Yes it was, summer 2001. And I can say it was so bad that I would never go back. Maybe that is the point? I guess Ill spend my money (gas, food and lodging if required) in anouther state if I am ever headed in that direction again.
Privatization of Higways and Roads
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Yes it was, summer 2001. And I can say it was so bad that I would never go back. Maybe that is the point? I guess Ill spend my money (gas, food and lodging if required) in anouther state if I am ever headed in that direction again.
I'm just happy I live downstate and work in MO.
My tax revenue is probably working better for me in MO that it would if I actually paid income tax in IL, where I live.
My tax revenue is probably working better for me in MO that it would if I actually paid income tax in IL, where I live.
I think it is a bad idea to privitize the highways -- that way the local/state governments are off the hook to fix them.
Has anyone travelled on US101 and I-680 in Bay Area, it sucks and is a piece of #@$%!, inspite of pays thousands of $ in property taxes and tax returns on earnings. I don't know where the money(s) are being used, the least the govt can do is fix the freaking highways for the enormous taxes they collect.
Has anyone travelled on US101 and I-680 in Bay Area, it sucks and is a piece of #@$%!, inspite of pays thousands of $ in property taxes and tax returns on earnings. I don't know where the money(s) are being used, the least the govt can do is fix the freaking highways for the enormous taxes they collect.
Riiight. Illegal mexican immigration wasn't a big issue either. Now latin minority is biggest in the country and now it costs millions of hard earned taxpayers dollars to keep "pablos" from crossing the border. Not to mention gazillions of tax dollars for law enforcement to fight their crimes. It was on yesterday prime time CNN also, among other raising national concerns. Nothing is never a biggie really in this country till it’s to late.
Little by little...
Give me a break Pablo. You get it out EVERY chance you get. Especially regarding global warming.
Regarding the NAFTA highway, there is no congressional record because Congress has debated it not one iota. There is no "real" news stories (Lou Dobbs has covered it numerous times but we all know what you think of CNN - see my above comment) about it because they don't cover it.
I'm not trying to pick an online maylay with you, I'm just saying it like I see it. Just the same as you do.
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It would be cool to have an Autobahn here in the USA though.
Us Americans couldn't handle having an Autobahn, no way.
Too many people on cell phones, putting on make-up, eating, etc... Not to mention the general lack of driving skill the average American driver has.
Speak for yerself, Newbie. You have no idea what you're talking about. Sell THAT fertilizer to France, wouldja? You make most here sick when you say know-nothing craaaap like that. Besides, the mutts with that opinion already got smoked on THAT argument by every statistical measure..
YOU have got to be kidding... you REALLY think thast joe schmoe, tailgating in his suv, one hand on the wheel, the other holding the cellphone is going to be able to handle his vehicle at 100+ MPH?
While I do not deny that there are MANY careful, cognizant drivers out there who act the right way, drive the right way, etc., the average driver is NOT. If you havent seen it, you are not observant on the road.
I dont care to make myself or my fellow countrymen pay for the poor skills and lack of proper training that the average driver has. Unfortunately in the driving world, exercising 'survival of the fittest' by the idiots naturally thinning themselves out can take a LOT of innocents with them...
And, if there are statistical measures that show typical drivers on typical US roads being safe to a super-high level while eating, talking and driving at speeds far beyond the speed limits that are posted, please cite them... If its apples to oranges, then lets fess up and cite lack of REAL data.
JMH
The biggest problem with drivers in the US is nobody knows how to drive right. I don't mean correctly, I mean on the right side of the road. Traffic would flow so much better if people were courtious and actually got out of the way rather than sitting out in the left lane driving with the cruise control set 1mph over the speed limit while 15 cars pile up behind them. On the Autoban people are ticketed for not driving right. I think we need similar laws here. If you are impeeding traffic flow you should be ticketed.
We have a similar law in Virginia but it doesn't help. The police don't bother to enforce it.
What can you say about a society that doesn't bother to enforce it's laws? Are we heading towards a decline? Maybe we're in the middle of a decline.
What can you say about a society that doesn't bother to enforce it's laws? Are we heading towards a decline? Maybe we're in the middle of a decline.
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Junior --way too true. I drove the NJ turnpike for 5 years where loads of slower traffic just hung in the middle lane to avoid having to cope with the, at the time, 12 interchanges that they would encounter if they traveled the entire length. This wouldn't be bad in itself if they maintained a higher speed than the right lane traffic (which was usually very light and random
). There are tons of "static rolling barricades" where ONE vehicle has traffic stacked up over a quarter mile because faster traffic prohibits entering the far left lane and near same speed traffic prohibits passing on the right (if legal). It ends up like a 2 lane situation with an additional right lane ..equally as jammed. I've found that, depending on traffic density, people like to travel in "packs". I'd see it many times where you would encounter a "pack" in some sorta "rolling formation" that faster packs would weave in and around to continue at their higher rate of speed.
When my uncle was in NATO, forget the ticketing, he learned very quickly to be doing 85 when he was near the end of the onramp ..or he would get run off the road. If he dared venture out of the slow lane ..he also quickly figured out to be doing a good clip above 85 mph or the impatient would actually bump him after a couple of failed flashings. They're probably not quite as "assertive" now (this was in the 70's).
When my uncle was in NATO, forget the ticketing, he learned very quickly to be doing 85 when he was near the end of the onramp ..or he would get run off the road. If he dared venture out of the slow lane ..he also quickly figured out to be doing a good clip above 85 mph or the impatient would actually bump him after a couple of failed flashings. They're probably not quite as "assertive" now (this was in the 70's).
With enough RFID scanners, you could set a different price for each lane. The right lane could be $0.05/mile, middle lane 0.10/mile, and the passing lane 0.25/mile.
Toll roads suck and US history shows us that one of the biggest incentives for people to allow state and federal control of land and emminent domain was to get rid of #$% toll roads. As a nation, we would rather pay a tax than a toll and be allowed to travel across the land "free". Amen to that.
Privatized maintenance and toll collecting would be ok, with regulation since it's a local monopoly. Pay the maintenance company a % of the toll income, and they'd have an incentive to do the best job.
In one state of Australia, they privatised speed cameras (radar hooked up to number plate ID cameras). The privatised camera operators get a cut of the rpoceeds of issuing infringements (Govt gets the rest).
Big boost to both parties coffers, now that the "grace" has been dropped to 3km/h (2MPH).
Big boost to both parties coffers, now that the "grace" has been dropped to 3km/h (2MPH).
What kind of accuracy are manufacturer's required to produce the speedometer? Here, Honda has said in a TSB a few years ago a value of 10%. Hmm...
Yep, speedos are accurate to 10% by law.
3km/hr is 3% of the highway limit.
Radar was declared a "scientific instrument", and therfore not challengeable in court (in spite of Datsun 120Ys getting tickets for 160km/hr).
Apparently "Ignorance" of your actual speed is no excuse.
To give that particular Govt its due, when you enter the stqte on any of the freeways, there is an overhead radar that gives you a big flashing readout of your recorded speed to verfiy your speedo. Similar units are located around the state. Showed my speedo to be reading 5km/hr over.
3km/hr is 3% of the highway limit.
Radar was declared a "scientific instrument", and therfore not challengeable in court (in spite of Datsun 120Ys getting tickets for 160km/hr).
Apparently "Ignorance" of your actual speed is no excuse.
To give that particular Govt its due, when you enter the stqte on any of the freeways, there is an overhead radar that gives you a big flashing readout of your recorded speed to verfiy your speedo. Similar units are located around the state. Showed my speedo to be reading 5km/hr over.
Dang, around here you can pretty much go 10 mph over before you have to worry about Smokey Bear. Ten over and you're fair game.
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It's the same here. You're not written until 10 mph over ..at least that was the last I had heard. There's also two different 10 mph over citations. One with points ..one without
Shannow: We too have remote radar units that display your speed. It just displays your speed with a steady display up to 10mph over ..then flashes when you're 10 mph or higher. My jeep was reading a solid 5 mph fast @ 55 mph or over (60 indicated 55 actual). A gear change brought it to within 2 miles over a 240+ mile trip on the odometer. The speedo was accurate according to the radar units.
Shannow: We too have remote radar units that display your speed. It just displays your speed with a steady display up to 10mph over ..then flashes when you're 10 mph or higher. My jeep was reading a solid 5 mph fast @ 55 mph or over (60 indicated 55 actual). A gear change brought it to within 2 miles over a 240+ mile trip on the odometer. The speedo was accurate according to the radar units.
I'm just back from a weekend trip of 230 miles each way.
What is amazing is that people simply pack into the left lane, leaving the right lane often the faster of the two. You also find people who think they are going plenty fast enough, and sit in the left lane for mile after mile, refusing to yield to following traffic. The cure, of course, is to blow by them on the right. You'd be surprised just how little high speed acceleration a large SUV has, when the driver tries to prevent me from passing on the right in one of the Accords. The Accords' ability to exceed 90 mph in third helps, as well, since if you need to use third, you need not worry about having to pay attention to the tach while passing a miscreant.
In any event, if everyone would remember to drive right, pass left, interstate traffic, particularly in a crowded state like Ohio, would flow far more smoothly.
What is amazing is that people simply pack into the left lane, leaving the right lane often the faster of the two. You also find people who think they are going plenty fast enough, and sit in the left lane for mile after mile, refusing to yield to following traffic. The cure, of course, is to blow by them on the right. You'd be surprised just how little high speed acceleration a large SUV has, when the driver tries to prevent me from passing on the right in one of the Accords. The Accords' ability to exceed 90 mph in third helps, as well, since if you need to use third, you need not worry about having to pay attention to the tach while passing a miscreant.
In any event, if everyone would remember to drive right, pass left, interstate traffic, particularly in a crowded state like Ohio, would flow far more smoothly.
Ever had someone try that #@$%! when you're passing on a 2-lane highway?
I once had some wench speed up to keep me from passing her. So I sped up more and got in front of her. Then she started tailgating me. So I lightly tapped my brakes and she SLAMMED hers on. Apparently she had done this #@$%! before to someone else who probably brake-checked her hard in retaliation.
She was driving a Toyota Avalon, by the way, not an SUV. When we stopped at a traffic light, she gave me the finger and started screaming at me.
Must have been that time of the month.
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