Free Republic

Michigan lawmakers have introduced bills that would legalize unmanned red light cameras in the state. The bills, House Bill 4763 and 4762, were introduced May 22 by Reps. Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, and Thomas Stallworth III, D-Detroit. The bills define running a red light that's caught on camera as a civil offense. That differs from a 2007 opinion from then-Attorney General Mike Cox, who said Michigan law recognizes red light running as a criminal violation, and the law was not authorized for photo ticketing. On Tuesday, the House Transportation Committee heard testimony on the matter. A representative from a safety...

3rd September 1967: Traffic in Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving on the right “Dagen H (H day) was the day on which traffic in Sweden switched from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. The change was widely unpopular, The campaign included displaying the Dagen H logo on various commemorative items, including milk cartons, men’s shorts and women’s underwear. Swedish television held a contest for songs about the change; the winning entry was Håll dig till höger, Svensson (‘Keep to the right, Svensson’) by Rock-Boris.”

Michigan’s local governments would have the option to put cameras at intersections to spot drivers running red lights under proposed legislation in the state House. A measure recently introduced by Republican Rep. Wayne Schmidt of Traverse City would give local communities the power to put cameras in place. “This legislation will give more local control to our municipalities while offering a safer environment for the people who live in these communities,” he said in a statement. The bill has gained the support of local law enforcement officials, who say the cameras will act as an extra deterrent to prevent drivers...

>Last year, the average American driver wasted 38 hours sitting in traffic. While the occasional traffic jam inconveniences most drivers, some unlucky people live in the nationÂ’s most congested cities. In addition to spending an average of 42 hours a year in traffic, drivers in these cities face peak hour congestion that can increase travel time during rush hour by 15% or more. INRIX, a traffic information and services group, collects data for individual road segments. In its 2012 Traffic Scorecard, INRIX calculated the amount of time that congestion added to driversÂ’ peak hour commute for each road. After aggregating...

The Senate took the first step toward circumventing sequestration Thursday night with a bipartisan vote that would put furloughed air traffic controllers back on the job. The House is expected to take up the measure Friday, and the White House has promised to consider any bill which it receives. The Senate vote came in response to passengers angered this week by long delays at several major airports. If the Senate bill wins House approval and is signed into law by President Obama, the furloughed controllers are not expected to return to work before Saturday

Maybe just because I'm a bit of a trainspotter/planespotter geek, I really dig this site: charts all commercial aircraft in the air worldwide in real time (except unfortunately US carriers on 5 min. delay due to unique American security concerns). Elsewhere -as I recently did in Europe- you can glance at FlightRadar24 when you hear a roar, get the flight #/carrier online and bingo there it is on the tailfin overhead 30 seconds later. Users can click on any plane (moving) over any chosen worldwide flight radar map and get flight #, carrier, plane type, basic stats, flight info,...

The death of a resident of the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Ata is being investigated, after he keeled over and suffered an apparent heart attack – as police handed him a traffic ticket. The 64-year-old man died on the spot Saturday evening. His funeral was set for Monday. The man suffered the attack as he was speaking to a female traffic police officer, who stopped him for an alleged driving offense. The policewoman said that the man had shown no signs of panic, nor had he indicated that he had any health problems. The two talked as she wrote...

The chairman of the Australian company behind Chicago's red-light program resigned this week and trading in the company's stock was suspended amid an intensifying investigation into allegations of corruption in its Chicago contract. Redflex Holdings Ltd. announced the extraordinary actions just days after board members were briefed by an outside legal team hired to examine ties between the company's U.S. subsidiary and the city official who oversaw its contract, a relationship first disclosed in October by the Tribune. In a brief statement Thursday to the newspaper, the company also revealed for the first time that it is sharing information with...

A government lawyer’s attempt to get dismissed nearly $700 in traffic tickets given to the U.S. Postal Service is being met with a hearty and humorous, Heck no. In a Jan. 22 letter sent to both the city of East Cleveland, Ohio, and the company that operates the city's photo-enforcement program, Postal Service attorney Jennifer S. Breslin says two school-zone speeding citations and five red-light infractions by postal trucks in December should be ignored. “In providing mail service across the country, the Postal Service attempts to work within local and state laws and regulations, when feasible,” wrote Breslin, after reminding...

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi has stepped into the leadership void left by a state Supreme Court that seems more concerned with quelling embarrassment than fixing the historically dysfunctional Philadelphia Traffic Court. Pileggi wants to abolish the city's Traffic Court and transfer its authority over moving violations to Municipal Court. The Delaware County Republican's proposal comes in the wake of a scathing report documenting widespread ticket-fixing at Traffic Court for the friends and families of the politically connected. **SNIP** The report was ordered by Supreme Court Justice Ronald D. Castille after the FBI raided judges' homes and the court. It...

WASHINGTON - Interstate 270 is considered one of the most choked roads in the Washington region, but solutions for the gridlock are few and far between. Figures from the Maryland Department of Transportation show about 114,000 cars use I-270 daily, and that number is expected to jump to 200,000 in the next 10 to 15 years. "Everyone who is familiar with 270 knows it is jammed up in the morning rush hour and evening rush hour," says Gus Bauman, who studies transportation and funding and who chaired a Maryland Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation Funding. One proposal to ease congestion...

There aren’t more, because some people just don’t like to pay tolls, and others haven’t figured how they can take advantage of the lanes. Transurban is happy to have anybody’s toll money, whether they are locals or long-distance travelers, but the lanes are designed largely for the benefit of local travelers. The entrance and exit system reflects that. The Tysons area business and civic leaders with whom I’ve talked express optimism about the lanes and seem hopeful about the two new access points at Westpark Drive and Jones Branch Drive. At this early stage, the most vexing thing about the...

The possibility that autism is linked to traffic pollution has been raised by researchers in California. Their study of more than 500 children said those exposed to high levels of pollution were three times more likely to have autism than children who grew up with cleaner air. However, other researchers said traffic was a "very unlikely" and unconvincing explanation for autism. The findings were presented in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal. Data from the US Environmental Protection Agency were used to work out levels of pollution for addresses in California. This was used to compare exposure to pollution, in...

A new video showing police inaction in the face of Arab rock attacks has caused anger among residents of the Binyamin region north of Jerusalem. The video was taken as an Arab gang attacked Israeli drivers who were stuck in traffic. A massive traffic jam forms daily between the Adam junction, just minutes north of Jerusalem, and the Hizme checkpoint at the entrance to the city. “We just sat there and got hit,” related one of the drivers. “We had no way to respond.” The video showed that it was not only the drivers who found themselves silent in the...

Ultimate road rage.

Linky Here

people not driving around as much in Obama's Kenyan style economy but not to worry...Soon in California and other states they will have spanking new high speed trains to commute to their non-existent jobs LINK ONLY ALLOWED>>>> http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-05-22/traffic-congestion-down/55120930/1?csp=34news 

Here you'll be able to pay a ticket, view how your traffic violation took place, and find answers...

YORK TOWNSHIP— The driver of a Strathmeyer Forests Inc., van and possibly others riding in the van that struck a car at the intersection of Cape Horn Road and Starlight Drive this morning and fled the scene on foot, according to responders. It happened just before 8am. The female driver of the car was taken to York Hospital after being extricated from her vehicle. UPDATE: York Area Regional Police issued a release that a hit and run accident occurred on Cape Horn Road at Starlight Drive and 6 Hispanic males ran west from scene. Two have been apprehended, and...

DES MOINES — The Iowa House voted Tuesday to ban red light cameras on a 58-42 vote that broke largely — but not completely — along party lines. The bill now goes to the Senate, where there seems to be little chance that it will make it to the floor for a vote. The legislation took a long route to Tuesday’s vote. A camera ban had momentum at the start of the session, including tentative support from the governor and one legislator offering a constitutional amendment to ban the devices in the state. But as the session wore on, support...