People are ALREADY going 100 MPH on Highway 5. If it becomes legal, they can spend less time looking in the rearview mirror, and more looking ahead. Although, when they're looking for cops, they're at least spending more time being aware of traffic than SOME people I've seen driving.
The article talks about more lanes. Oh, yeah! For some reason, there's a goodly number of drivers who think, if they're going a long way, they should be in the left lane, no matter what speed they're going. When one of those catches up to a person who just wants to drive slowly (perfectly acceptable), it turns into a rolling roadblock (Highway 5 is mostly 4 lanes). I don't know about other states, but in California, if you've got 5 cars on your tail, it's the law that you must pull over to let them pass. There appears to be a lot of people IN the state that don't know that.
Ed
ATLANTIC CENTRALAre you serious here? Who told them to live 2 or more hours from their job?
On average a rush hour typically adds an hour each way in commute time for most major cities. In Milwaukee there are folks that live in Downtown Milwaukee that work in downtown Chicago and thats a 90 min commute just on the train probably 2+ hours each way with waiting time. The salaries downtown Chicago are approx 20-33% greater than what you can get paid in Milwaukee because the cost of living in Illinois is so much. If you can spend the time on the train, pack a lunch and commute into Chicago, your comming out ahead.
By living near the train station in Milwaukee vs the suburbs of Milwaukee they are only adding perhaps 30-40 min to their daily commute by taking the train to Chicago. On top of that some employers have green transit programs and will subsidize a METRA, Amtrak or City Bus system monthly pass instead of having employees drive into work.
If they are a consultant making the commute they can bill the 90 min on the train in each direction and count it as part of their 8 hour workshift, just by opening their laptop and doing work on the train using wi-fi or a portable hot spot.
I work an hour and a half flight time from my employer's city, they allow me a 3 hour allowance on Mondays and Fridays to bill towards work and cover the time of the flight. When I have to fly in. I can fly in as many weeks as I see fit or not at all if I see that is the case. They pay for everything while I am out of state and on their work site, meals, lodging in a 3-4 star hotel, per diem, and transportation costs. It's a good deal for me because they threw in a full pension on top which I would have relied entirely on my 401k prior. So with the 401k and pension I will retire slightly above what I am getting paid now with COLA's until age 90.
Moral of the story is, when someone interviews you in your home town for an out of state position or a position that requires travel. You should always look into it instead of saying NO.
Also on the early morning Monday flights and afternoon Friday flights back there are approx 7-8 BNSF Managers with laptops. So I kind of think BNSF has a similar program for it's Fort Worth, TX employees to suppliment shortages in other parts of their network. Could be just coincidence but I have a suspicion as it seems to be the same faces.
GERALD L MCFARLANE JR ATLANTIC CENTRAL BaltACD High Speed Rail is actually building something. Changing highway speed limits isn't. But the question is, do we need it? Will it make things better? For whom? At what cost? And who will pay? As I illustrated above, I can, and have, driven from Harford County, MD to Farmington, MI as fast as you can fly there, negating the value of air travel in my view. I'm looking to be shown who will benefit from high speed rail and how? I think the government should invest in rail passenger service, I'm just not sure we need high speed rail. I don't think airlines should be allowed to charge one person $500 and another person $50 for the same product. I don't think the tax payers should support the airlines infrastructure, unless we do the same with rail service and we can show the economic and social benefit of both. Sheldon In this case HSR would have benefited most the people that live in the Central Valley and drive anywhere from 2 - 4 hours to and from work in Silicon Valley and the rest of the SF Bay Area. There are people that live as far away as Fresno and work in Silicon Valley. With HSR that long commute would've been gone in an instant, what would take you 4 hours to do driving could be done in an hour to 90 minutes, a significant savings and improvement in quality of life. So basically your average worker would benefit, and there are average workers still in SV, they're not all techies. Everyone should also remember this line: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". In this case I don't consider 10% of the U.S population as being the needs of the few, especially since roughly 50% of the Federal budget is funded by just 5 states. I think we need to redo the allocation alotment of the Federal budget, just set it so that states get back the percentage they put in. We need to be completely fair to everyone, sorry if that sucks for those Southern states that input nothing.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL BaltACD High Speed Rail is actually building something. Changing highway speed limits isn't. But the question is, do we need it? Will it make things better? For whom? At what cost? And who will pay? As I illustrated above, I can, and have, driven from Harford County, MD to Farmington, MI as fast as you can fly there, negating the value of air travel in my view. I'm looking to be shown who will benefit from high speed rail and how? I think the government should invest in rail passenger service, I'm just not sure we need high speed rail. I don't think airlines should be allowed to charge one person $500 and another person $50 for the same product. I don't think the tax payers should support the airlines infrastructure, unless we do the same with rail service and we can show the economic and social benefit of both. Sheldon
BaltACD High Speed Rail is actually building something. Changing highway speed limits isn't.
High Speed Rail is actually building something.
Changing highway speed limits isn't.
But the question is, do we need it? Will it make things better? For whom? At what cost? And who will pay?
As I illustrated above, I can, and have, driven from Harford County, MD to Farmington, MI as fast as you can fly there, negating the value of air travel in my view.
I'm looking to be shown who will benefit from high speed rail and how?
I think the government should invest in rail passenger service, I'm just not sure we need high speed rail.
I don't think airlines should be allowed to charge one person $500 and another person $50 for the same product. I don't think the tax payers should support the airlines infrastructure, unless we do the same with rail service and we can show the economic and social benefit of both.
Sheldon
In this case HSR would have benefited most the people that live in the Central Valley and drive anywhere from 2 - 4 hours to and from work in Silicon Valley and the rest of the SF Bay Area. There are people that live as far away as Fresno and work in Silicon Valley. With HSR that long commute would've been gone in an instant, what would take you 4 hours to do driving could be done in an hour to 90 minutes, a significant savings and improvement in quality of life. So basically your average worker would benefit, and there are average workers still in SV, they're not all techies.
Everyone should also remember this line: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". In this case I don't consider 10% of the U.S population as being the needs of the few, especially since roughly 50% of the Federal budget is funded by just 5 states.
I think we need to redo the allocation alotment of the Federal budget, just set it so that states get back the percentage they put in. We need to be completely fair to everyone, sorry if that sucks for those Southern states that input nothing.
Are you serious here? Who told them to live 2 or more hours from their job?
How much do these jobs pay? Why would anyone in their right mind live that far from their work?
If I pick a job two hours from my house, do I get this special consideration?
As for the federal budget, I can think of a lot that should be changed..........
Better yet, how about the federal government just take less, and leave it to the states to solve their own problems with their own money?
Why do we have to send money to Washington to get their "blessing" on how to spend it? And beg them to give it back with instructions?
Where I live, we have few toll roads, and where they exist, I generally don't venture. But I have visited San Francisco, and received a bill in mail from the Golden Gate Bridge (no more toll booths there) after I got home. Which was fine. They charged a couple of extra $ for having to do it by mail.
The Bay Bridge still has cash toll lanes, with traffic backed up to Berkeley.
Thanks for the information about toll collections. I'm glad that I do not drive any more. When I did drive, I avoided toll roads as much as possible, though I did not mind payung to drive from the Norfolk area to the Delmarva Peninsula 12 years ago.
Johnny
DeggestyAnd if you are a tourister from way out of state driving your own car or a rental car, how do you pay if you do not have a compatible transponder?
Rental car companies you sign an agreement in your rental agreement they have the right to deduct from your Credit Card after final settlement for tolls incurred while you had the vehicle under rent. It usally happens when the bill arrives to the rental car company........they nick your bill.
If your in Illinois beware because the very nice people in Northern Illinois include a fine on top for not renting the tollpass collection with the rental car. It can be hefty if you skip multiple booths because they expect you to stop and pay if you do not have a toll device, their computer and scanning equipment is not smart enough to determine the difference between licenses of a rental and privately owned car. So in Northern Illinois they will fine you like a resident if you skip a booth without paying.....and of course the fine increases as you skip multiple booths.
ATLANTIC CENTRALThe adaptive cruise control on my FLEX has been reliable and predictable in the 80 mph range.
Thats great but the OP stated unlimited speed AND we were also comparing to the autobahn. How far in advance do you think that little weak radar behind your grill works (on the mercedes it's behind their large emblem on the grill). 90 mph 130 mph, 160 mph, 180 mph. Seems to me the higher speed you go the more harsh the brake application would be as you approach a slower moving vehicle and close the distance fast, depending on how fractional it is your current speed. I'm not an engineer but I have noticed when someone merges into my lane and they are moving slower and not at the safe distance.......the brake application made automatically is rather more forceful.
BaltACDWhat I find curious among all the states that have RFID Transponder system - Why in the name of Sam Hell aren't they all compatible? I have EZ-Pass that Maryland and a number of other East Coast states use, but it is not compatible with Sun Pass in Florida or K-Tag in Kansas.
In the Dallas area they started to diverge and someone got your idea and now the toll pass works at the Airport for Airport parking, on both private and public toll roads. I agree they should have one that is nationwide.
There's also the matter of driver training. In Germany as we all know, the autobahns have sections with no speed limits and driver training is much more intense than it is here. As I understand it, it is very difficult to get a driver's license in Germany. When I took my driver's test in 1973, the hardest part was parallel parking. There was no highway training at all. Also, on the autobahn with no speed limit, there is no minimum speed either (so I've heard) so if you're bombing down the road at 150kph, you need to watch out for those driving at 90kph.
BaltACD tree68 Many bridges seem to be getting in on the transponder game as well. The Thousand Island Bridge will be implementing EZPass this year. It will be convenient as many folks using the bridge already have a transponder. In Maryland, EZ-Pass is basically 'free' for the asking. You set up your account with a minimum 'deposit' of $25 that will be used to pay the tolls that accumulate and a agreement to charge your credit car when the available balance drops below a specified minimum. There is no separate charge for the transponder unit. The Sun Pass system requires a separate purchase of the transponder in addition to the account. My normal traffic routes don't require EZ-Pass, however, for 'free' there is no reason to NOT to set up an account for the occasions that may happen when I may need it.
tree68 Many bridges seem to be getting in on the transponder game as well. The Thousand Island Bridge will be implementing EZPass this year. It will be convenient as many folks using the bridge already have a transponder.
It will be convenient as many folks using the bridge already have a transponder.
In Maryland, EZ-Pass is basically 'free' for the asking. You set up your account with a minimum 'deposit' of $25 that will be used to pay the tolls that accumulate and a agreement to charge your credit car when the available balance drops below a specified minimum. There is no separate charge for the transponder unit. The Sun Pass system requires a separate purchase of the transponder in addition to the account.
My normal traffic routes don't require EZ-Pass, however, for 'free' there is no reason to NOT to set up an account for the occasions that may happen when I may need it.
Most of the northeast is on the EZ Pass system, but Maryland is slow to make it required and do away with the toll plazas. They did however build express lanes on I95 north of the Baltimore tunnels which only use transponder/photo toll collection.
tree68 Massachussetts pulled the booths off the MassPike as well - everybody has to have a transponder. Fortunately, it's compatible with NY's EZPass.
Massachussetts pulled the booths off the MassPike as well - everybody has to have a transponder. Fortunately, it's compatible with NY's EZPass.
tree68Many bridges seem to be getting in on the transponder game as well. The Thousand Island Bridge will be implementing EZPass this year. It will be convenient as many folks using the bridge already have a transponder.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Many bridges seem to be getting in on the transponder game as well. The Thousand Island Bridge will be implementing EZPass this year.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
On the Illinois Tollway system, transponders (I-Pass) have been available for quite a few years now but are not mandatory. As a way of encouraging regular users to get transponders, cash tolls are double the amount of electronic tolls. Toll booths requiring a stop are separated and are off to the side of the main roadway. Toll booths on ramps have separate lanes for transponders or cash.
I-Pass also has an interchange agreement with toll roads that use EZ-Pass. As an example, I can use my I-Pass on the Indiana Toll Road.
Oh that's easy... not the same insider favoured relatives and other connections owning those companies that provide the service.
CMStPnP charlie hebdo And then there was the horrible 2003 fatal crash at the Marengo toll plaza in Illinois. The truck driver was going 60 in a 45 mph construction zone approaching the toll booth. Traffic was backed up. He rear-ended a stopped 25-passenger tour bus, killing eight women. 20 others were injured, but not the truck driver. He was sentenced to four years in prison, nearly the maximum. Authorities hoped the sentence will send a message to the entire trucking industry. Why was there even a toll plaza? Dallas yanked ours about 10-12 years ago, you can no longer pay on the freeway. Your car goes through a scanner and they send the bill to your home address. We don't employ a legion of toll collectors or for that matter ticket collectors like they do in Northern Illinois. That issue was solved by technology, two decades ago. Ticket issuance for trains is automated by machine and toll collection is automated by scanner and computer.
charlie hebdo And then there was the horrible 2003 fatal crash at the Marengo toll plaza in Illinois. The truck driver was going 60 in a 45 mph construction zone approaching the toll booth. Traffic was backed up. He rear-ended a stopped 25-passenger tour bus, killing eight women. 20 others were injured, but not the truck driver. He was sentenced to four years in prison, nearly the maximum. Authorities hoped the sentence will send a message to the entire trucking industry.
Why was there even a toll plaza? Dallas yanked ours about 10-12 years ago, you can no longer pay on the freeway. Your car goes through a scanner and they send the bill to your home address. We don't employ a legion of toll collectors or for that matter ticket collectors like they do in Northern Illinois. That issue was solved by technology, two decades ago. Ticket issuance for trains is automated by machine and toll collection is automated by scanner and computer.
Florida uses all technologies on the Florida Turnpike. They have toll booths to get tickets and pay a variable amounts at toll booths depending on where you exit. They have toll booths where there is a fixed charge - where the toll booths exist there are also Sun Pass lanes for those that have the Sun Pass RFID transponder units. Additionally there are locations where the toll is either Sun Pass or toll by tag that ends up being sent in the mail to your address of record.
I am guessing the state wants to have full employment with the human toll takers.
What I find curious among all the states that have RFID Transponder system - Why in the name of Sam Hell aren't they all compatible? I have EZ-Pass that Maryland and a number of other East Coast states use, but it is not compatible with Sun Pass in Florida or K-Tag in Kansas.
charlie hebdoAnd then there was the horrible 2003 fatal crash at the Marengo toll plaza in Illinois. The truck driver was going 60 in a 45 mph construction zone approaching the toll booth. Traffic was backed up. He rear-ended a stopped 25-passenger tour bus, killing eight women. 20 others were injured, but not the truck driver. He was sentenced to four years in prison, nearly the maximum. Authorities hoped the sentence will send a message to the entire trucking industry.
BaltACD There is no defense against terminal incompetence coupled with situational stupidity!
There is no defense against terminal incompetence coupled with situational stupidity!
I say my version of that statement at least once a day as I drive typically 60 to 100 miles a day in central Maryland.....
"There you have it, the driving skills of the terminally stupid"
And if our collective governments were really concerned about safety, fuel consumption, productivity, or quality of of life, they would teardown all those toll plazas.
They are just traffic jam safety hazzard cash cows.......
zugmann Shadow the Cats owner My one thought on CA wanting to have no speed limits on their highways for cars. They better raise the speed limits for the OTR guys then. Can you imagine the carnage of a Vette doing say 120 underridding a 57 foot trailer and yes those are legal in CA with the tandems set for 40 feet which is required. The driver of the Vette's head is right about floor level on a Swift trailer which has the largest fleet. Or having a truck going 100 smashing into a line of stopped or slow-moving cars? Incident like that last October here caused 3 deaths and 7 injuries.
Shadow the Cats owner My one thought on CA wanting to have no speed limits on their highways for cars. They better raise the speed limits for the OTR guys then. Can you imagine the carnage of a Vette doing say 120 underridding a 57 foot trailer and yes those are legal in CA with the tandems set for 40 feet which is required. The driver of the Vette's head is right about floor level on a Swift trailer which has the largest fleet.
Or having a truck going 100 smashing into a line of stopped or slow-moving cars?
Incident like that last October here caused 3 deaths and 7 injuries.
And then there was the horrible 2003 fatal crash at the Marengo toll plaza in Illinois. The truck driver was going 60 in a 45 mph construction zone approaching the toll booth. Traffic was backed up. He rear-ended a stopped 25-passenger tour bus, killing eight women. 20 others were injured, but not the truck driver. He was sentenced to four years in prison, nearly the maximum. Authorities hoped the sentence will send a message to the entire trucking industry.
I bet that vette can maneuver a whole lot better than that trucker pulling a couple of 40’ sails down the interstate.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
(the problem with sand barrel attenuators and other types of energy dissapating devices is how long they take to replace after the first knucklehead gets into them and destroys them. Several of his/her friends seem to find the same place to screw-up before they are finally replaced, usually by an inferior product.) As for the guardrails - the cheapest, not best, solution seems to be a problem with guardrails "spearing" cars these days.
Depending on the layout of the junction, I've seen either sand barrels or telescoping rail ends at off ramps or other junctions. It seems that I've seen the sand barrels smashed at some points on a regular basis.
Paul of CovingtonOn a semi-related note, I remember reading around that time that tests had been conducted to find the safest type of barrier to use in places like the medians on interstates, and they concluded that a solid row of rose bushes performed the best.
I'm not sure if GM came up with the idea, or simply embraced it, but the concept of burying the ends of guard rails was used all over GM's Michigan Proving Grounds.
The idea was that instead of running smack into an immovable object (there were many instances of guard rails impaling vehicles), a vehicle would simply slide up on to it. Extending the posts slightly above the top of of the rail would serve to slow the vehicle.
Then someone sued, saying that their son would not have been killed if he hadn't been launched by the sloped section.
Nowadays you're seeing energy-absorbing assemblies, or the guard rails are tailed off so the likelihood of someone launching off them is near zero.
tree68Back in the 1960's there was a campaign to get rid of "killer trees" from alongside the highways. To some extent, that was done on the Interstates, although the small trees planted at that time to cushion impacts for vehicles going off the road are getting pretty big now...
That must have been a national movement. I was living in Baton Rouge around that time, and I remember seeing in the news that people were protesting against the tree removal, and they made them stop. This involved a stretch of highway west of Baton Rouge that was lined with beautiful oak trees. (I hope they were not relatives of yours.)
On a semi-related note, I remember reading around that time that tests had been conducted to find the safest type of barrier to use in places like the medians on interstates, and they concluded that a solid row of rose bushes performed the best.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Back in the 1960's there was a campaign to get rid of "killer trees" from alongside the highways. To some extent, that was done on the Interstates, although the small trees planted at that time to cushion impacts for vehicles going off the road are getting pretty big now...
An editorial in a local paper pointed out that even after all the safety measures (get rid of trees, mandatory following distances, consistent speeds, etc) some fool would roll his car and die anyhow...
Shadow the Cats ownerMy one thought on CA wanting to have no speed limits on their highways for cars. They better raise the speed limits for the OTR guys then. Can you imagine the carnage of a Vette doing say 120 underridding a 57 foot trailer and yes those are legal in CA with the tandems set for 40 feet which is required. The driver of the Vette's head is right about floor level on a Swift trailer which has the largest fleet.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
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