Political experiment: Speed Bumps; Whats your political stance on them???

[Pogo]

We lose a little bit of freedom very single time the president signs a bill into law. Keep that in mind when you think about the ten foot high stack of pages in the health care law. The United States seems to hum along a little better when the government shuts down for a period of time. Reagan said it best when he said (half in jest) "government isn't the solution. It's the problem".

-- which half was the jest?

 

[alan1]

Wow Alan, I don't know what kind of road you grew up on but I had the same deal Konrad describes. We'd play stickball every day using the telephone wires over the road to determine double, triple, homer; we used the hill for sledding in the winter, and I mean everybody was there from blocks around. We'd sled at night if we got a good sheet of ice on the road...

I grew up in the country. We didn't play in the streets, we played in the woods or down at the creek.
I raised my kids in the city, they didn't play in the streets. They played in the yard or at the park.

Then I'd say you're a tiny exception to a very common practice. The country might be a different case if the road is a country highway, but we're talking stucco suburbia in my case and Konrad's. When you went out of the house to play, you either went to the street or somebody's back yard. Automatically. Nobody would be driving through except one of the residents. We're also talking kids old enough to know what they're doing, like over the age of 6.

And then of course, where but the street to you ride your bicycle?

We frequently rode our bicycles through the woods, I guess you could have called us "mountain bikers", but that was before mountain biking existed.

As a young teen (before I got my drivers license) I used my bike to get to school and work. It wasn't riding in the street to play, it was transportation and I followed the same traffic laws that cars had.

 

[hortysir]

Kind of context driven. Urban, suburban, or rural? Residential neighborhood with children, or freeway?

Fair question. Lets say suburban, but not a residential-inside neighborhood road. A main road, not an interstate or highway, that runs between two large subdivisions. A busy road, where people walk/ride bikes in the evenings.

Obviously, speed bumps on a freeway or interstate are not possible.

Speed bumps, in their present incarnation, are not variable speed regulators. Everyone has to slow to about 5 mph going over them. That wouldn't work well on a road with a 40 mph limit. So in the context above, a cop with a speed gun and an appropriate speed limit would be best. Ideally, some genius would invent a speed bump which would be smooth sailing at 40 mph and tear up the suspension at 45.

Our county has a mobile speed display that snaps a pic of your license plate if you're speeding when you go by

 

[alan1]

You hate freedom, don't you?

Jump to false conclusions much?

Show me one residential area with lots of kids where they aren't all over the streets.

Come to my neighborhood. Not a single speed bump in the entire place, and the kids stay out of the street.

Pretty sad place to have grown up, if there are no children in the street. Sounds like a dysfunctional burg.

Not sad at all, the park is a mere 3 blocks away and there is a sidewalk all the way to it.

 

[blackhawk]

I totally do not care.

 

[francoHFW]

Nothing, but a cop every once in a while...

 

[Two Thumbs]

I want to inquire about an action of the government, and how your political outlook applies. Its not a major issue of the day. Which is the point. Government sometimes must do the LITTLE things, not the breaking national news decisions, but little things that make a city or country run in a civil manner. Things we often times hate. BUT, that are, well necessary.

Please answer honestly.

Speed bumps. I put a poll. But, here is the issue-

Lets say there is a road in your city. People drive WAY too fast down it. Kids are around. Bicyclists. Very dangerous. However, due to having limited resources, your local and county police cannot put a cop on that road 24/7. When they do, folks take to facebook and twitter to warn their friends and neighbors anyway. Modern day, ya know? But, a kid gets hit, and people demand action. What should they do?

A) Increase the budget, and man that road with a cop from 7am-9pm, every day.
B) Put in speed bumps. Inconveniences everyone, damages cars long-term, but, problem kinda fixed.
C) Nothing. My liberty to drive how I want shouldn't be impeded just to stop a few bad drivers.

I think this little example puts ideology to the test about what government can and should, or shouldn't, do to fix or aid in society's daily problems.

nearly everyone has an iphone with a camera.

take a pic of the license plate then call the cops.

no extra taxes no annoying speed bumps.



seriously dood, kinda ghay

 

[Jarlaxle]

There are a lot of people who buy these gigantic 4x4 vehicles who never go off road. Big huge vehicles.

And then when they come up on a speed bump, they slow down to half a mile per hour!

Not down to the speed limit, down to nearly a complete stop. As if their precious 4x4 will shatter into a million pieces by going over a speed bump.

It's scary when you realize half of all Americans are below average IQs...

My political stance is cops should be ticketing slow drivers as much as they ticket speeders.

Hitting a speed bump at more than a crawl in my F-350 is actually painful with an empty box.

 

[Pogo]

I want to inquire about an action of the government, and how your political outlook applies. Its not a major issue of the day. Which is the point. Government sometimes must do the LITTLE things, not the breaking national news decisions, but little things that make a city or country run in a civil manner. Things we often times hate. BUT, that are, well necessary.

Please answer honestly.

Speed bumps. I put a poll. But, here is the issue-

Lets say there is a road in your city. People drive WAY too fast down it. Kids are around. Bicyclists. Very dangerous. However, due to having limited resources, your local and county police cannot put a cop on that road 24/7. When they do, folks take to facebook and twitter to warn their friends and neighbors anyway. Modern day, ya know? But, a kid gets hit, and people demand action. What should they do?

A) Increase the budget, and man that road with a cop from 7am-9pm, every day.
B) Put in speed bumps. Inconveniences everyone, damages cars long-term, but, problem kinda fixed.
C) Nothing. My liberty to drive how I want shouldn't be impeded just to stop a few bad drivers.

I think this little example puts ideology to the test about what government can and should, or shouldn't, do to fix or aid in society's daily problems.

nearly everyone has an iphone with a camera.

take a pic of the license plate then call the cops.

no extra taxes no annoying speed bumps.



seriously dood, kinda ghay

A pic of a license plate proves nothing about speed. LE would have to actually witness it.
However -- there is a way this can be used, and a friend of mine was ticketed this way: a camera that flashes two quick shots in succession at a known interval of time. The two-picture comparison measures how far the car traveled in the known amount of time, and from that speed is calculated. The driver gets a ticket in the mail.

Now I don't believe in camera tickets, but people are scared of 'em. Even if you just put up a sign that says cameras are in operation (even if they aren't) I bet you'd get results pretty quick.

 

[Flopper]

We lose a little bit of freedom very single time the president signs a bill into law. Keep that in mind when you think about the ten foot high stack of pages in the health care law. The United States seems to hum along a little better when the government shuts down for a period of time. Reagan said it best when he said (half in jest) "government isn't the solution. It's the problem".

"One man's liberty ends where another man's begins." As people crowd into heavily populated urban areas, highways become more congested, and thoughtless acts of individuals effects more people, the lost of personal freedoms and privacy are inevitable.

 

[bucs90]

Hmmm. A few responses. BUt overall, people arent that willing to weigh in on the things a government does....the little things.

 

[Avatar4321]

In Germany, the Autobahn is safer than any highway here in the US, and requires far less oversight that does our highways. Why do we need speedbumps or more police to patrol the highways?

To make money for the government.

 

[Avatar4321]

I want to inquire about an action of the government, and how your political outlook applies. Its not a major issue of the day. Which is the point. Government sometimes must do the LITTLE things, not the breaking national news decisions, but little things that make a city or country run in a civil manner. Things we often times hate. BUT, that are, well necessary.

Please answer honestly.

Speed bumps. I put a poll. But, here is the issue-

Lets say there is a road in your city. People drive WAY too fast down it. Kids are around. Bicyclists. Very dangerous. However, due to having limited resources, your local and county police cannot put a cop on that road 24/7. When they do, folks take to facebook and twitter to warn their friends and neighbors anyway. Modern day, ya know? But, a kid gets hit, and people demand action. What should they do?

A) Increase the budget, and man that road with a cop from 7am-9pm, every day.
B) Put in speed bumps. Inconveniences everyone, damages cars long-term, but, problem kinda fixed.
C) Nothing. My liberty to drive how I want shouldn't be impeded just to stop a few bad drivers.

I think this little example puts ideology to the test about what government can and should, or shouldn't, do to fix or aid in society's daily problems.

How about if parents keep their kids out of the street?
My parents taught me, and I taught my kids.......
Look both ways before crossing the street, if a car is coming, don't step in front of it.
If the kid is too young to understand that concept, it is up to the parents to be responsible enough to keep the kid out of the street.
The government can't cure stupid with more cops or more speed bumps.

Havent you heard? Passing laws, creating programs, and abdicating all sense of personal responsibility are the only ways to fix problems.

 

[Avatar4321]

Hmmm. A few responses. BUt overall, people arent that willing to weigh in on the things a government does....the little things.

Stop assuming government is the only solution to the problems our society faces and stop creating faux questions and perhaps more people would weigh in.

 

[Pogo]

Hmmm. A few responses. BUt overall, people arent that willing to weigh in on the things a government does....the little things.

I suspect, like me, people don't associate speed bumps with government.

It is a little government thing, on a small scale, but when I see a speed bump coming up I don't think about governmental issues any deeper than "what yahoo on the city council here needs his ass kicked?" It's much more personal than institutional, in that some person got talked into this.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't see the idea of speed bumps as coming from the left or the right; I see it as coming from idiots.

Know what I'd like to see that would also not only control speeding but save everybody's fuel? More synchronized traffic lights. And so-called "smart" lights too. WAY overdue.