Surface Transportation Projects - what's the goal?

Federal surface transportation policy is distinguished by its almost complete lack of performance accountability. Currently, the funding allocations for the major programs (for example, National Highway System, Interstate Maintenance Program, and Surface Transportation Program) are based largely on formulas reflecting factors such as state lane miles and amount of vehicle miles traveled. As a result, while there is substantial process-based accountability for how federal funds are used, there is woefully little attention paid to results. Performance measurement, evaluation, and benchmarking are notably absent from surface transportation funding. Transportation agencies at all levels of government face virtually no accountability for results. This is one reason why so many voters are reluctant to support increased gas taxes. As such, any efforts to improve the surface transportation system will require that DOT allocate at least a modest share of highway trust funds should be allocated to states based on relative progress in three facets: congestion relief predominantly, but also vehicle emissions, and safety.
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Can't stop phoning while driving

BY BRUCE SICELOFF - Staff Writer

Like father, like daughter - only more so.

Tyler Strandberg of Rocky Mount has a hard time getting her mind off her BlackBerry when she drives.

She has crashed three cars in the past three years.

Each time, she was distracted from her driving because she was typing text messages or talking on the phone.

"Sometimes I will zone out and forget I'm driving," said Tyler, 23. "If I'm on the phone talking about something that takes up all my focus, I'm looking straight ahead - but not even seeing what's there."

Her dad, Buckley Strandberg, worries that she will never curb her dangerous habit.

But Buckley, an insurance executive, confesses his own weakness for Blackberry and Bluetooth. He feels compelled to conduct business by phone and e-mail on long, lonely drives between his offices in Rocky Mount and Nags Head.

"That's more than two hours," said Buckley, 49. "I'm not just going to sit there in the car. I get a lot of work done on that straight, dead stretch of U.S. 64.

"And if I run off the road, there are rumble strips that divert me back onto the road. That has happened occasionally. They seem to work, those rumble strips."

Buckley and Tyler Strandberg contacted The News & Observer to come clean about a problem they share with each other - and with a lot of us. They expressed embarrassment but spoke candidly about how they rely on their phones when they drive, and how they try to reduce their risks.

As many as 60 percent of drivers use their phones occasionally, researchers say, and 11 percent are on the phone at any one time. Cell phone use is a deadly distraction that causes as many as 28 percent of all traffic crashes, the National Safety Council says.
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ROAD RAGE DOC GETS FIVE YEARS - TEXAS KILLER GETS ONLY TWO

By: Steve Magas, January 11, 2010

COMPARING SENTENCES – THEY DON’T ALWAYS ADD UP

What a difference a state makes – or so it seems.

CALIFORNIA ROAD RAGE CASE – FIVE YEAR SENTENCE

In California, Dr. Christopher Thompson was convicted in a well reported “road rage” incident.  Testimony in the case included stories from several cyclists who were involved in road rage incidents with Dr. Thompson – the key event was not his only reported transgression!   It took a couple before the prosecution decided to go after him.

The paper trail of prior reports was helpful in getting the prosecutor, and the court, to believe that an Emergency Room physician could actually be so cold-hearted towards human life.  The testimony from those on the scene that Dr. Thompson said he “wanted to teach them a lesson” was chilling.  You can read Bob Mionske’s take on the case here.

As shown in this LA Times pic, Dr. Thompson was crying in court during the sentencing and was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs the other day after learning that the judge gave him a FIVE YEAR sentence for causing the road rage incident. You can read the whole LA Time story here.

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If only justice worked as well in every case.

TEXAS CASE – TWO CYCLISTS KILLED – TWO YEAR SENTENCE

On December 17, 2009, “justice” was handed down in the Kenneth Bain case out of Texas.  Mr. Bain had allegedly been driving home in his Lincoln Navigator from a bachelor party at 8:15 am, after ingesting both alcohol and pot, when he ran into, and killed, two cyclists.

The two cyclists, Meredith Hatch and Mike Alfaro, were members of a local cycling group and were training for an event when they were struck from behind and killed.  The photo of the huge Lincoln Navigator, from a local CBS television station’s website, shows the damage to the front of vehicle.

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Mr. Bain was sentenced on December 17.  His sentence was TWO years in prison with an additional 10 years of probation.

The families of the two cyclists, and local cycling advocates, were shocked and outraged.  You can read about it here.

How do you get such different results?  A guy in a road rage case who hurts, but does not kill, two cyclists gets five years.  A guy who ingested pot and alcohol at a party and then kills two cyclists by striking them from behind gets two years?

I wish I had an answer.  There are usually personal, legal or political factors that come into play in these cases, unfortunately.

In the the Texas case there were reports that the BAC for the driver was not over the limit and that there was some reluctance of the family of one victim to put the children on the witness stand.  There were additional reports speculating that Mr. Bain’s lawyer, a sitting Texas State Senator, or Mr. Bain’s family/money may have played a role.  Perhaps the prosecution was worried about some factual or legal issues and didn’t want to take a chance of this one getting away.  We’ll never know.

In the California case, you had clear evidence that the doc was actually INTENDING to do some harm.  There was testimony that the doc said he wanted to “teach them a lesson.”

In the Texas case, the driver was stupid, careless and maybe feeling the effects of a long night of partying, but there was no evidence of ill intent.  There was no evidence that he intended to hit the riders.  That would have led to murder charges.

That distinction – what the judge or jury believe is inside the MIND of the wrongdoer – is a typical dividing line for sentencing.  Intentional and malicious actions are usually punished more severely than careless or stupid actions.

Indeed, in Indiana a few years ago FIVE motorcyclists were killed [and many suffered life changing injuries] in 3 separate accidents on the same day, all occurring within an hour of so of each other in broad daylight.  In each case a relatively young motorist did something stupid and careless to cause the crash.  None of the motorists were drunk or high – just careless.  None of the motorcycle operators did anything wrong.  The prosecutor, in each case, refused to press criminal charges saying “We don’t prosecute negligence in Indiana.”

When alcohol or drugs are involved, though, many states crank up the sentencing, even for “careless” and non-intentional actions.  In the Texas case, while there was evidence of both, there may not have been enough evidence to show “impairment.”  Compare these two cases to the two Ohio cases discussed below…

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BICYCLE INSURANCE – WHO’S GOT IT?

Is anyone writing bicycle insurance in the USA right now? If so, I’m out of the loop. As far as I can tell, no insurer is writing such a policy in the United States right now.

What do I mean?

If you have a car, you get car insurance. That policy typically contains a number of different coverages. If you hit someone in your car, you are covered. If your car is damaged, your policy can cover it. If you are hit by an uninsured motorist, or one without enough insurance, this policy may provide a pool of money to pay your claim. The “Medical Payments” coverage can be used to pay your medical bills.

What if you are a true transportation cyclist and give up your car? Who pays the claim if you run somebody over? What if you get hit by an uninsured motorist? What kind of insurance is available to protect you?

The short answer, in the U.S., is that it is much easier to protect yourself on the bike if you own a car!

If you do NOT own a car, there is no “Uninsured/Underinsured” policy that will protect you if you are hit by an uninsured motorist. No one is selling this type of “Bicycle Insurance” in the U.S., as far as I am aware.
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Man driving in fatal hit and run was texting; gets five years

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor-in-Chief) on January 22nd, 2010 at 1:26 pm

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Screenshot from KGW.com.

The Columbian was at the sentencing hearing for Antonio Cellestine at the Clark County Courthouse in Vancouver today. According to their report, Cellestine was sentenced to 5 years in prison for driving his car into 50-year old Gordon Patterson back in September. A commenter who was at the hearing today, said Cellestine’s attorney plea bargained with the judge to not have the offense become his client’s first strike.

The Columbian also reports that court documents reveal Cellestine was texting at the time of the collision. According to KGW, Cellestine, who was 18 when the crash occurred, was driving with a suspended license at the time of the crash and his record includes two instances of driving with a suspended license, as well as driving without insurance.

In court today, Cellestine was quoted in The Columbian as saying:

“I feel no one knows how I really feel deep down inside and how I feel about things… This was not intentional; this was an accident…He (Patterson) will always have a special place in my heart.”

This tragic chain of events comes as the U.S. Department of Transportation has ratcheted up their focus on distracted driving and one week after The Oprah Winfrey Show featured victims of distracted driving on her show. It will take a lot more than snazzy slogans and some PR to deal with the issues this case so readily illustrates.

On that note, here’s a comment left below by a former transportation planner for the City of Vancouver that I felt was worth more attention:

“Sadly … this is a case influenced by what must be the very low regard that our law enforcement authorities and political leadership place on motor vehicle operators being certified and insured. There is a too common problem – motor vehicle operation on public streets is not a right but a responsibility…

… A plea to our state legislators this session…please make it less easy to buy insurance in order to get license tags and then cancel the account…

Another related legislative issue would be to strengthen the state law about cell phone/texting use [aka distracted driving].

As a bicyclist who has not owned a car for 22 years – this case and many too similar makes me wonder if I need to start driving again for more protection.”

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Cyclists: Your bike is no longer welcome at Fort McHenry (during construction)

Fort McHenry. In spite of numerous markers around Baltimore purporting to be part of a bike trail to Fort McHenry, a cyclist traversing that trail will learn upon arrival that cyclists are no longer permitted to traverse the pathway adjacent to the river--according to some rather permanent looking signs recently erected to provide that information. According to one person purporting to be in authority, cyclists who are discovered upon that now forbidden pathway will recieve a citation.

I understand that no such injunction applies to the many persons leading dogs that continue to deposit feces and urine onto the adjacent greensward.

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National Household Travel Survey

Highlights the 2009 National Household Travel Survey, released on January 8th, 2010

Mode Share

• Biking and walking make up 11.9 percent of all trips made in this country. This is up from 9.5 percent in 2001, a 25 percent increase.
o Biking is 1 percent, up 25 percent from 0.8 percent in 2001.
o Walking is 10.9 percent, up 25 percent from 8.7 percent in 2001.

Short Trips

• 28 percent of all trips are 1 mile or less.
o 40 percent of all trips are 2 miles or less.
o 50 percent of all trips are 3 miles or less.

• Of those trips 1 mile or less, 2.25 percent are biked.
o 35 percent are walked.
o 60 percent are driven.

• Of all trips 2 miles of less, 2 percent are biked.
o 26 percent are walked.
o 68 percent are driven.

• Of all trips 3 miles or less, 1.8 percent are biked.
o 21 percent are walked.
o 72 percent are driven.

Mode of Short Trip

• Of all biking trips, 59 percent are 1 mile or less.
o 78 percent are 2 miles or less.
o 85 percent are 3 miles or less.

• Of all walking trips, 87 percent are 1 mile or less.
o 97 percent are 2 miles or less.
o 98 percent are 3 miles or less.

• Of all driving trips, 20 percent are 1 mile or less.
o 33 percent are 2 miles or less.
o 43 percent are 3 miles or less.

Urban v. Rural Short Trips

• In non-urban areas, 20 percent of trips are 1 mile or less.
o 30 percent are 2 miles or less.
o 37 percent are 3 miles or less.

• In urban areas, 30 percent or all trips are 1 miles or less.
o 44 percent are 2 miles or less.
o 53 percent are 3 miles or less.

Source: NHTS 2009, FHWA Office of Policy

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