Mobility counted most in fleeing New Orleans

The Seattle Times ^ | Wednesday, September 14, 2005 | Randal O'Toole

[Willie Green]

People will be debating the causes of the New Orleans tragedy for years to come. But one thing is already abundantly clear: For individual New Orleanians, automobility made the difference between safety and disaster.

"The white people got out," an article in The New York Times declared shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit. But that isn't quite true. White families with cars got out, as did black families with cars. Families without cars, white and black, for the most part did not.

Over the past century, the number of deaths due to natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and fires has steadily declined from as many as 12,000 in a 1900 hurricane to a few dozen per year up until this year. This decline is largely due to the increased mobility provided by the automobile.

People with cars can leave before a storm hits. When earthquakes or other unpredictable events take place, people with cars can move away from areas that lack food, safe water or other essentials.

What made New Orleans vulnerable was that a third of its households do not own an automobile....

[Willie Green]

What is High Speed Ground Transportation?

High-speed ground transportation (HSGT)-- a family of technologies ranging from upgraded existing railroads to magnetically levitated vehicles-- is a passenger transportation option that can best link cities lying about 100-500 miles apart. Common in Europe ( The European Railway Server) and Japan (Japan Railways Group), HSGT in the United States already exists in the Northeast Corridor (Amtrak Expands Acela Express Service) between New York and Washington, D.C. and will soon serve travelers between New York and Boston.

HSGT is self-guided intercity passenger ground transportation that is time competitive with air and/or auto on a door-to-door basis for trips in the approximate range of 100 to 500 miles. This is market-based, not a speed based definition. It recognizes that the opportunities and requirements for HSGT differ markedly among different pairs of cities. High-speed ground transportation (HSGT) is a family of technologies ranging from upgraded steel-wheel-on-rail railroads to magnetically levitated vehicles.

The Federal Railroad Administration has designated a variety of high density transportation corridors within our nation for development of HSGT:

.

For more information, please visit the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA's) High Speed Ground Transportation Website

[mewzilla]

People with cars can leave before a storm hits.

Then what are all those flooded out cars doing in NO?

[2banana]

With the long advanced warning they gave for Katrina, you could have walked out...

[caver]

"For individual New Orleanians, automobility made the difference between safety and disaster."

Stupidity made a big difference too. They had plenty of warning and plenty of time to get out.

[flashbunny]

choo choo trains to the rescue!

[caver]

"choo choo trains to the rescue!"

And school buses too!

[dfwgator]

Mobility counted most in fleeing New Orleans

[E Rocc]

Yes, but cars also give people the ability to move around outside the control of Mommy Government, and are therefore evil according to the lefties.

-Eric

[dead]

Mobility counted most in fleeing New Orleans

Heat responsible for rise in temperature.

[jbwbubba]

"White families with cars got out, as did black families with cars. Families without cars, white and black, for the most part did not."

Why in the heck are there so many flooded cars sitting around New Orleans then? A whole heck of a lot of people with cars stayed in New Orleans and in there homes. Then when the worst happened, they demanded everyone save them.

[wideawake]

One of the most obvious things in the footage of the storm was how many cars were flooded.

Thousands of New orleanians with cars chose not to evacuate.

[Pessimist]

I hereby demand that FEMA supply every "evacuee" w/ a brand new car at my expense!

[ClearCase_guy]

In William Gibson's fiction, "the Sprawl" is a slang term referring to the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States. In Gibson's future, New York's City's urban area is continuous with that of other eastern cities, from Massachusetts to Florida; the entire area is formally known as the BAMA, or the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Area.

From the map included above, it looks like "the Sprawl" will eventually go from Maine to New Orleans (or what's left of it).

[Jhensy]

Wait, let me get this straight: you're saying that mobility would be a factor if you were in the act of fleeing something. Provocative. Do go on, but please take it a bit slower.

[hflynn]

For individual New Orleanians, automobility made the difference between safety and disaster.

People had 5 days warning. Everyone in New Orleans had legmobility, not to mention busmobility, well before the storm hit.

[Montfort]

This thread calls out for a picture of those hundreds of drowned buses that Nagin could not find official (unionized?) drivers to drive.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

They even had Satchmobility.

[GailA]

And all the enviro whacks and the Libs have been screaming for at least the past decade is MASS TRANSIT! Viva the car, van and SUV.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

They even had Satchmobility.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Extensive study shows that leaving was the key factor in evacuating.