Breakfast links: Heroes and scofflaws
Leon Swain the hero
Leon Swain was the guy who came down hard on a taxi driver when he refused to take me to Southwest DC. It’s also come out that he triggered the taxi bribery probe, going immediately to the authorities after someone tried to bribe him. (City Paper)
The ticket collectors
7 Maryland drivers accumulated over 30 automated speeding tickets in a 24-month period, according to data from the Maryland government. 1,667 people got over 10. On the other end of the scale, over two-thirds of vehicles that got tickets only got a single one. (Baltimore Sun Getting There)
Bicyclist killed because he was riding in the road?
A driver hit and killed a cyclist near Hollywood, St. Mary’s County, in Southern Maryland. In their preliminary statement, authorities actually blame the bicyclist for “traveling in the main roadway, rather than on the shoulder.” WashCycle notes that it’s indeed illegal to ride in the road when there’s a shoulder in St. Mary’s County, but riding in the road is the safer behavior; really, the cyclist died because the driver didn’t see him. The article’s lede also goes through the usual linguistic contortions including the phantom driverless car and use of passive voice. (Post, Ward 1 Guy) (Tip: Ward 1 Guy)
Sustainable transportation program is not sustainable
Maryland has a “Sustainable Transportation Corridor” program to encourage intergovernmental cooperation on transportation. But MDOT has not been enthusiastic about calls to make Wisconsin Avenue and Rockville Pike one of those corridors through Bethesda and Rockville, as Councilmember Roger Berliner has been pushing. New MDOT chief Beverly
Beverley Swaim-Staley told Friends of White Flint they were developing yet another type of corridor study, a “green corridor,” but there’s no money available to study anything. (FLOG)
Down from the summit on texting
Ashley Halsey summarizes last week’s distracted driving summit. While everyone agrees that texting and driving don’t mix, there hasn’t been a consistent strategy implemented to cut down on this dangerous practice. Many public officials are looking to enact penalties, similar to previous drunk driving and seatbelt campaigns. (Post, Cavan) (Tip: Cavan)
Automated announcements?
Cambro’s Corner notes the bad quality of announcements in Metrorail, largely thanks to bad quality speakers. Metro’s next generation rail cars are indeed supposed to have automated announcements. (Tony) (Tip: Tony C)
Watch for falling gas
AAA predicts that gas prices will continue to fall. There are a few places in the South that are already experiencing prices under $2 a gallon. Due to the larger economic situation, VMT will probably not rise, however. (Post, Cavan) (Tip: Cavan)