Archive for November 11th, 2008

The word of the year, according to the New American Oxford Dictionary. I see the word more often than I actually see people doing it.

And, going against a recent grain of thought, Car and Driver says leaving the windows down is better for mileage than A/C.

John Adams explodes the fear of “bicycle bombs.” And his point on life jackets is well taken too.

[I should clarify, vis a vis the comment below, that Adams is talking about actual bicycles converted into bombs, rather than explosives attached to bicycles — which seems to be the case in this article — which are in theory no different than explosives strapped to human suicide bombers.]

Is what Mary Roach suggested my book should have been called, and every time I read a story like this one, the point is driven home.

Detailing a police sting operation in Montclair, N.J., to reduce the number of pedestrians killed in crosswalks as they legally go about their walking (the most common way pedestrians are killed in NYC and apparently parts of N.J.), the story notes:

During the operation, dubbed Cops in Crosswalks, the percentage of motorists who stopped rose from 11 percent in June to 49 percent in August, and more than 800 drivers received $100 traffic-violation tickets, said Sgt. Daniel Pronti, of the Montclair Police Department.

“Most people who committed the violations weren’t even aware they committed a violation,” Sergeant Pronti said. “We learned that education was key to our ultimate goal of making people feel safe.”

Uh, I actually thought the education was supposed to happen before the drivers got their license. And we wonder why Europeans think our driving tests are a joke.

I was intrigued by this story of how Newark, N.J., is installing a number of count-down signals at key intersections, and also lengthening crossing times.

“Part of the reason for the evaluation throughout town is the persistence of resident Shari Gaston, who has been coming to meetings for months to complain about the safety of crossing the street.”

And there’s a poetic justice to the way it’s going down:

Monday at Newark City Council committee meetings, Service Director Kathleen Barch intends to request $7,500 from the funds collected from enforcement of handicap parking to pay for 16 countdown overlay crosswalk lights for four downtown intersections.

The Washington Post reports that Tysons Corner, poster child for “Edge City” sprawl, sees heavier traffic counts at lunch as it does during the morning or evening peaks.

Not everyone, like this lunch commuter, was so worked up about it.

“We drive a mile at most,” he said. “Even with traffic, it’s not more than a couple of minutes.”

Why even take such a short drive?

On a recent sunny weekday, four young financiers got out of Mike Eisenberg’s Acura in the parking lot of the Silver Diner. They took the three-minute drive from their office building, rather than walk. “We’re not willing to risk our lives crossing Route 123,” Eisenberg said.

Classic.