The Money Value of Time
Matt Yglesias points to a recent IBM study trying to map much people hate commuting to work and points to this interesting chart: From this, Matt concludes that all manner of government policies could be framed as a way of reducing the pain of commuting: higher gas taxes, congestion pricing, and so forth. I simply don't believe the numbers. Matt's commenter Paulie ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 11, 2009 13:24
Why We Drive on the Right – And Others Don’t
Monday, Samoa will switch to driving on the left side of the road in order to benefit from cheap used cars from Australia and New Zealand. This gave Time's Randy James to explain, "Why Don't We All Drive on the Same Side of the Road?" It's especially odd that two-thirds of the world drives on the right, since most of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 4, 2009 08:15
Mary Jo Kopechne
In my early morning Teddy Kennedy Dead at 77 media roundup post, I observed, "That the Chappaquiddick scandal didn’t make the first several paragraphs — or even first page — of several of these obits is quite remarkable. It would be like writing an obit for Richard Nixon that didn’t mention Watergate or one for Michael Jackson that glossed over ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 26, 2009 14:31
Bikes and Cars
John Cole points to a new law in Colorado making it illegal for motorists to throw objects at bicycles. Previously, it has only been a citable offense if one's aim was good. Cole wonders, "What kind of twisted jackass throws something out of a car at a biker?" and several of his commenters note the high degree of hostility bikers face ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 4, 2009 11:19
DC Most Dangerous Driving City
Aaron Brazell passes along word that DC and Baltimore are the most dangerous driving cities, as calculated by Allstate Insurance. Bengt Havorson has the list: The Safest Driving Top Ten 1. Sioux Falls, SD 2. Fort Collins, CO 3. Chattanooga, TN 4. Cedar Rapids, IA 5. Knoxville, TN 6. Fort Wayne, IN 7. Lexington-Fayette, KY 8. Eugene, OR 9. Boise, ID 10. Colorado Springs, CO Bottom of the List – Riskiest Driving ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 20, 2009 15:27
Cell Phone Driving Dangerous: We Know, Don’t Care
The release for a new Harris Poll is titled "Large Majority of Drivers Who Own Cell Phones Use Them While Driving Even Though They Know This Is Dangerous." The key findings: 72% of those who drive and own cell phones say they use them to talk while they are driving; A quarter of drivers with cell phones report using them ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 9, 2009 09:33
Tiny Cars Less Safe!
Reacting to a report buttressing the obvious fact that "very small cars generally can't protect people in crashes as well as bigger, heavier models," an angry Michael O'Hare's wonders "why is oversizing and up-weighting not the behavior associated with an increase in deaths on the highway? Why is the 'standard' car the fat, thirsty, heavy vehicle of the reckless and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 20, 2009 14:34
Norwegian Motorist Has Sex
I just received the following as a CNN Breaking News Alert: An amorous motorist faces a fine and a driving ban after he was caught having sex with his girlfriend while speeding on a highway, Norwegian media reported Tuesday. Police spotted the car driving erratically on Sunday evening in Lier, southeastern Norway. It had been doing 123km/h in a 100 km/h zone, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 14, 2009 07:47
Cars vs. Pedestrians
People in Matt Yglesias' neighborhood have petitioned to increase the amount of time pedestrians get to cross New York Avenue at 5th St. NW from 20 to 45 seconds and they've been rejected. The rationale: DDOT is concerned that changing the walk time at this intersection may negatively impact pedestrian safety at this intersection further, in addition to negatively affecting traffic ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 19, 2009 14:01
Transportation Pricing
Matt Yglesias explains why public transit should be free through an analogy: Say there’s no road between Washington, DC and Frederick, Maryland. You can go from the one place to the other, but it involves going way out of your way even though it could be a pretty quick trip on a direct road. What you need to ask yourself about ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 11, 2009 12:07
Megan McArdle’s Series of Unfortunate Events
Megan McArdle has managed, after only five months of effort, to get an automobile registered in the District of Columbia. Whilst not driving for said period, she managed to crack a mirror and run a red light. I'm beginning to understand her preference for biking and public transit. Photo via Flickr user shawnblog under Creative Commons license.Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 12, 2009 12:09
Hell or New York City
A debate about the relative desirability of city and suburban living is spreading through the blogosphere at a surprising clip, given the timelessness of the topic. It began, as best I can determine, by Duncan "Atrios" Black (a PhD economist) explaining that there are tradeoffs to having a big yard. [I]f everyone has a big yard the community ceases to be ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 7, 2008 16:01
Can’t Peddle 55
Megan McArdle argues that drivers who exceed the speed limit in their cars have no right to get angry at bikers who run stop signs and red lights, weave in and out of traffic, and otherwise ignore traffic laws. Plus, because bikes are smaller and slower, they're not going to cause any harm: The reason cops don't ticket bikers when they ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 14, 2008 13:53
Google Walking Directions
Google Maps is beta testing a new "walking directions" feature, Alex Chitu reports. Apparently, it's just being tested out on a small number of randomly selected users. Since I wasn't among those selected, I was a bit dubious since I was unable to personally verify, let alone test, said service. A quick search of another of Google's products, its ubiquitous ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 8, 2008 16:31
Blog Linking Less Important?
Louis Gray believes the importance of blog linkage is declining, noting that, "I've seen traffic from other blogs to be driving an ever-declining percentage of visits to my site, swamped by social media tools, aggregation sites, and of course, Google search." He offers three likely explanations: 1. People are relying on aggregators to find them new sources of information, including ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 8, 2008 08:17
