divert cars to surface road from freeway for < co2

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214144758.htm

Funneling cars along surface streets instead of freeways helped to limit fuel consumption, for instance. Intelligently targeting travelers was another strategy that worked: Rerouting just one fifth of drivers -- those who would benefit most from a new path -- reduced regional emissions by about 20 percent.

Sadek, a transportation systems expert, says one reason green routing is appealing is because it's a strategy that consumers and transportation agencies could start using today.

------------------------

D - and in the summer, this would mean less smog days.

Aside- there is a proposal for a HOV - high occupancy vehicle- lane - a carpool- on the 401.

http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/634394--highway-401-carpool-lanes-proposed

D - despite working fine, they are deeply resented and disliked by most drivers.

Ignorance should not control policy though.

boxcars better than trucks

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111208173716.htm

Much of that impact boils down to simple efficiency, according to Erica Bickford, a graduate student in UW-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. For each ton they carry, long-distance trucks go about 150 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel. Trains can move a ton more than 400 miles per gallon.

Shifting from road to rail 500 million tons of the freight passing through or to the Midwest would make a large dent in the carbon dioxide spilled into the air by the movement of goods.

"There's a 31 percent decrease in carbon dioxide produced by freight shipping in the region, and that's straight from emissions," says Bickford, who made a model of freight traffic in 10 Midwestern states from Kansas to Ohio that she presented December 8 in San Francisco at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. "It's 21 million metric tons of CO₂, the equivalent of what's produced by about 4 million cars."

D - let's see if CN can remain relevant.

There was a nasty article in the G&M biz section a few weeks back. Talking about the total lack of accountability for where/when the package is compared to any courier service.

light rail. thoughts.

WATERLOO REGION — Bureaucrats planning rail transit want to find a private firm to operate the $818-million system that launches in 2017.

Rapid transit director Nancy Button proposed Tuesday that council own the transit system and set standards and fares. A private partner would design, build, finance, maintain and operate it under contract for up to 30 years.

The private firm would assume risks around construction and operation, Button explained, while bringing expertise and innovation that regional government lacks.

Rail transit “really is outside the scale of anything the region has done internally,” Waterloo Coun. Sean Strickland said.

-----------------

http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/635695--private-firm-may-build-operate-rail-transit

D - this ignores the need for mixed development zoning and such.

Waterloo is nearly out of new land to develop. We won't have all that developer cash flowing in, which will leave us in the same boat as Mississauga, which is finding it cannot afford to maintain it's hard and soft public infrastructure.

There is every indication that detached single family houses do not pay for themselves with property taxes.

There was a great article by Mr. Diamond with a Toronto architect firm last Friday in the G&M. But their search engine is nigh-useless, and I could not locate it again.

He suggested requiring intensification only where there are bus routes, instead of the usual v.v.

1st Google remote car - now walking 'bots?

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/honda-asimo-2011-update/?ncid=dynaldusauto00000003

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/googles_self-driving_car_where_it_stands_in_histor.php

They have a very good safety record.

http://asimo.honda.com/

So here is my idea. We make robo-pedestrians. They scrupulously adhere to the rules of the road. They cross at cross walks, and always wait for the walk signal.

BUT. They always walk when they have right-of-way.

The result? A whole lot of traffic accidents between car and robot Fender benders. I prefer the idea of 500 pound supertough robots that do a good number on the car. Soon, those drivers can no longer afford car repairs, or end up with too many demerit points to drive, or their insurance goes very high. A very few might learn how to drive.

The other day, a scenario from a coupla weeks ago happened again. I thought it was a blue-moon rare sort of things. Apparently not.

Once again, a woman driver stared on oncoming traffic to her left, with the intention to turn right. She waited for the light to turn. No more traffic was coming through the red light. She had right of way. And... she did not even LOOK anywhere else before starting to roll out. Of course, I had been there the whole time, and she had plenty of time to glance about.

She didn't. I've described cross walks as kill zones for walkers.

Robots would convert them into fender-bender zones instead.

A great improvement, if you ask me.

Additional beef- there was a bicyclist killed by UW last year. I am not sure how the driver ended up in the bike lane. But I've been watching how cars drive with roads with bike lanes. About 1 in 20 or so drivers centres off the cub and not the bike lane line. Most of the time, they have good visibility and reaction time to move left if there is a cyclist in the bike lane.

Well, most of the time. Bad drivers typically have clumps - veritable swaths - of poor driving skills. So they also drive about a second behind the vehicle in front of them. If that vehicle happens to be a van or SUV or truck, then such drivers have poor sight lines to see a cyclist as well as little reaction time. The result:

1) cyclist in their bike lane

2) cyclist suddenly struck from behind with a speed difference of possibly 40kph. Which starts getting dangerous if not downright lethal.

Related beef - I KNOW the city does not use street cleaners very often to maintain bike lanes. The result is a mix of gravel and possibly glass. It's hard to see glass in time with that much debris. Cyclists react by hanging left in the bike lane, often straddling the car lane in the process. If a car centres on their lane properly, they may very well still clip the cyclist. It's not enough to build a bike lane. It must be built well and then MAINTAINED. Otherwise, best not to bother.

Just saying.

roundabout from hell

http://www.therecord.com/videozone/613149

By St. Mary's high school.

Before: http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/572637--biggest-roundabout-set-to-open-for-traffic

This is causing some anxiety among residents interviewed near the roundabout.

“I think it’s going to be wonderful for drivers,” Angela Butcher said. “But I’m concerned about the high school kids, because high school kids don’t pay any attention to the rules. They think they’re immortal. And drivers just don’t pay any attention to pedestrians.”

Damian Orlowski said pedestrians and drivers mix well at roundabouts in Europe, where he used to live. But traffic circles aren’t as common here.

How well will this one work with student pedestrians? “We’ll see,” he said.

After:

http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/611320--collision-prone-roundabout-to-be-made-safer

WATERLOO REGION — Regional councillors are poised to reduce the speed limit on Homer Watson Boulevard to 50 kilometres an hour to make a collision-plagued roundabout safer.

The move comes after a student was struck by a bus and another 26 vehicles were involved in minor collisions since the controversial roundabout at Homer Watson Boulevard and Block Line Road opened in August.

http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/605461--st-mary-s-student-struck-by-bus-at-homer-watson-roundabout

A 16-year-old girl was struck Friday morning by a bus at a roundabout in Kitchener, just steps from her school.

http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/606120--friends-of-teen-hit-at-roundabout-fear-it-will-happen-again

It’s only been open a month, but the city’s largest and fastest roundabout — with a speed limit of 70 kilometres per hour — has already seen 20 reported collisions.

http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/611097--family-relieved-charges-to-be-laid-in-roundabout-collision

The 110-pound teen was launched in the air. She bounced before she landed 12.5 metres away.

-----------------------------

D: notably the cost of a pedestrian bridge would have been the same as the roundabout- about 2 mils.

But, hey, the car is king. Because we treat it like royalty.

dangerous crosswalk intersection

This is the intersection of Westmount and Father David Bauer/ Westcourt Place.

We've all nearly ended up on car hoods by car drivers engaged in rolling stops through a red.

It is always on the corner with the mall.

The broad ogive makes drivers think they can maintain speed on a turn.

They approach from Kitchener towards University. They pull a hard right onto FDB. They are unable to see past stopped cars to their left -and do so anyway.

I'm sure they'll express shocked disbelief about how a pedestrian 'appeared out of nowhere' when they hit somebody.

A sharper corner would discourage them.

On a related note, a month ago I was returning from the mall to Westcourt Place.

The walk sign was still 'go' when I started. There are 5 lanes to cross.

I was alarmed by the sound of honking right beside me. A car had tried to pull left off of FDB onto Westmount. After 5 lanes the walk sign had expired. This happens to the old people who live in area even when they promptly begin to walk.

Anyway, I gestured to the walk sign.

The husband of the wife said I did not have the right of way. Sadly he refused to step out of the car. Nonetheless, I no longer cross on a 'stale green', or whatever the equivalent for a pedestrian cross walk is.

To the city designers - the same ones that made a foot-wide pseudo-bike lane on Westmount, a mere block from where a cyclist was killed in a proper one a year ago - take note.

When I talk about a particular corner, I am describing road features that exist in multiple locations in K-W. I assume any corner or intersection with the same features will exhibit the same deviance. When a pedestrian gets hit, I may very well suggest the fail was YOUR fault.

Maybe I'll write your boss in your department while citing studies indicating that road feature was dangerous - and you built it anyway.

I think we can safely assume that the city's road designers don't bus bike or walk to work.

nice G&M articles on unsafe driving

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/car-life/road-sage/for-certain-drivers-lanes-markings-are-for-other-people/article2190977/

I was hanging out yesterday with the (cross fingers) to-be local MPP.
He has a background as a municipal lawyer and was involved in planning.
So I finally had somebody to bounce ideas off of.
Long time to get here - but worth it.

My own addition to unsafe driving practices follows.

1) at stop light
2) multiple lanes each way - or wide enough that a car car sneak past for right hand turn
3) consistently, the car in the middle sits ON the line, not behind it
4) the result is the car trying to turn right cannot see pedestrians crossing towards his side
5) by creeping out far enough to see traffic, to know if a right hand turn is safe,
6) either risks hitting a walker, or at least obstructing the cross walk.

In the meantime, the ignorant driver in the middle, somehow stereotypically in a SUV to better block vision for somebody in *just* a car, sits there in unknowing bliss.
I think driver ed needs to be much more detailed and rigorous, complete with micromanagement.

Maybe offering to waive the fee to renew their car license in exchange for a 1 day 'refresher course' could work?
D.