Those are OFFICIAL blinding lights brought to you by the OFFICIAL Caltrans organization. To the best of my knowledge there are NO city restrictions on lights.
Envy. There's the 100" telescope on Mt. Wilson, perhaps 10 crow-flying miles away; I suppose it's put blinders on so it can't see the light from the entire Los Angeles basin below, but the rest of us aren't so lucky. Since I live on a street with a freeway on-ramp 1/4 mile away, they gifted us with those bright pink freeway lights enabling us to read in our front yards all night long if we so choose. In the back yard I might be able to see 30 stars on a good night -- I haven't counted, I just made a guess. The neighbors have sound- or movement-actuated lights which are less offensive than the street lights.
Oh, the city has no problem violating its own restrictions on light emissions, here! We host an annual "youth soccer" tournament (national) and all the soccer fields in town will be in use into the wee hours of the night. Big "stadium" style lights that light up the sky in a brutish manner!
[If it brings in tourism dollars, I guess they reason that it's OK!]
There are several telescopes on the mountain (and some in folks' *yards*!). The largest is probably the LBT -- two 27 ft mirrors (equivalent to a single
39 ft mirror). No idea how far it is line-of-sight. Takes a fair bit of time to drive there as there are no real "direct" roads.
As we're largely in the desert, there's very little dense foliage to screen the light from the city away from these outlying areas.
The interstate is pretty far outside of town, here. And, thankfully, on the opposite *side* of town from our location. OTOH, when we need to get *on* the interstate, there's 40+ minutes of driving to get there! :<
Neighbor across the street has lights on out front of his garage 24/7 (I think they are even on during daylight hours). I've learned that when I want to watch stars (meteors), I have to keep my eyes from looking in his general direction lest the brightness "blind me". So, I climb on the roof and keep looking away from his place (lie down on the roof and just look straight up -- make your gaze WIDE!).
I've seen some slower-moving meteor trails that traversed almost the entire sky (e.g., 90+ degrees of arc). Most are briefer and shorter.
[probably the only thing I've found in decades that can truly take my breath away]
Pecans are done sauteing; time to start the custard! (yum yum!)
| Interesting points. My driving experience is that things are no | different on the road now then they ever were in the past as far as | the general competency and driving behavior of other drivers.
I wonder if my mostly urban/suburban driving might be a factor. I see *a lot* of people on the phone, and it's not kids. Occasionally I might see a teenager texting at 60 mph, but mostly I see adults, of all kinds, yapping away.
The man who sideswiped me veering into my lane was probably 35-40 y.o. He was talking to his friend, who in turn was dropping off her car at a repair shop. He was engrossed in trying to follow her instructions on which street to turn at when he hit me. A few years earlier he would have figured out the directions before he'd left the house. But this was about 2004 and he was a "yuppie" on the go, with a phone glued to his ear.
When he pulled over after the accident he wouldn't even talk to me. He called the police, then his insurance company. I never saw him off the phone until the police arrived. He was so much out to lunch that he'd called the police, convinced that I'd hit him! In my experience that's typical. As a taxpaying consumer he doesn't feel he has to relate to the world around him, thus that world has no business "relating" to him. :)
A very big change is that people don't signal anymore. Maybe 30-50% of the time. It's crazy. They're just not paying attention. In MA it's illegal not to signal, and it's irritating to be behind someone and get no notice of why they suddenly stepped on the brakes. That used to be unheard of. Now it's almost the norm. Again, it has nothing to do with young drivers. But it does have a lot to do with phoners only having one freee hand.
A couple of weeks ago I was pulling out of a supermarket and was going straight across the street, up a sidestreet. Traffic was stopping in both directions in front of me. The near side traffic had left a gap. A man driving on the far side, heading toward my left, slowed down and seemed to be leaving a gap. I started to pull out. He then turned into the supermarket and almost hit me. I beeped. We both put down our windows. He looked at me with a condescending smile and said, "I'm turning in here", as though I must be an idiot. I said, "how about a signal?!" His face dropped. It had never occurred to him to signal. To his credit, though, he apologized.
I see the phones and the anti-social behavior as related. For instance, where I live it's always been customary, on a narrow road with a parked car, to wait for an oncoming car if the parked car is on your side. The oncoming driver then waves a thankyou. Now it's usually a game of chicken. That's a very clear difference in driver behavior. It's not related to phones, but phones seem to be related to the general social disconnection. People are no longer experiencing themselves as being where they are.
The same is true of people walking across streets, on cellphones or not. People used to *always* look before crossing. Now it's common to see people cross without breaking step, trusting that the universe is looking out for them. Maybe many of them are the children of "helicopter moms". At first I thought it was a kind of passive-aggressive entitlement, but the more it's happened, the more I'm thinking that these people are actually entitled to the core. They're not trying to show me who's boss. They don't even know I'm there. It hasn't occurred to them that they could actually suffer the indignity of being run over by a car! Maybe that's because they've spent their lives getting trophies for showing up? I'm not sure. It's actually a very intriguing pattern to me.
(A friend who tutors gradeschool children recently told me that helicopter moms have been replaced by "snowplow moms". The kids are pushed through endless achievements, with no breaks to just sit, reflect, get bored, discover a bug, or even think about what they might *want* to do.)
Do you really not see any changes? When I was growing up, kids behaved and anyone nearby was a parent. Today, when I see kids running and shrieking in a store I don't dare say anything. The parents are likely to be outraged. And often as not, they're standing there proudly as their kids act out. In a nutshell, being considerate has become a sucker's pastime, while "self-empowerment" is considered an important goal.
I think my own generation, the baby boomers, actually started with being entitled. Not all of us, but many. In the 50s life was about kids. Baby boomers then grew up feeling they needed to be special. They had kids. Their kids were very special accomplishments, so many of those kids are now hyper-spoiled and entitled. That's a unique situation. (It's not so long ago that child labor was considered OK and that people had kids to save money. The kids could work the farm. They weren't cherished possessions. They were low paid workers.)
It's certainly true that young people are more selfish and old people are less tolerant. That's timeless. But I'm surprised that anyone, say, over 50 doesn't see some dramatic changes in American culture during the past decades, which have nothing to do with young vs old. But those changes may be less pronounced in small towns and rural areas.
From what little I have read, there is disagreement on the answer.
The traditional answer is that left-foot braking is, somehow, less safe.
I can't remember the term-of-art for it, but there is a recognized cause of accidents that consists of the driver stepping on the accelerator when they were trying to step on the brake.
A few months ago there was an article in the New Yorker about vehicle defect investigation and vehicle recalls from an engineering perspective in which it was mentioned that some people think that left-foot braking may actually be safer because it reduces the chances of a "wrong pedal" error to nearly zero.
| > every color. The problem: It's impossible to tell where an | > emergency vehicle is going. Even if they use turn signals, | > there's no time to figure out which lights on this high-speed, | > psychedelic Christmas tree are signalling. | | I've always been taught to pull over and get out of the way. | So, I really don't *care* which way the vehicle is headed | until he's long past my location! :> |..... | | Apparently, the lights are necessary because so many drivers | "zone out"
OK. I come up to a stop sign on a narrow road and see a fire truck approaching from the left. It has reasonable, red flashing lights and the driver is signaling a right turn with a single yellow flasher.
As a responsible citizen I pull forward, around the corner and out of the way, so the truck can make the turn.
You approach the same intersection. You view yourself as a dumb consumer who's supposed to stay out of the way of Very Official Vehicles and not try to think for yourself. You see a fire truck approaching from the left with lights every which way. The dizzying number of lights is proof of just how important and official this truck is. (And it's not lost on the boyish firemen, who are oh so puffed up to be riding on their fancy truck.) Where are they going? None of your business. Who could tell, anyway, with all those lights? You freeze, dutifully waiting for the officiality parade to pass by. The fire truck pauses mid-intersection. You wait. Finally the fire truck driver begins honking. What do you do? Is he trying to turn right? Are you in the way? Who knows? All of his signal lights are flashing! But he seems to be waiting. You've been told not to proceed during an officiality event, so you try to back up. The fire truck finally makes the corner. As it turns out, two cats and a dog died in the fire because the firemen were late arriving. You broke your rear axle trying to back up onto a curb. But at least you didn't make trouble by trying to think for yourself. :)
At the next town meeting someone suggests that these dumbass consumers need to see *more* lights on Very Official Vehicles. Case in point: The pets that died in last month's fire while a fire truck waited at an intersection. All agree to order one of those giant anti-aircraft spotlights that car dealers use to advertise sales. *That* should fix those dumbass consumers! Well... Maybe we should order two, one white and one red.... :)
| >People used to *always* look | >before crossing. Now it's common to see people cross | >without breaking step, | | Does anybody remember being taught "The curb step" as a child?
I remember "look both ways before crossing". It sounds like you're talking about something similar. In my city the police got a $10K federal grant to run a scam trap to catch drivers who don't stop. A plainclothes woman cop steps into the crosswalk as a car approaches. If they don't stop they get a $200 fine. The city made far more than the grant money in a single weekend. I was thinking.... what happened to "look both ways"?
We're being afflicted with more and more 'traffic calming' devices, which means making it more and more difficult to drive anywhere -- lane elimination, useless roundabouts WITH 4-way stops, hard-wired bicycle lanes with cement separators, 'roundouts' and planter boxes to eliminate on-street parking, more stop signals, speed bumps/humps...
The intent is to force drivers into public transportation, which is a useless undertaking because for the most part it doesn't go anywhere people want to go. They're just finishing a new section of the Metro (the terminal is 1/4 mile away, so pretty convenient for me) which will end near a Walmart 5 miles away. OH GOODY, I thought, finally a way to get Walmart's prices (much better than local chain drugstores like Rite-Aid and CVS) for a 50-cent round trip. BUT NO! The terminal is roughly a mile away from Walmart and further than that from the main shopping area. It is, however, quite close to a cemetery which is mostly filled.
I can drive to my daughter's house in half an hour. It would take 5 hours and 3 transfers to do it via public transport.
There is now only one good east-west cross-town street -- 2 lanes plus a parking lane which includes a painted 'bicycle lane' which has no force of law whatsoever. No problem, not many bicyclists here. The City is going to take away one of the lanes to make a 'buffered bicycle lane' which means (probably) the parking lane, a 4-foot (guess) wide crosshatched separator non-lane (to keep stupid bikers from being doored) and then the bicycle lane. There is state and federal money involved for improving bike-friendliness, even when absolutely useless.
Few bikers, much auto traffic -- especially at rush hour. If bikers feel unsafe they can -- illegally, of course -- ride on the sidewalk during rush hour, there are also few pedestrians.
I'm outraged that money is spent on useless projects to the detriment of the taxpayers and that there's really nothing we can do about it. The 'Vote the bastards out' system just doesn't work because new bastards will just get in and continue the status quo.
And what does the guy behind you do? And how do you now get out of the way of the *second* emergency vehicle (ambulance or police) coming down the narrow road into which you've just turned?
What do you do when there are 4 or 6 lanes of traffic, three cars deep and you see an emergency vehicle approaching from the rear? Being that same responsible citizen, do you pull *into* the intersection, crossing the red (with no legal authority to do so -- nor with any of the cross traffic EXPECTING you to do so?) What if you are the second or third car back (i.e., effectively boxed in)?
Here, emergency vehicles will cross the median to drive "the wrong way" to get around the backed up traffic.
In recent years, those vehicles (not sure if it is true of police cars) are equipped with YET ANOTHER FLASHING (strobe) LIGHT that "communicates" directly with the traffic signals of the intersections that it is approaching. It effectively turns the light green so traffic can move through the intersection (potentially cutting the green signal for cross traffic short to do so). Those 4/6 lanes of traffic can now progress through the intersection and pull over *beyond* the intersection (NOT continue on their merry way competing with the emergency vehicle for the road).
No one said you aren't supposed to think for yourself. OTOH, your thinking may end up counterproductive!
I was the sole car in the left turn lane many years ago and saw a firetruck approach from the rear. "Thinking for myself", I carefully pulled STRAIGHT across the intersection making my left turn lane available for the fire truck's use.
Instead, the truck driver crossed the median long before he got to my car and then had to jog to get around my vehicle now "parked" in the *middle* of the intersection.
Let the guy who knows where *he* wants to go and has the authority to go wherever is required make that decision. "Helping" isn't always as effective as you think it may be!
Had the drive seen me remaining *in* the intersection (or, in his intended path), he wouldn't honk when he (or the fireman seated beside him) could just pick up the microphone and use the PA system on the fire truck, ambulance or police car to TELL me where to go!
What if he decides to turn *left* -- despite his signal? Or, if another vehicle comes down that other path?
The road behind our house sees its share of emergency vehicles (usually fire truck followed by ambulance). Yet, they invariably turn the wrong way into the road. Those of us who *live* here would expect them to take one turn yet they invariably take the other (road is U shaped).
Are the drivers stupid? Don't they have GPS maps on the trucks? Or, are they using other criteria that this THINKING, responsible citizen can't fathom? Perhaps they want the residence visited to be on the right of their vehicle? Or, perhaps the ambulance driver has radioed them to inform them that the turn the ambulance driver had taken (the one you assumed would be taken) should be avoided -- because the roadway has been opened to service the gas main.
Far wiser to use common sense and NOT be cursing yourself because your DELIBERATE action ("I'm so smart!") ended up being exactly wrong -- and two cats and THREE dogs died! :> Do you think you can second guess what the other drivers around you will do? What if *they* have different ideas as to how this predicament should be resolved? Do you stop and take a vote?
Or, do you let the one guy who *knows* where he wants to go (the fireman) make those decisions and TELL you?
I guess your emergency vehicle drivers never consider the other side of the road as a viable means of getting through an intersection? You *don't* have traffic control devices that automatically adjust the lights to get vehicles moving instead of "parked at a red"? (hint: they would require adding more flashing lights to the emergency vehicles)
What if one of those drivers bucked the red and tried to cross the intersection (to make way for the approaching emergency vehicle) AND ended up getting T-boned by cross traffic that didn't expect someone to deliberately run the red. Now there's a second "emergency event"... AND, it's right in the middle of that intersection through which the emergency vehicles will be trying to pass!
Here, the push has been for photoenforcement: photo radar, photo red light running, etc. It was seen as "free money" and rationalized as a way to improve safety. But, of the ~$500 fine, I think only $70 goes to the municipality (the bulk goes to the firm that operates the cameras!).
While some sorts of "accidents" appear to be down, others are on the rise. E.g., they shorten the yellow so you are more likely to get nailede if you can't CLEAR the intersection quickly enough (there is an amusing noman's land between the "stop line" and the "start of intersection demarcation" -- your vehicle must COMPLETELY clear the start of intersection mark before the light turns red!) As a result, folks slam on their brakes (avoid entering the intersection)
*or* slam on the gas (increase the chance of clearing the intersection in the 3 second yellow) when the lights are changing.
The county has already decided these were a bad idea. City will soon follow suit.
We have no real mass transit, here. Some limited bus service (that quits early in the evening). New "light rail" vehicle downtown... connecting nowhere to nowhere else. (most of its ridership is touristy *or* folks who are downtown and would otherwise *walk* the few blocks to their destination)
OTOH, the LRV seems to be a part of dozens of bicycle accidents...
I used to volunteer at an organization across town. A 20 minute drive, door to door. One of the folks who worked there lived nearby. No license (DUI) so he took the bus. I think it was just one transfer (I've never ridden the bus, here). Plus the walk to the bus stop and from the bus stop to the organization.
He'd easily spend 2 hours making that 20 minute trip, each way.
Bicycling is a business, here. All part of the tourism thing. (We have a bike race, here, that draws 9,000 riders each year)
Because climate is so mild (esp winter), there are lots of pro/semi-pro cyclists riding the streets. Often, so focused on what *they* are doing that they ignore *motorists*. (Many of the roads, here, are difficult to navigate WITHOUT cyclists failing to observe anything remotely like a "bike lane" -- *if* there is even a lane marked!)
Of course, all feel "entitled" to ride wherever they deem fit...
There are also a large number of "alternative" bicycles: recumbant bikes, motorized bikes, etc. It is not uncommon for you to find a bicycle alongside your vehicle yet so close to the ground that the cyclist needs to sport a "flag" in order to be visible at "driver height"!
Plus, of course, the "novice" cyclists and "long past their prime" crowd -- who don't want to give up their cycling!
We also have a large number of pedestrians even outside the "city center". Usually, there are sidewalks for their use.
Plus many elderly/disabled folks in "power chairs" riding down the sidewalk or street (if no sidewalk).
In addition, busses and (downtown) the light rail "trolley" (or whatever they call it, today).
So, lots of competition for the roadways.
Unfortunately, there are few good "cross streets" to get around town. Folks in the more affluent foot hills resist wanting any big roadways in their neighborhoods. So, they, and everyone else, drive out of their way to make it into the mainstream streets (which sport traffic lights every few blocks).
The few roads that do cross town weren't created for the sorts of traffic that they typically encounter. E.g., the one that we used most often is a two lane (one each way) curvy road that rises and falls like waves on a beach -- *plus* the frequent traffic signals! Try sharing *this* with a group of cyclists!
Here, cyclists feel they are entitled to most of the lane. E.g., those who
*do* ride in the bike lane "ride the stripe" (that divides that lane from the adjoining TRAFFIC). Then, grumble because you didn't give them a wide berth as you passed! (should I ride in oncoming traffic in order to avoid you?)
Folks who make the decisions are never accountable for them. Let me choose
*which* (of multiple, competing) government I want to send my tax dollars to and perhaps there will be a bit more effort put into decisions!
Another $100M bond issue for road repairs (don't we BUDGET money for this stuff? How long before we start seeing bond issues to pay for police salaries?? What's the GENERAL FUND used for???).
The problem is, everyone thinks *their* projects are justified and *yours* aren't. Look at how readily money gets pushed into defense budgets but how begrudgingly it is spent repairing infrastructure.
Add a line to every ballot: "None of the above". But, interpret this as truly meaning, "I don't want any of these people to hold this office!" And, if "NOTA" gets the majority of the votes (i.e., "wins"), then, BY LAW, none of the folks on the ballot can hold the office (perhaps forever!)
Wanna bet turnout increases when folks think they have a real chance to kick someone *out* of office? And candidates have to run worrying about whether or not NOTA will cost them reelection?!
We had that for a while (I got caught once and didn't have time to fight it, which I should have), but when the city realized how little they were making from it they canceled the contract and turned off all the cameras. They may still be up there, I haven't noticed; they're generally about the size of the pigeons who like to sit in the same place.
Our light rail is maybe 10 years old and I suspect that the warranty is up. The hoops to get the Senior Pass are silly (Why do they need renewing? Do they think we're getting younger?), the drivers do a lot of jerky speed-up-slow-down stuff as if today is their first day on the job, which is statistically unlikely, you frequently have to push a button to open the doors, there are more and more homeless people whiling away the hours riding back and forth (supposedly a 2-hour limit per ticket, and I've seen more transit cops recently checking passes), the occasional puddle of pee in the elevators in the parking structure, and the floor lights in the elevators not working.
EACH WAY, not total.
We get part of the Tour of California some years. The part that goes up the Mt. Baldy road is truly punishing on the poor babies. First gear on cars, too.
I suspect they never get ticketed, but the law says "as far to the right as is safe". Sometimes it's necessary for a cyclist to take the whole lane for safety, but that's not the default, especially in groups.
Not so many of those, and most do have orange flags. We saw a guy on one in training for the paraplegic Olympics who was going faster than we were. OTOH, one of us DID have baskets full of groceries...
Not many of those here. People don't really retire to Pasadena in big numbers.
Nope, just in town. THAT's where the damn bicycle lanes are needed, but it would be stupid and evil to remove the parking lanes to put them in.
I saw a cool thing the other day. Imagine a skateboard, but with the wheels going the other way. You stand on it like a Segway and apparently control it by leaning. The kid (of course it was a kid) said he bought it on line for $535. Kids have too much money.
Of course. I'm 'special'.
Every Saturday morning there's a huge group of REAL (you can tell from the fancy bikes and clothing as opposed to the practical stuff that we slobs wear) cyclists who take over the local main streets, some of which are just 2 traffic lanes and two (filled) parking lanes. 5-abreast, blow through stop signs, yell at motorists who pass too closely and generally behave like assholes. They make me ashamed of being a cyclist.
A couple of decades ago the California voters chose to transfer some of the gas tax money into the general fund. Then later on they chose to increase the gas tas for 'transportation', which turned out to be public transportation, not roads. The bastards are trying to do it again. I can see why people drive trucks full of ANFO into government buildings. (Are you listening, NSA? BLOW ME!)
I don't really begrudge the military, although I'm sure there's a lot of waste there too. I resent welfare for people who don't deserve it.
YESSSSS!
I wonder if we could get that to pass as an initiative in California. It would be pretty to think so.
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