01-25-2007, 03:09 AM
quote:
I don't think there is any one answer but a whole lot of little ones which will be required to solve the problem.
To slow down traffic, post lower speed limits and put officers out to enforce it. You would at least then get more revenue for the state from speeding tickets. There would, however, be much howling from the general public who considers it their inalieble right to drive fast.
How about 45 mph along the entire length of the Pahoa highway? A ten mile road driven at 45 miles an hour would take about thirteen and a half minutes, wouldn't it? The same ten mile stretch at 55 miles an hour would take eleven minutes. So lowering the speed limit would increase the travel time by two and a half minutes per every ten miles of driving. How far is it from Pahoa to Hilo? Twenty miles? By the math, it would seem lowering the speed limit to forty five miles an hour would increase travel time by five minutes. Hmm, lower the speed limit to 25 mph for a month and then raise it to 45 mph. Everyone will then seem to be going really fast when the 45 mph speed limit is allowed.
Many folks leave late for work, though somehow hoping to "make up" the extra five minutes along the way. I think a lot of speeding is caused by the initial leaving late in the first place. Having a traffic bulletin in the newspapers with the current driving times posted in it might help folks plan their driving times better. Having a donut shop or some other possible stop before they get to work would allow them something to not do before work to save time if they did leave late. A state sponsored cafe with fifteen cent coffee and a dollar menu for things like toast with eggs or fifty cent doughnuts would give the folks some place to go before work and would put them in town before they had to be there. Of course, your more expensive breakfast cafe's would then howl.
Some other things might be staggered starting times so the entire workforce isn't trying to all get to the same place at the same time down only one road. Or having work areas scattered throughout the residential areas or closer to the residential areas. Jobs where folks can work from home would also lessen the lemming horde each morning.
Encouraging folks to find work closer to home wouldn't hurt either. If houses were less expensive, folks wouldn't need to work two jobs to afford them nor have to work expensive jobs further away from home. However, even if you get the houses affordable, then folks will spend the "extra" available credit on something else and still need to work to pay their credit cards.
When gas gets to six or seven dollars a gallon, then there will be a lot less cars on the road. Still, if we were to tax the heck out of gas (even more so than it is now)and put it at those numbers and use the money to make some sort of mass transit there would still be much howling.
The problem with an increased gas tax is that it effects “All” driving!
Many retired people who don’t commute and drive only for recreation or to shop for food would be effected. Furthermore, many families are just getting by and the additional cost of fuel in the hands of a government that is inept at best would be like flushing it down the toilet. As it stands now we pay the highest gas prices in the country and a large part of that are taxes.
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free...now here come the taxes.....