Pages

Praetorium Honoris

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Red Lights and Roadblocks


In addition to being such a prolific writer here on The Chant, 😜 I usually throw together a short article for the monthly newsletter of my local Mustang Club. You've seen my Mustang on here once or twice, usually from when I'm in a parade, which I enjoy, and so I stepped up to be the VP last year.  We are always looking for stories for that newsletter, so I help add content when needed.  My input this month was something that's car-centric of course, a story about the red light cameras at various intersections here in San Diego.  I was inspired by a list of intersections with cameras that I found on the city's website.

I remember when those were put in, I didn't like it, nor did the majority of the San Diego public.  I was especially perturbed because one of them was on my route home.  It was at a heavily traveled intersection on the way from the airport to the freeway.  I didn't like the camera because it wasn't catching those flouting the law, but people who got caught in traffic.  In general I dislike govt. intrusion and bureaucracy, but that has changed.  I'll explain more shortly.




I tend to think that most of us in my club are pretty savvy (senior?) Mustang drivers, and we care a lot about our vehicles. It's not likely that we would either flout the law and intentionally run a red light, or be so inattentive as to run one unintentionally.  However, that doesn't mean other drivers aren't out there gunning for us- speeding through intersections, trying to make it through a yellow, or even a newly turned red.  I used to watch the reality TV show "Fast and Loud" pretty regularly.  The Gas Monkey garage was great at taking barn-finds or stock cars and turning them back into what they once were, or what the team dreamed up.  One of the most memorable episodes for me was when Richard Rawlings and his crew restored my favorite car ever- a '67 Convertible Mustang; the first car I ever drove since my family owned one (sold the day before I got my learners permit). You can watch a clip of the episode here.  Why it was memorable was because of how it ended- both the episode, and the car.  Yes, the car was totaled, moments after completion and during a test drive.  Some uninsured motorist had run a red light, crunched the front right fender, and bent the frame beyond repair.  It was heartbreaking for me, not just to see my dream car destroyed, but because of how much work had just gone into it.  

Now back to that intersection.


What you see is an overhead shot of the San Diego Embarcadero, which follows the curve of the harbor (Harbor Drive) and the red-pinned problematic intersection.  I drive South on Harbor and turn left onto what is Grape St.  Below you see the street view looking south at Grape. 



When the camera was put in, that route was very congested (still is) and would regularly cause backups when you turned left.  People in the three left turn lanes would start the turn (which has poor visibility) then realize it was backed up, and the red light camera would catch them stuck in the middle.  It wasn't as if people were blatantly running the red light, but the free-flowing traffic would often stop on a dime due to multiple lights going up a hill towards the freeway, active train tracks that of course weren't synchronized to the lights, drivers stopping traffic trying to get into the right lane before the on ramp, and general freeway backups back onto the ramp and down the street.    

Sometime in the past few years, the camera at that intersection was removed.  Since COVID though, that intersection, and many others, still have red light runners that I notice daily.  People have seemingly lost their sense of driver courtesy and care for the safety of themselves or others.

The rest of that list of cameras I found has intersections with heavy traffic, plenty of accidents, and thus the cameras are there to help cut down on that.  I didn't write that piece for my newsletter as a warning to club members to avoid tickets though.  When I saw the stats on the number of vehicles passing through them and the number of accidents last year, I changed my tune on the red-light cameras because of all the red-light runners causing accidents.  We want to avoid accidents like the Fast & Loud crew experienced- to watch out for the other drivers and prevent our beloved Ponies from getting wrecked like the one in the clip.  The cameras are a form of govt regulation I can tolerate to help keep my car from getting smashed.  Knowing where the cameras are are just a way to know what intersections at which we have to be even more defensive in our driving.



Speaking of roadblocks, in a roundabout way I admit, I can't go a full post without getting somewhat political.  For many years, I have been very frustrated, along with many of you I'd expect, that nothing ever seems to get done in Washington. The constant in-fighting, the lack of any substantial legislation, and the corruption of course, really shakes what little faith I have in govt.  Do I still have any?  I know I'm not alone, we've all been frustrated and we hate politics, and even more so- politicians.  But I heard something recently on an afternoon talk show that put some of it into perspective.  Our constitution was written by our founding fathers with the specific intention of keeping govt small and out of our lives.  The Federalist papers specifically called for an elaborate system of checks and balances and a decentralized government giving powers to the states.  That was followed by the Constitutional Convention which expanded upon that idea, having a centralized government, but with power divided among the three branches.  While most of the roadblocks in the legislative body are because of the highly polarized two party system, having a judicial branch that stops cutouts from the equal protection clause like Affirmative Action, or ensuring the President can't levy taxes (College Loan Bailouts), is helping keep our Govt in check.  When the Dems and GOP can't get along and pass one bill or another, they can't shove something down our throats, and that may actually be a good thing.  


Inside baseball is saying that Biden won't be the nominee next year.  The Dems have to figure out a way to drop him, keep Kamala down, and move my governor (ugh!) - Gavin Newsom, into the top spot.  The fact that there is no Biden reelection team, no real campaign at all, and zero fundraising for his reelection is very telling.   Then again, they could just be saving money for the ballot stuffing campaign.


32 comments:

  1. 1. y' got the first flout n' then messed up on the second one: " It's not likely that we would either flaunt the law and intentionally run a red light..."
    2. Gubmint intrusion of any sort is like the camel's nose n' the tent flap n' we're seein' the results of this right now - whut're payin' fer gas - close another pipeline -push another EV down my throat
    3. All yer tellin' me is that the lights are controlling the traffic extremely poorly; y' mean to tell me that there're no computer IT people who cain't develop programs to improve this problem? Yeah! I know there'll always be people who gotta rush - mebbe they gotta get to the latrine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1. I'll fix
      2. Don't get me started on EV- even worse for the environment due to the battery manufacturing/precious metals demand.
      3. It's a tough one because while 2 lanes going up Grape get onto the freeway, that right lane drags as people force themselves over and have no problem just stopping in the middle lane until someone lets them in. Not sure the computers can account for the variability in all those drivers.

      Delete
    2. in re 3
      traffic occlusion is strictly a (mal)function of city planning
      imagine (only if you a problem getting to sleep at night) planning a 250 unit development on LI with one 6" waste pipe leading to the treatment facility - very similar to San Diego roadways

      Delete
    3. That's a bunch of crap! However, I don't think the city planners can plan for the people that break the law after they pass through the intersection, stopping traffic to get over. They even try and get over to the far right lane even though the Middle Lane goes to the freeway as well.

      Delete
    4. There are also places, like Gainesville, FL, that purposely set the lights to non-synchronize in order to force people to slow and stop and go and slow and stop. One of our city commissioners said proudly that it was to force people to use alternative transportation.

      Yep. Uh huh.

      Delete
    5. Taxing parking can help force people into public transport...

      Delete
  2. When I first read "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" at a tender age, maybe all of 12 years, I was much taken by Professor de la Paz saying that our system was designed by anarchists who almost pulled it off with the roadblocks in the Constitution.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't quite understand that. I tend to think they tended towards the brilliant, vice anarchist (not that those are exact opposites). The fed has taken so much power though that anarchy is a good description.

      Delete
    2. It was designed to NOT do things, to inhibit action by the government. Two legislative bodies, House and Senate (the Senate of the Constitution not being just a more exclusive House of Representatives we have today) that had to agree, an executive who had to sign off on it, and an outside system to say, "You're crazy!" But....

      "I see...with the deepest affliction, the rapid strides with which the federal branch of our government is advancing towards the usurpation of all the rights reserved to the States, and the consolidation in itself of all powers, foreign and domestic...aided by a little sophistry on the words ‘general welfare,’ a right to do, not only the acts to effect that, which are specifically enumerated and permitted, but whatsoever they shall think, or pretend will be for the general welfare."
      JEFFERSON, THOMAS, Letter to W. B. Giles, 1825


      "They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which might be for the good of the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and, as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please... Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up straitly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect."
      --Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on National Bank, 1791. ME 3:148


      Delete
    3. Thomas Jefferson is my favorite founding father. He was a brilliant writer.

      Delete
  3. Tuna, in my opinion one of the greatest cars of all time were the 1965-1967 Mustangs (1970-1971 Mach 1 as strong follow on). We had three in my family (all 1966's, two 6 cylinder and a 289 convertible in perfect condition my father bought, drove for a few years, then sold back to the owner at the same price) and I love the cars to death.

    Having been in San Diego on business a few times in the past year, I can attest to the traffic and seeming madness - but it seems to be everywhere. Even here, red lights runners are a common occurrence and I have taken to delaying entering on a green just to allow those "I have to get there" folks to whiz through.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Such an iconic car, those 60s and early 70s models. I doubt San Diego is any worse than any other city, drivers have gotten worse all over.

      Delete
    2. I have noticed that bad drivers ebb and flow in my area. Usually connected to two things... New Communist China students and illegal aliens. The more of either one and the worse the traffic is, the more hit-and-run accidents, and with the second (illegals) the more driving while intoxicated.

      Oh, yeah, also Yankee and Canuck drivers. But since my AOA isn't as much a tourist area as other places, more college football (don't get me started on that, as that requires a full 'Hunker Down' lockdown, with in-house food stores, liquids and the car gassed up just in case) it isn't nearly as impacted as more touristy or snowbirdy areas.

      Delete
    3. I've spent the same week several times in Destin FL- the traffic is insane with all the snowbirds. No red light runners, but I definitely don't want to try to turn left off Hwy 98.

      Delete
  4. Given his arrogant destruction of the state of California's economy, and livability, combined with an off putting personality, why do the Democrats think Newsome is electable? Unless they have already arranged 82 million votes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't ask me, he's an arrogant ass, but he slick and good looking, and talks a good talk. He has been running, without actually running, for about a year now.

      Delete
    2. Hey, StB, you just described Biden and Harris, so, um, yeah, 80 million voted my butt. Well, Biden destroyed race relations and Harris destroyed the criminal justice system...

      Delete
    3. He's not electable, he's a commie, NWO, Globohomo. With Dominion electronic vote fixing, and proven, unprovable ballot/mail box stuffing, it doesn't matter who votes or how. It only matters WHO counts the votes.

      Delete
  5. When you said Mustang, I had higher hopes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Higher hopes that I would choose some other car?

      Delete
  6. My first car was a 1967 Nightmist Blue Fastback. Very much ysed, but at least I could honestly say I owned one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is an amazing color. There's a 67 convertible in that color, in my club.

      Delete
  7. I was transferred to Chicagoland in 1990 and one of the first things I noticed (besides the crappy roads) was the red light runners, 2 or 3 cars ran the red on the change EVERY TIME. I learned to wait for 10 or 15 seconds for that to happen, I wonder if they ever went to having all the lights red at an intersection for that 10 seconds?

    ReplyDelete
  8. One of my cousins didn't make 20 in a convertable '67 Mustang. Rolled it and done. I always wanted one, but never ran into one I could afford. The Mach 1, the fast back and the Shelby were so pretty. I remember the barf wagon in the mid 70's, too. That was a puke-stang. I did like the Fox body, though.

    The red light cams here in Texas were finally outlawed. It wasn't anything more than a revenue stream, the way the ticketing was setup. Civil fine, not a traffic ticket. The yellow light timing was reduced to increase revenue. Big stink when they found out how much the camera company in Arizona made per infraction.

    My buddy went to NYC and hired a cab. They got into a conversation, and the cabbie blew the red. My bud was spooked. "Why did you blow the red? That's dangerous!!" The cabbie said his brother, also a cabbie, taught him to drive and said it was no problem. Every one knows cabs don't stop when yellow turns red. Don't worry about it. He did it over and over. They finally stopped at a red, and when it turned green, the cabbie didn't move. My bud said, "Why aren't you going? Light's green..." Cabbie said, "My brother's on duty, too. He may be around here somewhere!!!"

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes, the government, as intended, was supposed to move glacially slow, and the Senate (as elected by the state legislatures) was supposed to be in contest with the House of Representatives. Since moving to a dual House of Representatives, there is a notable lack of contest between the two, other than what is inherent in a two-party controlled political system.

    And the founders never saw the overreaching bureaucracy that exists today. If so, they would be shocked.

    Go back to the Senate as intended and get rid of the patently illegal overreaching federalist system and a lot of the bullscat would stop.

    Get rid of the entrenched federal bureucracy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, it's the entrenched that would have to make that happen.

      Delete
  10. "The fact that there is no Biden reelection team, no real campaign at all".

    You mean exactly like the last election where he got the most votes of any president EVAH!!!! ? And if you believe that ...

    Phil B

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anyone wanna bet their real intent is to run Michelle?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not really credible since she has no prep-job like Hillary did.

      Delete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

NOTE: Comments on posts over 5 days old go into moderation, automatically.