I have been a delivery driver for 4 years. I make up to 30 deliveries a day in SE Portland. It is frustrating to be stopped at lights for thirty seconds while there is no traffic crossing. This happens a couple times every delivery (approx.). That would mean that I could possibly spend up to 30 mins (30 secs x 2 times per trip x 30 deliveries) of unnecessary idle time on the road. This is a stress that I just accept because I figure there is no other way around it. It is “the luck of the draw”. Or is it?
Recently, I got a traffic violation on the corner of NE Grand and NE Broadway. I was not working at the time. The citation that I received was for rolling through a right turn at a red light. I am not arguing against my violation and I will pay my fine. What caught my eye was how the “high-speed camera and sensor device” recorded my violation. The citation that was sent to me gave me a long list of information regarding my violation. If our state has the ability to put this sort of sophisticated radar system in to enforcw law, why can’t we put it in to our outdated traffic light system? Is it more important to give petty citations to hard working citizens than to have fluid traffic?
Portland is the heart of this state and traffic is the blood flow of our economy. Every Portlander is frustrated about our congestion. If we invest the money to have a sophisticated traffic system that is not based on “ticking clocks” but rather who is at the light, it would increase traffic flow. For instance, the light could turn green for cars, and when the cars are all through, would immediately turn for other traffic. A sophisticated radar or camera, with sophisticated programming, could easily maximize car flow.
I know the State is near broke, but surely this sort of traffic control would pay for itself, especially if it was applied to major traffic arteries of Portland first. Not only would cars not have to spend unnecessary time at lights, they would save gas, brake pads, and other vehicle maintenance costs that bog down our disposable income. Surely the customers would be happy for a timely delivery!
That's very good idea, especially if we use the funds created from camera caught traffic violations to pay for camera assisted lights.
ReplyDeleteMost traffic enforcement laws are about providing tax revenue for the state or local governments. I know in my area, their will be a cop sitting at a stop sign waiting for someone to not come to a 100% complete stop. They have traffic ticket quotas to meet. I heard one cop at a local gym talking about speed traps. And it was disgusting. Or go out to California where the state is broke and traffic tickets are a big source of revenue for the state. The traffic cops are simply tax collectors. They hand out tickets for trucks that go one mile an hour over the 55 speed limit. When I use to drive through their I would go exactly 55. Also they will give you a ticket for moving out of the far right lane to allow another vehicle onto the interstate. You tell the cops that you had to get over so the other car can get on. The cops says "I know" and gives you a ticket. It is retarded.
ReplyDeleteSomeday in the future if things are able to continue to advance, traffic will be all automated. They are already working on cars that can drive themselves.
Perhaps in a hundred years all cars will be automated. Maybe fifty. But I am saying that the technology is already there for a better light system. Have you ever been stuck at a left turn light with no oncoming traffic? Or a light will turn green for crossing traffic, but only two cars cross, but for some reason you have to wait an additional 20 seconds for crossing traffic lights to turn red and yours turn green. These things add up. If you apply it to an aggregate level, it is millions of dollars.
ReplyDeleteOur light system now is based on magnets under the road that trigger a predestined time clock.
Aren't they building a bridge down there for just bikes? State Controlled Capitalism is called Facism.
ReplyDeleteI bet technology like that will have a hard time getting approved near term. Hell, there would probably be oil lobbyists protesting because more efficient = less gas.
And a little vid for why things never change.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuQIMfMVMYg&feature=youtu.be
I wonder if the cost of developing and implementing this new traffic light system would be less than what it would save. I think cars driving themselves could happen in 50 years, if it weren't for the looming debt crisis. There are already luxury cars that can slow themselves down automatically if they get to close to another car.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/294304
"But these comparisons tend to understate the insolvency of America, failing as they do to take into account state and municipal debts and public pension liabilities. When Morgan Stanley ran those numbers in 2009, the debt-to-revenue ratio in Greece was 312 percent; in the United States it was 358 percent. If Greece has been knocking back the ouzo, we’re face down in the vat. Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute calculates that, if you take into account unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare versus their European equivalents, Greece owes 875 percent of GDP; the United States owes 911 percent — or getting on for twice as much as the second-most-insolvent Continental: France at 549 percent.[...]And if you’re thinking, Wow, all these percentages are making my head hurt, forget ’em: When you’re spending on the scale Washington does, what matters is the hard dollar numbers. Greece’s total debt is a few rinky-dink billions, a rounding error in the average Obama budget. Only America is spending trillions. The 2011 budget deficit, for example, is about the size of the entire Russian economy. By 2010, the Obama administration was issuing about a hundred billion dollars of treasury bonds every month — or, to put it another way, Washington is dependent on the bond markets being willing to absorb an increase of U.S. debt equivalent to the GDP of Canada or India — every year. And those numbers don’t take into account the huge levels of personal debt run up by Americans. College-debt alone is over a trillion dollars, or the equivalent of the entire South Korean economy — tied up just in one small boutique niche market of debt which barely exists in most other developed nations."
This college debt is a large number. I think there are too many people that shouldn't be going to college that are going because they are having it paid for by the government. I see them every day. I am probably one of those people that shouldn't be going. I look forward to getting a job, being debt free, paying taxes, and being a productive citizen.
Too bad Santorium or Paul couldn't have won the nomination.
ReplyDeleteI agree. There are a lot of students that are wasting the governments dime. People go to college nowadays because they can't afford not to. Imagine that.
ReplyDeleteI'm a firm believer its not what you know its who you know. Most people go to school 4-8yrs and receive all this book knowledge, but most don't have an actual job/location setup to complete this process. Where as connecting with friends/family/community about possibilities for work and what education/skillsets would be needed to fill this role. This is how small business churns (local relationships) and its going away to large corps/over sea. This is a paradigm shift that is happening and will continue to happen.
ReplyDeleteGot to disagree with your there KP. A good degree will guarantee you a good job. Who you know can help get you in the door, but not as much as a good degree. The problem is, college is adult day care for most young adults, not a place to learn an actual trade. Treat college as a trade school, and it will treat you well. Treat it as a finishing school for debutantes and you'll be out on the streets cursing at the world that your art degree is not going to pay back the $60k you invested in it in a million years.
ReplyDeleteThat's the real problem with college, the students themselves who don't know what it's like to worry about where their next meal is coming from and treat education as fun time.
Regarding traffic control: that is quite an eye-opening bit of info ToeJamm. I had no idea that gathered all that info.
ReplyDeleteThe problem for the gov't is that, even though using these cameras to facilitate traffic flow would be the green thing to do, and would save citizens tons of money in gas and car wear, it wouldn't put any money into the city's coffers, so they don't give a hoot. If they can control and tax, and expand their payrolls, then they'll go for it, otherwise, they don't care. The only way they would care is if enough citizens bitch long and loud enough.
And no! We do not want cars driving themselves!!! Talk about ultimate Gov't control!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't think a good degree by itself can guarantee anybody a good job, especially today. I think 80% of college grads move back home with mom and dad, up from 50% before the recession. From what I have read, if you get an engineering, math, or science degree from a good school and do interships while you are in school or you have actual real world experience then you have good chances of getting a good job. And networking is important. A degree in some liberal arts like history, art, literature or something along those lines are basically worthless unless you earned it at an Ivy league school. If you are live for and think about history or art or literature 95% of your waking hours, then you could end up getting a job doing what you love. If these subjects aren't your reason for existing, then a degree in them is worthless.
ReplyDeleteToo many people are graduating from college without ever having had to think critically or use their brain. And when teachers make their students think, the students start bitching. Most degrees only require you to memorize stuff and spit it back out for the test. (I had a good article I can't find.)
Of course a college degree is becoming what a high school degree use to be. Everybody will be expected to go to college and get brainwashed.
The degrees --Combined with actual experience-- employeers are looking for today are ones that give you an actual skill that can be used to solve problems and prepares you to deal with complex multidimensional issues, anaylze data and make meaning out of it. Being versed in communist thought from a liberal arts degree can get you a job pushing carts at the local retailer.
Of course not everybody is capable of getting an engineering degree because that requires you to actually be smart or have gone to a good high school. Hard work alone can not guarantee someone success in this field. In my math and science classes, only a handful of people make grades that would allow them to go to a reputiable 4 year school and earn an engineering, math, science degree. And I know I am not one of these people. Most of these people are Asians. America is falling behind in this catagory. Out of a class of close to 30 people, only 7 passed a recent math test and a 60 was considered passing. The sad thing was the test only required memorizing formulas and being able to apply them to the correct problem to make at least an 80.
Of course what I have said is what I have read from various articles and does not refelct any first-hand knowlege of what degrees are worth. Find something that you love to do and have a passion for and you will be happy and successful.
According to the bureau of labor and statistics, as of 2011, people with a mere bachelor's degree are half as likely to be unemployed. (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm)
ReplyDeleteGetting a degree does help you nowadays. It may not get you the job that you could expect that it would have ten years ago, but it definitely helps. Even if you get a shitty degree, like some bull shit liberal arts degree, it shows that you had the discipline to stick it out for four years and pass. A lot of students today do not finish their degrees. They get discouraged and drop out. My school, Portland State, has a 35% graduation rate. It is one of the lowest in the nation. We have the largest student body in the state, with some of the lowest acceptance standards, and we still can't graduate many students. This shows that the government assisted students get filtered out of a school that has easy requirements. Students that attend because "they can't afford not to" will not get anything but debt out of their higher education.
Maybe automated driving is not so far after all.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/28/amazing-google-self-driving-cars-allow-blind-to-drive/
This guy drives in his Prius but he is 95% blind.
-Toe
I was going to comment on that article http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/28/amazing-google-self-driving-cars-allow-blind-to-drive/
ReplyDeleteIt is only a matter of decades before this becomes mainstream.
I think a degree looks good and is replacing the high school degree as a bare-minimum credential required for a job.
America's education system needs to be reworked on a massive scale so that it can produce people that can ademically compete with other nation in science, math, and engineering. The modern day public education system is designed to produced brainwashed and non-thinking citizens that can mechanically perform basic tasks like a worker bee would without thinking. That sounds oversimplified, but look at what product this system produces and take a look at the writings of the people that the education establishment state as their influencial founding fathers. They tell you exactly what this sytem was designed to produce. Check out John Dewey and his out of print book, http://ariwatch.com/VS/JD/ImpressionsOfSovietRussia.htm.
And Ayn Rand's article http://www.scribd.com/doc/51894820/Ayn-Rand-The-Comprachicos
or check out the book that has it.
Or check out Thomas Sowell's book "Inside American Education"
You might want to know what this system is about before you throw your precious little kids into the midst of it. That way you can see through it and know how to counteract this system's influence on them.