Hide your phones
Massachusetts police won a victory over drivers recently with passage of a law banning touching electronic devices while sitting in the driver’s seat. Police had been frustrated by their inability to write tickets for disallowed types of phone use. They mostly caught drivers who were stopped and so oblivious they couldn’t see the police officer […]
Numerology vs. safety
Anti-car activists in California released a report targeting the speed trap law. The speed trap law is much hated because it is effective. In other states city councilors can hand out signs and speed traps like candy to favored constituents. In California the law says speed limits on major urban streets can’t be below the […]
Excusing failure
Another Vision Zero failure story comes out of Portland, Oregon. Five years into its ten year plan to eliminate traffic injuries, it looks like deaths are increasing. The city’s transportation director made an off-the-script admission: “A lot of it is out of our control.” When deaths go down, Vision Zero is working. When deaths go […]
Two-faced regulators
I recently read Katherine Eban’s Bottle of Lies, an investigation into the generic drug industry. I found some familiar themes in the discord between de jure and de facto rules. The FDA has a reputation as a tough enforcer. Stories abound of petty bureaucrats showing their authority. Every step of the manufacturing process has to […]
War of words
I suppose it was a win-win situation. The police officer got to yell at somebody and I got to my destination sooner. But more importantly it was a warning about how police testify. As a favor to police unions Massachusetts does not follow national standards for temporary traffic control. When the bucket truck comes in […]
Downward variation
I came across two strange articles recently. One claimed reducing speed limits reduced the speed of traffic. Another claimed reducing speed limits reduced crashes. Of course it’s not that simple. Reducing the speed limit in areas of heavy fog may have reduced speed more than the fog alone did. Reducing speed limits during snow storms […]
Sounds of silence
A little birdie told me the age of the car alarm is over. In the 1990s my life’s background noise was car alarms. They were especially a problem at the car wash next door. They were also part of general urban noise. My Escort had an alarm only because I saved more on insurance than […]
Ghosts of convictions past
Earlier this year a truck driver was arrested in Connecticut then killed seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire. Now Massachusetts drivers are being punished. Why is it our fault? In the American system of traffic law the punishment precedes the trial. The truck driver, Mr. Zhukovskyy, was accused of DUI in Connecticut. The arrest was supposed […]
Ex post facto
I wrote recently about what happens when the unwritten rules change. Aspirational speed limits became computer-enforced speed limits. Or the school bus driver waits for everybody to sit down. A sheriff stalks the wrong victim. Or most recently, a police officer fails to anticipate the result of the next election. We have a victim of […]
Blowing up the system
A traffic court judge in Kentucky made a minor splash. She just threw out the state’s entire speed limit system. A driver was ticketed for 93 in a 55 zone. His lawyer found there was no record of any order setting a 55 mph speed limit. Instead of ignoring the speed limit signs in the […]