Today, the NYSDOT gets to try out messages they haven’t used in a year and a half:
Delays Ahead
Watch for Stopped Traffic
Prepare to Stop
Urban Life
Annual Cost to Own, Drive a New Vehicle Inches Closer to $10,000
Calculating out the exact dollar amount someone pays for transportation each year can be futile. Each person has their own situation, and some people pay more for track tires each year than others pay for 12 months of bus tickets. Still, there's something to be learned from general trends—like the fact that the overall average cost to own and operate a new car in 2021 was $9666.
The House That Killed its Builder | Amusing Planet
US history shows spending on infrastructure doesn’t always end well
Over the past two centuries, federal, state and municipal governments across the U.S. have launched wave after wave of infrastructure projects.
They built canals to move freight in the 1830s and 1840s. Governments subsidized railroads in the mid- and late 19th century. They created local sewage and water systems in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and then dams and irrigation systems through much of the 20th century. During World War II, massive amounts of public money were spent building and expanding ports, factories, airfields and shipyards. And after the war, highway construction – long a state and local project – became a federal endeavor.
Many of these projects did not end well. The problem wasn’t that the country didn’t need infrastructure – it did. And the troubles weren’t the result of technical failures: By and large, Americans successfully built what they intended, and much of what they built still stands.
The real problems arose before anyone lifted a shovel of earth or raised a hammer. These problems stem from how hard it is to think ahead, and they are easy to ignore in the face of excitement about new spending, new construction and increased employment.
Drunk Driving Fatalities Per 100k County Residents
Seneca County in the Finger Lakes has the highest fatality rate for drunk driver in New York State 2015. However, when you look at the five-year average, Hamilton and Lewis County edge it out for deadliest for drunk drivers. The 2011-15 average shows Yates County as third, and Seneca County for per capita fatalities in the state, due to drunk drivers. It seems like a lot of people get drunk at wineries and then go for a drive in the Finger Lakes Wine Country in New York.
Data Source: Data Fatalities by State. NHTSA. https://cdan.nhtsa.gov/SASStoredProcess/guest
What does it mean to be a racist today?
What does it mean to be a racist today? ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
Too often when you hear about racism, you often think about some mean spirited person that is ignorant about people of other races. Any free society is going to have clans men and grumpy old men but they’re a minority voice, usually sidelined to the fringes of society.
Much more problematic is institutional racism – not explicit racism – and just generally poor socialization that leads to a lack of understanding of one towards their out groups. Humans like most other animals are wired to fear the unknown and proceed with caution towards unfamiliar faces. Humans group together like characteristics, they’re predisposed to believe that one actor in a group is like all others.
Most racism is unintentional. Most has historical roots in slavery and the institutions that both grew up in that era and those that evolved from it. But also don’t dismiss the fear of the unknown. We need more race mixing, more people meeting, sharing their commonality and overcoming their fears. We need to overcome notions of evil doers and realize that all of us are poorly socialized and have ingrained fears.
Legal reform is one step to confronting racism. Handicapping the police may be required under law to force them to rethink as an institution how they treat blacks compared to others. But beyond that we need to take a serious look at our laws to see if they are fair to all or if they have unintentional bias built in.
I think the stereotype of the white supremist is just that – true racists are few and far between. But I do see institutions who have built in biases towards minorities, especially the police who most frequently focus on them. Increasing police statistics by arresting minorities isn’t just bad practice, it’s injust. We need to rethink our laws, and try to encourage more socialization and mixing in all parts of life.