Over Engineering Speed Limits
By an Anonymous NMA Member from Arizona The government recently lowered the speed limit on my main street from 45 to 40. I calculated that if I lived to the same age as my mother, the reduced speed limit would cost me five days of productive life. Not enough to worry about, but it’s the […]
Equity and Sustainability
Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared in March 2021 as NMA E-Newsletter #637. If you would like to receive the NMA’s weekly one-topic newsletter, subscribe HERE. Those are the buzzwords used frequently by city transportation officials as they seek to achieve “complete streets” nirvana. Before we attempt to define the overused terms, it is essential […]
Speed Camera Games Played for Profits in Ohio: NMA E-Newsletter #650
When will Ohio municipalities ever learn? The Ohio Supreme Court has been working overtime on automated enforcement cases brought by motorists against cities and townships across the state. Justice would be better served if the state prohibited ticket cameras altogether. The difficulty is that the larger cities in Ohio have home-rule authority, i.e., they set […]
Are Speed Limit Signs (or lack thereof) Disrespectful to Drivers?
By Merrill Gehman, an Alaska NMA Member If those who establish, post, and enforce work zone, detour, and other temporary site speed limit signs wonder why so many drivers don’t obey these signs, I can show them a good example. There are a significant number of these sites where drivers are just not respected. Usually, […]
Drive 55 Everywhere . . . Or Less
Speed limits are about to become limitless as in, whatever those who set them say they are. This has always been true, to an extent in that all speed limits are, to a degree, arbitrary. People are subject to a ticket, i.e., being extorted by armed government workers, acting on behalf of the government simply […]
Equity and Sustainability: NMA E-Newsletter #637
Those are the buzzwords used frequently by city transportation officials as they seek to achieve “complete streets” nirvana. Before we attempt to define the overused terms, it is essential to know why they are more in vogue now in transportation and urban planning circles than ever before. In December, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) proposed […]
Criminal Traffic Court is the Best Option
By Gary Biller, NMA President Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared as an NMA E-Newsletter #450 in August 2017. If you would like to receive the NMA E-Newsletter every Sunday in your inbox, subscribe HERE. Whose side are we on anyway? The NMA objects when cities lower the traffic court bar, downgrading routine moving violations […]
The Thing about Speeding: NMA E-Newsletter #627
By guest writer Eric Peters The problem with speed limits is they’re arbitrary and presumptive. A velocity maximum is decreed, and you are presumed a threat to others if you exceed it. Almost everyone understands this is silly—else almost everyone would not “speed” routinely. Most of us do not play Russian roulette, for instance, irrespective […]
Omni Directional Law Enforcement Confirmation Lights (Blue Traffic Lights) – Sound Ominous to You?
By Gary Biller, NMA President Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared as an NMA Weekly E-Newsletter #457 emailed to members in October 2017. If you would like to receive the newsletter, join today the thousands of other active motorists who have made that choice! Blue lights continue to increase since this post appeared. Here are […]
“Driving While Black” Billboard Shines Light on City Ticket Records
By a Michigan NMA Member Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared as NMA E-Newsletter #602 from July 2020. If you would like to receive the weekly NMA E-Newsletter, join today! On July 6, an electronic billboard appeared along I-96 in Redford Township, Michigan, just east of the city limits of Livonia. It warned drivers leaving […]