Are There Video Camera At Metro Rail Crossings

Hundreds of motorists were likely wrongly targeted past photographic camera at LA intersection (KCBS)

A Blue Line train weighs about 270,000 pounds and can run as fast as 55 mph, the reason Metro uses photo enforcement cameras to keep vehicles and people off the tracks when trains are approaching.

This piece by reporter David Goldstein concerns a Metro photo enforcement camera at E Century Boulevard and Grandee Artery that is adjacent to the Blueish Line. The gist of information technology: an increasing number of motorists take been cited for crossing the tracks despite warning bells and the gates closing. Meanwhile, a traffic signal just beyond the tracks was giving motorists a light-green light.

In response to the KCBS segment, Metro issued a argument:

While Metro believes the light phasing and traffic light placement at the Century/Grandee crossing conforms to manufacture standards, due to concerns expressed Metro will stop issuing citations while nosotros continue to review this matter and piece of work with the metropolis of Los Angeles to heighten the intersection with an boosted almost side traffic light.

This is an important outcome and I'd like to offer a few points:

•Motorists should always give the highest priority to heeding the alert lights, bells and gates at track crossings rather than looking at traffic signals beyond the tracks. Bottom line: If the gates are coming down and the lights are on and the bells are sounding, stop and await for the train.

•The highest number of accidents betwixt cars and Blue Line trains at both gated and non-gated intersections was 61 in 1993. A number of safety measures accept since been put in place, including the employ of photo enforcement cameras. Over the last 10 years, the number of accidents has averaged sixteen.eight annually, according to Metro statistics. That'due south a big driblet, attributable in part to photograph enforcement cameras being a practiced 24/7/365 tool to protect motorists and railroad train passengers. Keep in mind the Blue Line runs at to the lowest degree xx hours each day.

•A three-car Blue Line train weighs in the neighborhood of 290,000 pounds. Many passenger autos weigh 3,000 to 4,000 pounds. A Bluish Line train can run equally fast as 35 miles per hour at many intersections. Practice you really want to be in a car that gets hit in the side by a train? Those are the exact type of severe — and oft fatal — accidents that we're trying to prevent.

•Metro is besides currently adding pedestrian swing gates at this intersection as office of a project to add gates at 27 Blue Line crossings. More almost that here.

Here is the conclusion of a 2010 study by the Texas Transportation Institute on photo enforcement cameras:

The entire study is here. I am well aware that traffic tickets are very expensive and no 1 wants to get one. But the cameras are there for reasons of public safety. Given the many distractions we confront today, I can't emphasize plenty how of import it is for motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and skaters to pay attending to the warning lights and bells at rail crossings and to non take chances with your own life or the lives of others.

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Things to heed to whilst transiting: I just listened to the first episode of "Missing Richard Simmons" and I'yard hooked.

Things to watch whilst transiting: an elephant challenges a white rhino to a play session in Kruger National Park in South Africa. Stick throwing is immune.

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The new car lot has been a staple of America for many decades now.

While on the subject of cars…I've been writing a lot recently about transit ridership taking a dip in many parts of the country. Metro's own ridership fell about six percent between 2015 and 2016, as media have reported.

Attentive readers know that nosotros've mentioned some potential reasons. Quick review: often-mentioned here and around the U.S. is the popularity of ride hailing (Uber and Lyft, etc.), transit service problems/delays, lower gas prices, a stronger U.S. economy, undocumented workers allowed to go commuter'southward licenses in California, amidst others.

What I haven't written about equally much is the full cost of driving in recent months/years. With that in listen…

Are new cars getting cheaper? (The Happy Philosopher)

The Philosopher recently replaced a automobile purchased in 1999 with a new one and discovered that when adjusted for inflation, the new automobile — which was essentially amend in every way — was only 14 percent more expensive.

Then the Philosopher ran the numbers for other vehicles and constitute that some models are actually cheaper in inflation-adjusted dollars than they have been in the by. Well, that's interesting. But…

Why the average American can no longer afford a new machine (Motley Fool)

The average new motorcar — priced at $32K — is out of reach of the average household in all just one of 25 large metro areas, according to a recent study. Simply…every bit Jalopnik notes, there are many vehicles priced well below the average price that may be decidedly unsexy just will serve their owners well.

I want to echo that point: information technology's not that hard to get a brand new small fuel-efficient vehicle such as the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit or Chevy Sonic for 20K, taxation and title included. Zero percent financing is at present very mutual and you don't take to look too hard to find a lease deal for under $200 per month.

Now, let'south look at some other charts, starting with gas prices:

The current average in California is $2.97 per gallon of regular gas, co-ordinate to AAA. Bottom line: gas is cheaper than it was x years ago this time. Other stats:

•New cars are, on boilerplate, about x to 15 percent more fuel efficient than they were x years ago. See this government chart, although it should be noted others accept found that the overall fuel efficiency of all vehicles on the route has changed relatively little over the years.

•I don't have skillful stats on the average cost of car insurance. I do know that my rates accept gone down as I get older.

•It remains pretty easy to find a cheap used motorcar.

•I also don't take stats on the cost of parking. I'm taking an educated guess that in our region, it's overall probably more expensive to park than it has in the past, although it remains pretty easy to find free or cheap parking, peculiarly if y'all don't listen walking a little.

Overall decision: I suspect the reason that Americans drove a record amount of miles in 2016 and purchased a record corporeality of new cars and rode transit a little less is that the price of owning and driving a car has remained the same or even gone down for some folks.

And this disclosure: I simply bought a new Subaru Outback to replace my 10-year-old Subie. I'll be clear: the accented smartest move financially would be to pump a modest corporeality of money into the one-time auto and drive it into the ground.

Merely I decided to sell it while it still had some worth and take advantage of zero percent financing to get a new ane that gets meliorate mileage, pollutes less and has a host of anti-standoff prophylactic features the old 1 lacked. As the Happy Philosopher found above, my old car — in inflation-adjusted dollars — cost about $200 less than the new i.

I'm not proverb you should chuck your TAP bill of fare and immediately go buy a new auto. But the reality in So Cal is that many people practise drive and will continue to do then, yours truly included. In fact, I'd say the smartest thing any new auto owner could do is go get a TAP card and try to use transit to reduce the almanac miles driven on the new auto and help battle climate change.

Taking the Gold Line to work will keep several thousand miles off my car annually and make information technology last the 10 to fifteen years I need it to terminal to make any kind of financial sense. In that sense, I suspect I'm like many other locals in that it'due south non a matter of choosing betwixt driving and transit, it's a matter of using both to skillful effect.

Source: https://thesource.metro.net/2017/03/02/how-we-roll-march-2-keeping-cars-off-tracks-has-the-cost-of-driving-gone-down/

Posted by: smithsichim.blogspot.com