Guns And Cars Part 2

A local Teabagger Congressman who was invited  to speak about his typical teabag fiscal position last week was instead berated by gun control activists.

The Brilliance of Renacci

Jimbo gave a little lip service to their concerns, blaming the mental status of the perpetrators (using the word 'issue' three times, twice in one sentence.) It has become the stock explanation of the NRA.

“I still believe that when it comes to guns, the biggest issue is the mental health issue,” Renacci said. “We have to take a look at that. A majority of these issues (such as the killings at Newtown, Conn., Chardon, Ohio, and Aurora, Colo.) have mental health issues behind them. I also think we have to strengthen our background checks. The House will consider what the Senate passes and take a look at it.”

While unlike automobiles, guns are used to kill people purposefully for the most part, and a pedestrian or cyclist can share some culpability in an accident with a car, I can't help but see the parallels between the standard excuses given for gun killings as the ones offered for automobile deaths.

(Deaths are deaths after all, and a good lawyer can show the right jury that a death by either device was 'accidental.')

Neither gun nor automobile advocates want to admit there just may be a problem.

With guns: The shooter was crazy, or the shooter was angry, or the shooter was drunk, or the shooter wasn't licensed, or the shooter had bad parents, etc.

With automobiles: the driver was drunk, or the driver was texting, or the driver wasn't licensed, or the driver wasn't paying attention, or the driver wasn't following the speed limit, etc.

Guns don't kill people, people kill people...with GUNS

Cars don't kill people, people kill people...with CARS


 Jim also rushed to invoke the Second Amendment, reinforcing the view among freedom loving Americans that sensible limitations equate with a ban on all guns.

No one until very recently has ever dared to approach sensible limitations on automobile access to public places, space shared by all those same freedom loving Americans, (most of whom are enslaved to the petroleum industry.)

I expect to hear more of the same, shrill alarms from car drivers that you now hear from gun nuts as alternative transportation advocates seek their American freedoms.

Profit Motive And Traffic Control

Cincinnati seeks to abandon parking enforcement and go the kickback model.

Somebody manage our problems!

This differs in implementation from that of speed camera use, (the city is charged a high fee for their provision,) but the result is the same.

The concept here is that our cities are shifting traffic enforcement to the private sector, content to take or keep a percentage of the earnings technology can provide, as long as they don't have to manage it.

I'm waiting for traffic drones next.

A better solution is to restrict automobile access on our public streets and walkable retail commercial zones.
This will increase safety, encourage storefront development, and allow for more efficient, human traffic law enforcement by reducing vehicular traffic's expanse geographically: its hegemony.

I wonder if the obvious motorist backlash against these trends will provide popular support for a return to urban functioning on a human scale?

Who Wants To Own...Anything?

Decreasing our auto dependence will require densification of living patterns.

Much has been written about this in Academia, (and more academic blogs,) not that anyone gives a shit about intelligent analysis and recommendations.

Obviously, right? Sprawl is alive and growing.

Few will buy a house in the city and invest themselves in any community of human beings, (especially different human beings,)

No one invests in anything really. That's just not the American way anymore.

Back when home 'flipping' was going crazy I worked for a public agency that had their hands full just keeping track of who to send tax bills. Ownership of the home changed before the tax billing cycle came around: almost every tax cycle.

Talk to old people. There's no such thing as a 'starter home' anymore.
The new way is to buy as big as you can can approved for and move on. Thousands of inner ring suburban bungalows sit vacant. They happen to be of very good build quality too.

Just look at your typical bullshit, low quality, over-sized suburban house: What do you see first?

That's right, the anti-social garage door.

"Welcome to my Garage! I'm watching TV! Go Away!"

Americans have been conditioned to lease their car, rent their appliances, and over-mortgage their home, all with the security that the house must go up in value, (until it didn't.)

All the sudden "Going Mobile" by The Who is going through my head.

Mega Commute!

What is Mega Commuting?

According to the US Census Bureau it is driving more than 90 minutes and 50 miles one-way to work, (or whatever you do everyday.)

Well, now we have 586,805 of them.

Not to be confused with Extreme Commuting which is 90 minutes: 2,241,915 of these.

or

Long Distance Commuting which is 50 miles: 1,713,931 of these.


US Census Report


Quick estimate on fuel costs for a Long Distance chump:

$3.50 a gallon x (100 miles a day/25 MPG) = $14 Per Day

Approximately 250 working days a year X $14 per day = $3500 a year

For Mega Commuters, add 3 hours on to an 8 hour day. 11 hour day!


Damn!

The American Dream!

Traffic Deaths, Crash Testing, and Ted Nugent

You all know the "Nuge." He's the washed up rock and roller turned right-winger celeb of the era.

You may know in defense of gun ownership he recently compared gun deaths to traffic deaths and has been one of several gun defenders spouting off the seeming apples-to-oranges logic.

Here's a crappy USA Today link that attempts to bring it all together:

USA Today on Nuge's Gun Claims

The article opens with an 'interpretable' claim itself:

"Deaths from traffic accidents have dropped dramatically over the last 10 years"

Here's the ever-handy wiki of traffic deaths as a percentage of the population and the raw total to the left:

Wikipedia Traffic Deaths

A more or less constant yearly total in the 30-50 K range since the 1930s is not my idea of safe.

Also, there was a 5% increase in 2012, read here:

National Safety Council

We're not really getting anywhere.
Show me a reduction to less than 10K and I'll see real progress.

So Ted, the correct answer is that any gun and any car can be a weapon in the wrong hands.

And guns designed to kill people efficiently are more dangerous than say, a .22 caliber rifle.
High caliber weaponry is much harder to handle and control in most cases. I know. I've shot them.

Here's the funny thing though:

With the automobile-as-weapon, any idiot knows that in regards to crash testing, all the 'crumple zones,' and air bags in the industry don't mean shit when a large automobile hits a smaller one.

I know many fathers who buy their texting teenagers huge SUVs, (as big as a bathroom,) for safety.

As I've stated before, for the driver, current automobile safety technology has made them exponentially more controllable on the road than the deathtraps made in earlier eras, but the sheer size and power of these vehicles makes them devastating to what or who they may hit.

A safer car for its occupants is less safe for its target. It's an inverse relationship.

We value safe vehicles. Too bad we don't value safety for those that share the street with them.

 

 

Attack The Tool

In a measure sure to be drooled over by our gas guzzling, increasingly aggravated and violent driver class, the State of Ohio prepares to attack speed and red light cameras:

WKYC Populist Journalism

The Congressman intends to force the city to 'prove' safety has increased because of Traffic Cameras.

What a joke.

No police force can prove any safety measures in any other way than a comparison to the absence of it over time.

Shall we stop arresting people for assault to see if assault decreases, increases, or remains the same in 10 years?

The problem is speeding.

Unless the opponents can prove that an inordinate number are being falsely ticketed there is no reason to pull speed cameras other than the outrageous fees Xerox is charging.

A real improvement would be to use traffic monitors in concert with real live cops.


UPDATE:

Battle in my regressive state of Ohio heating up:

It's Official

UPDATE 2:

Please sign this petition at the Ohio Traffic Safety Coalition:

Petition for Safety