Happy Birthday Traffic Light

After roadway fatalities rose 800% due to the introduction of the automobile, Cleveland installed the first traffic signal on August 5, 1914.

Read more at the History Channel

The Detours

ya know, if you're only going downtown in Cincinnati, you can get off at Mitchell Avenue / St Bernard & take Spring Grove. You even get your own lane when you merge onto Mitchell.
ooooooooo.....

Are Boom Gates the Answer ?

As Cincinnatians are complaining about motorists speeding down neighborhood streets & blowing through red lights and stop signs, perhaps boom gates, usually seen at railroad crossings, be an effective way to slow down motorists and actually make them stop at intersections?
Since Luminaries like Chris Smitherman, Dale Mallory & the fine folks at CO    have fought hard to make traffic monitoring electronics near impossible, maybe this is what we need to do. It would be expensive setting up the network but it would still be cheaper than stationing police officers everywhere 24 hours a day in running police cruisers.
The gates can run on solar nowadays so no pesky wiring is needed. The gates would also have to be low enough to stop recumbent bike riders. But they could also be placed along long stretches of road just to slow down the impatient motorists.
oh, what the hell, the cage jockeys would just slam through the dang things….

oh, the humanity...

Here WKRC informs us of a road closure due to streetcar constructure.
They don't mention that it's one block & dead as a doornail.
Here WKRC tells us how construction in downtown Cincinnati is destroying businesses.
So, here's my question - Why didn't they interview the displaced hookers on Henry?
Why didn't they interview the napping mailman who drank his lunch at Charlie's and would then park his truck by the Moerlein loading dock?
why, WKRC, why?

How Can Columbus Screw Ohio Cities Again ?

In light of the state of Ohio wanting to ban traffic cameras, communities have pointed out that efficient, inexpensive technology saves lives, decreases catastrophic injuries, frees up law enforcement & EMT personnel and generates revenue to hire more police & EMT personnel. In some communities the ban might result in laying off these important safety personnel.

Opponents of the ban, including police groups, say cameras should be regulated to weed out bad actors, but not shut off entirely.

While this doesn't seem like an unreasonable stance, it's completely ignored by stalwart political whores like Ron Maag and Dale Mallory who continue to throw out the babies with the bathwater.
Springfield notes that citations, as well as crashes have declined since the implementation of the tech.
Springfield city manager, Jim Bodenmiller, noted:

if it was about revenue, we would have them everywhere and we wouldn’t have signs up warning people about it

Of course the obvious solution to the whole "profit is evil" argument is mandatory jail time, but, again, it's just political whoring.

Noose Son story here

Attention "Lane Takers"For all the cyclists out there wanting to "take the lane" for "safety", here's the scoop - you're illegal &, more to the point, rude.
Per Ohio Revised Code

4511.22 Slow speed.
(A) No person shall stop or operate a vehicle, trackless trolley, or street car at such an unreasonably slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, except when stopping or reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or to comply with law.
4511.27 Overtaking and passing of vehicles proceeding in the same direction.
(A) The following rules govern the overtaking and passing of vehicles or trackless trolleys proceeding in the same direction:
(1) The operator of a vehicle or trackless trolley overtaking another vehicle or trackless trolley proceeding in the same direction shall, except as provided in division (A)(3) of this section, signal to the vehicle or trackless trolley to be overtaken, shall pass to the left thereof at a safe distance, and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle or trackless trolley.
(2) Except when overtaking and passing on the right is permitted, the operator of an overtaken vehicle shall give way to the right in favor of the overtaking vehicle at the latter’s audible signal, and the operator shall not increase the speed of the operator’s vehicle until completely passed by the overtaking vehicle.
And, specific to bicycles:
4511.55 Operating bicycles and motorcycles on roadway.
(A) Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway shall ride as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable obeying all traffic rules applicable to vehicles and exercising due care when passing a standing vehicle or one proceeding in the same direction.
(B) Persons riding bicycles or motorcycles upon a roadway shall ride not more than two abreast in a single lane, except on paths or parts of roadways set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles or motorcycles.
(C) This section does not require a person operating a bicycle to ride at the edge of the roadway when it is unreasonable or unsafe to do so. Conditions that may require riding away from the edge of the roadway include when necessary to avoid fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles, surface hazards, or if it otherwise is unsafe or impracticable to do so, including if the lane is too narrow for the bicycle and an overtaking vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.
(D) Except as otherwise provided in this division, whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor. If, within one year of the offense, the offender previously has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to one predicate motor vehicle or traffic offense, whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. If, within one year of the offense, the offender previously has been convicted of two or more predicate motor vehicle or traffic offenses, whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree.

SHARE THE ROAD

The Wall Street Journal did a pretty superficial article on the effectiveness of red light cameras. The most important thing in the article was Kimberly Eccles statement,

She added that red-light cameras generally are effective when deployed correctly. However, "because of the controversial nature of red-light cameras, I do believe an agency should consider everything else" before installing them, she said.

However the article was marred by bistro statistical nonsense like

Simple before-and-after comparisons also won't do, researchers say. For one thing, intersections typically are chosen for camera installation because they have had a spate of accidents. That makes them due for a fall just by statistical chance.

One of the problems towns have faced is doling out the cameras in a political way. The tech needs to be deployed by the traffic pros.
One thing that happened at a light in Washington DC is that, while citations went down, virtually all the people later cited were from out of town. Safety was achieved as locals adjusted but out-of-towners (DC is a huge tourist town) kept screwing up. This indicates to me that there was a problem with the intersection. Monitoring the intersection, however, could lead designers to find a better solution.
Of course we can't do this in Cincinnati since voters, after a fear campaign spearheaded by COA T & NA CP, threw the baby out with the bathwater. Now every red light related crippling injury & death in Cincinnati can be laid at their blood drenched feet.

Read the whole article here

The truth about Cincinnati's plan that counters the FUD perpetrated about it here

Paranoid About Revenue ?For all the folks wailing about electronic traffic enforcement technology being a cash grab - here's the solution - GO TO JAIL.

Fishwarp story here.

Ohio's Bloody RoadsTraffic deaths grew 4% in 2012 from 1,015 in 2011 to 1,056. Compare that to Ohio's homicides in 2011 of 513. Sounds like your chances are better stiffing your pimp than driving to work…..
While police fall all over themselves patting themselves on the back when fatalities go down, the Fishwarp reports:

A patrol spokeswoman says it’s too soon to tell why the number of fatalities rose.

Ohio's roadways are a killing field. The bloody folly must end. BUILD PASSENGER RAIL NOW.

Fishwarp story here

Elmwood Place has installed speeding cameras that have issued 6.600 tickets in less than a month.
For a 2 week period of testing, they noted 20,000 speed violations. Given those numbers, I would guess they are giving criminals some leeway, but the criminals packed a village council meeting crying foul over the use of technology that renders their game strategies obsolete & saves police officers to do more important work befitting their expertise.
However, while the cameras found an outrageous disdain for safety with the 20,000 recorded violations, the Fishwarp article never mentions any safety issues. Have there been accidents? Has anybody been injured? If so, how frequent & severe were the accidents?
Maybe the issue is too low speed limits.

Fishwarp article here

A Problem Street ?

There's a problem on my street. People keep crashing their cars. As we all know this is anybody's problem except the drivers' I mean it's straight - how ac anybody navigate that?
It's not flat - it slopes down to the east.
The issue is that halfway down the street the road narrows and, while parking on the north side of the narrower section is eliminated, there is parking on the south and people routinely drive east & proceed to smash into the parked cars. Straight street? Stationary objects? Talk about a recipe for disaster…..
From my perch on the southside of the street it's clear that most people driving east drive down left of the double yellow center lines to deal with the crazy roadway.
The upper western half of the road was developed in the 20s while the eastern section was largely developed in the 40s. A deep ravine appears to have been the divider. Why the development to thee east has a narrower road? beats me.
Nobody living in these homes really needs to park on the street. All the homes have driveways & garages. Of course in the 20s & 40s people didn't have fleets of cars……
One of the issues at this bottleneck - a guy in the house just past the bottleneck on the north side is a car hoarder. He uses the city street to store his fleet. He leaves them up the street in the wider stretch (the long term storage) but mainly has them clustered right at the bottleneck. Does it bother me that his are the cars most often smashed? ~not really~ The idea that he has no insurance makes it even more palatable. Most of the crashes are hit & run. Probably because the drivers don't have insurance either.
While it's usually just a sideswipe or bump (and invariably a hit & run) the last one had a car bounce off a parked car & into the path of an oncoming car. Everyone was speeding. No injuries, thankfully but the crashes are becoming more frequent.
One neighbor wants speed bumps. As a cyclist I am way opposed to that idea. The city also recommends this street to cyclists (which is also dumb since it's a residential street). Another alternative would be to widen the street to the south. That'd be BIG bucks with all the emminent domain. It makes some sense, tho since the far eastern end of the street doesn't align with the rest of the steet anyway. It jogs south at the bottom of the hill with a little bridge crossing a small stream. A lot of people drive into the stream on winter days.
My suggestion is - put some kids out there in the street. No, not real kids, just project holographic images of kids playing in the streets to slow the drivers down.
My other idea is pretty wacky, tho - make drivers education more rigorous.

Urbana's Roundabout - Week One

The intersection in the heart of Urbana switched from an ugly traffic light hanging over a monument to a roundabout last weekend. The first reactions are mixed. While traffic congestion is down, some folks believe it is because drivers are hurtling through side streets endangering Urbana youth. Others say it is more efficient & will work better as people learn to use it.
It's gotta look better - even if the statue is splattered in blood and bathed in the light of the burning, wrecked cars.
Here's the directions given to Urnananianites.

Noose Son story here.

Urbana's Monument Square to go Roundabout
Urbana, Ohio plans on changing it's central intersection, Monument Square, to a roundabout. It always kinda was given the amount of alcohol consumed and number of screaming teenage girls in the car, but traffic at the intersection of routes 68 and 36 (Main, Scioto & Miami) was always controlled by a light. Essentially, they are taking out the light and installing stop signs.
Even if it doesn't improve traffic flow (I have been in rush hour traffic jams in Urbana), the esthetics could be greatly improved by the elimination of wires and the ugly old light that looks older than the daggone statue.

Noose Son story here.

Instructions from the Urbana Engineer's office.

Red Light Camera Lies
While the implementation of red light cameras may vary in the many cities in the 30+ states that use them, this is about Cincinnati.
There was a presentation to the Law and Public Safety Committee on the topic on 8-5-08. It can be found on CitiCable.
#1 The city will use valuable tax dollars to purchase the expensive cameras.
The cameras and their installation will be free.
#2 The ticketing process is entirely automated.
All evidence is reviewed by a Cincinnati law enforcement officer before a citation is issued.
#3 You must pay a fine before you can challenge a ticket.
When you are notified by mail, you will have the option to pay or challenge.
An estimate of 2% of citations are challenged. No number was given on the success rate of challenges.
#4 If someone else is driving the car and runs a light, the owner will be held responsible.
This can also be challenged.
(honestly, if the person you loaned the car to won't stand up and defend you, you have more serious problems than a traffic ticket)
#5 People stopping for red lights cause accidents.
This was dismissed in the meeting but a national study by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration was cited that said, nationwide, minor rear end collisions increased slightly while "T-bone" collisions that incurred greater damage and injury as well as death and dismemberment decreased significantly at intersections monitored with cameras.
#6 Cameras will be placed in predominantly black neighborhoods in an attempt to harass, control and generally victimize black people.
The intersections chosen will be picked by looking at traffic accident data only.
The notion that photographing a driver out on public roadways is somehow a violation of his civil rights and that using the cameras would open up the city to expensive lawsuits are pretty wild and were not even discussed.
The idea that photographing a person steals their soul was not discussed either.
A study was recently conducted that said 77% of the local population would vote against a referendum to prohibit the cameras. Part of the survey asked the 23% of respondents who were against the cameras if they would change their minds if they knew the cameras were provided and and installed for free. Approximately 25% of them said they would.
Apparently the spreading of the red light camera lies is going well.