Ned Lamont’s nose
I wonder if anybody believed candidate Ned Lamont when he said he didn’t plan to toll cars. Other people, out of state trucks, not you voters. As election opponent Bob Stefanowski warned, he was lying. With the election won Connecticut governor Lamont revealed his true plan, tolls for all. Tolls are addictive. The first proposal […]
Formula for failure
A Massachusetts town got a bucket of money to grease some squeaky wheels. Connecticut towns got a forest of signs to make some squeaky wheels. Taking money and giving it back is how higher government justifies its existence. The town of Weymouth was rewarded for chanting a rhyming slogan. Part of the reward, paid out […]
Pay and pray
Bridgeport, Connecticut discovered what happens when the law is enforced. People would drive into the city, and if they survived to drive away would get a ticket in the mail for violating a parking ordinance. After that they might not drive back. The beginning is a familiar story. A company came to elected officials with […]
Vehicle Emissions Standards—Now What?
The long awaited but not too surprising ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week on turning back the Obama era CAFÉ Standards seems to have confused the issue even more. At issue: by 2025, automakers who want to sell new cars to American consumers must boost a corporate average fuel economy (CAFÉ) to […]
Obey or die!
Newspaper editors are a conflicted bunch. They tend to be socially liberal, but there’s one way most of them want the government to crush subjects under a metaphorical boot heel. That’s by speed enforcement. Editors at The Day want camera enforcement of speed limits I-95 in Connecticut. They sent a reporter onto I-95 with instructions […]
Congestion Pricing Cannot be the Future of Transportation Funding, Part 2: NMA Weekly E-Newsletter #469
To read Part 1, click HERE. New York City (NYC) finds itself in a transportation perfect storm. The subway system is at a breaking point. Residents are abandoning city buses by droves because it’s faster to walk most days. Ridesharing vehicles clog the already snarled streets. At the center of it all: the mayor and […]
Your immunity has just been revoked
The biggest fringe benefit of a police job is immunity from prosecution. Drunk and reckless driving, no problem. Perjury, that’s “testilying” and everybody does it. Beat up your girlfriend, go outside and cool off. There are limits. If an innocent bystander dies, investigators may take the death halfway seriously. That happened in Connecticut recently. Off-duty […]
Dynamic lawbreaking
Here’s one more in the signs-as-toys category. Starting January 1, Connecticut law requires handicap parking signs to use a “dynamic” symbol (a man falling out of a wheelchair) instead of the International Symbol of Access (a man sitting in a wheelchair). The Federal Highway Administration previously ruled that the new “dynamic” design is not allowed […]
What $10 million per mile buys you
The steep slope with projecting rocks bothered me at first when I learned to drive. In time I understood they were not going to jump out and hit me. They got somebody. A drunk driver killed herself and her kids. The road got new warning signs for people who can see yellow signs but can’t […]
Don’t enter the box
The mayor of Hartford called it “common sense” that drivers shouldn’t block intersections. If it’s common sense, why didn’t he have police enforce the law earlier? Because there wasn’t any money in it. Now there is. With two exceptions, Connecticut municipal police can’t write tickets for revenue. They’ll do what I call “squeaky wheel” enforcement, […]