Today’s Headlines

Someone should tell the SI Advance that you can’t be for BRT and against bus lanes. Without bus lanes, it’s not BRT.

I read through the SI Advance article, and it turns out they’re for BRT where there is already a vacant ROW, just not anywhere else where it would take away car lanes. So basically, they only want the North Shore BRT.

Instead of bumping it up to a felony (with all the extra burden that gives the prosecution), lets have mandatory lifetime license revocation as part of the penalty. If you also want to include possible jail time (with a higher standard of proof) that’s fine but at a minimum if you kill or seriously injure someone with the right of way while driving you should never, ever be able to drive again. And while we’re at it make the permanent license revocation part of the penalty apply retroactively to anyone who has killed or injured someone in the past with the right of way. That would instantly get at least a few thousand bad drivers off the roads for good.

““The world has been turned upside down when NYC believes it’s a smart idea to arrest a veteran bus operator who was going 3 miles an hour and exercising the utmost care,” TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen said.”

How long is it going to take for people to realize if you hit a human with the right of way, you were, by definition, not “exercising the utmost care”?

Yes, though the experience is overall probably still slow and, I would think, pretty humiliating. There probably isn’t a good way to deal with wheelchairs on public transit.

I tend to agree. Given the rather huge costs of accommodating a relative minority of people in wheelchairs and with other severe disabilities I think that same money would be better spent on two other things instead. One, put R&D into finding medical ways to get as many of these people out of wheelchairs as possible. That would also immensely improve their overall quality of life. Two, design wheelchairs able to negotiate regular steps. Actually, if you look at the stuff designed by Boston Dynamics this might actually be on the horizon. It really wouldn’t be a wheelchair anymore as the wheels would be replaced by robotic appendages resembling limbs but the benefit would be increased mobility for the disabled. Of course, you’ll probably have the groups which make big money off handicapped accessibility, starting with Access-A-Ride, fighting both things tooth and nail. Nevertheless, as you mention there’s really no good way to deal with wheelchairs on public transit, and attempting to do so is stretching already sparse transit budgets even more.

Yea the supreme court won’t let you impose any sort of punishment retroactively like permanently revoke driver’s licenses.

When states have tried to retroactively apply stiffer penalties for DWIs they’ve been shot down by the courts.

Constitution doesn’t let the federal government, or the states apply ex post facto punishments.

Life’s a bitch isn’t it

What kind of stiffer penalties?

Longer license suspensions. Say person A gets their third DWI and faces a mandatory suspension of 6 months. Before that time is up the punishment for third DWI conviction is upped to a mandatory suspension of 2 years. Where DMVs have tried to apply that new standard to person A to deny their application for a license it has been shot down by the courts.

You’d have a much better chance if you asked for license suspension for someone who commits a serious traffic violation (speeding 30+), at fault fatal crash etc…if they have a history of dangerous driving, which would include injuring or killing someone with the ROW.

Driving is a privilege, not a right. A drivers licence revocation is NOT a punishment or penalty. So it can indeed be applied retroactively.