is certainly a good place and a good way to see if this idea works although I'd like to see it beta'd in a city like Boston or Philadelphia.
Look at their entry and see if this is something you feel is worth promoting. I think it could be a wonderful way to reduce congestion by getting cars off the roads and I think it's something of value. Let me know what you think about it.
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Mississippi Governor and former head of the Republican National Committee Haley Barbour has signed into law a ban on traffic cameras used to photograph and ticket people who run red lights in his state. According to the Associated Press the new law says the two cities that already have the cameras, Jackson and Columbus, must take them down by Oct. 1. Of course Columbus only has one red-light camera and their city council had already voted to take it down.
The other thing that is interesting is that there was specific language in the bill that will allow State Police officers to continue using the cameras that are fixed in their patrol cars to record traffic stops and other incidents.
Supporters of the cameras say they deter people from running red lights, reduce auto accidents and save lives. They cite Federal Highway Administration statistics that show red-light violations and crashes were reduced in cities after installing traffic cameras. They point to Oxnard, Calif., where intersection collisions declined by 32 percent.
At least 18 states have laws allowing the red-light cameras, but about six states have banned or severely restricted their use, according to a report by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
As you might imagine, the makers of the red-light cameras—who had urged Barbour to veto the bill—said the new law tramples on local governments' rights to enact their own traffic ordinances. It also could unlawfully sever contracts cities already have with the companies to install and operate the cameras.
I find this whole thing very interesting. As more and more cameras are added to intersections in this region that are raking in millions of dollars the fight continues across the country as to whether or not these cameras have value (in terms of safety) or whether they are just moneymakers. I would add, once again, that there is substantial research to show that changing the timing of the yellow or amber cycle of the lights does as much or more good in reducing serious crashes and that there is good evidence to show that the presence of red-light cameras increases the number of rear-end collisions as drivers slam on their brakes to avoid getting a ticket.
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The
(DDOT) sent me an update over the weekend on its upbeat pothole repair program called Potholepalooza. The program is at the halfway point and has repaired 3,366 potholes throughout the city. If that doesn't sound like much, try this: that's 280 potholes repaired each work day even with all the rain we've been having.
When the program started DDOT was getting about 70 service requests a day. That's fallen off to about 12 requests a day. But there are still a number of potholes out there and the city wants to hear about them.
To report a pothole, residents and commuters can contact DDOT in a variety of ways: 1) call the Mayor's Call Center at 311, 2) use the On-line Service Request Center at www.dc.gov, 3) text message or Tweet to twitter.com/DDOTDC, or 4) e-mail to Potholepalooza@dc.gov. Callers must identify the location including the correct quadrant (northwest, northeast, southeast, southwest) in the city and as much detail as possible about the hazard, including the approximate size and depth of the pothole.
Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.
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