Comments welcome by email. I don't care if you disagree with me but name-calling and cussing are not acceptable. Comments that are just rude and not relevant will not be posted.
"The idea of charging a variable toll to get into a fast lane is popular with a wide variety of groups who don't normally agree on transportation issues, such as environmentalists and roads advocates. The tolls are seen as a way to manage existing roadways more efficiently."
"I think it's for the rich people. They'd be the only ones who would use it.''
Except what she's forgetting is that with the rich people paying to drive in the HOT lanes, there'd be more space in the other lanes for the rest of us! Sounds good to me.
Though since the whole point of the HOT lanes is supposed to be instead of more highway construction, why do they want to try it first on SR 167? I can easily envision this being highly valuable on the stretch of I-5 from Boeing Field to downtown Seattle, moving the tollpayers into the carpool lane. But my reaction when I heard 167 mentioned was disbelief—there aren't any carpool lanes and it wouldn't improve a thing to just turn an existing lane into a carpool/toll lane. Sure enough, they'll have to actually add lanes to 167 for this to work. (Like we haven't been enduring months and months and months of tortuous road work all over this part of the county already. More?! I cringe at the thought.)
See, this lady's in her SUV using her cellphone to voice her opinion on a talk radio program. While she's on the air, another vehicle crashes into hers. At this point we're all nodding, "Yep. SUV. Cellphone. What else would we expect?" Too bad the article doesn't mention until almost the end (and almost as an afterthought) that she's stopped on the side of the road when all of this happens!
"As the law gets stricter, there are more people who are finding ways to get around it. There are about 20 websites that provide information to drivers via their cell phones and PCs on where the police are likely to be, and they are updated in real time."
"Less than two drivers a day are fined for tailgating despite it being responsible for up to one-third of casualty crashes—those in which someone is either killed or injured. It is also regarded as a major cause of road rage incidents."
"The groom says he walked outside just after 11pm and was punched by a neighbour after being accused of setting off a car alarm which had been sounding."
"Just days after writing about an immigrant cabdriver who didn't want to pick me up because of the color of my skin, I found myself smack in the middle of another taxi incident."
An American soldier was killed today in the northern city of Mosul while standing guard at one of the long lines of cars that have been backing up out of filling stations because of a gasoline shortage in Iraq.
The soldier, who has not been identified, was killed after four men in a car opened fire about 50 yards from the gas station, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad. In the last few days, American troops have been called on to guard unruly lines of drivers, who often wait for hours to fill up their tanks.
Unlucky Cows!
Road Hazards!
