Roadguy is up to his fenders in transportation news and reader mail. Let’s dig in and discuss.

A measure to curb cell phones: Yesterday, a Minnesota Senate committee endorsed a measure that would double the fine for any moving violation that took place while the driver was talking on a cell phone. (Strib story is here; a KARE-11 video report is here.) We had a pretty extensive Transportation Conversation about cell phones here in Roadguy last month, but if you have any thoughts on this particular legislation — which makes no exception for hands-free phones — please share in the comments section below.

Transit wrap news: A week ago, an alert reader named Steven sent me an e-mail that included this:

According to the “Take Out February 2007″ hangy pamphlet thing on the bus, they have a new policy for bus wrap advertising to cover no more than 50% of the total window surface on each side of the vehicle because “some raised concerns about limited visibility from inside the vehicle.” I think that “some” may have been my article: “Metro Transit Covers Windows.” From my article: “Mandate some design restrictions over window area bus/train wrap advertisements, like only 50% window coverage …”

Roadguy has not been on a bus or train this month, so he cannot verify the content of the hangy pamphlet thing, and he is also unable to vouch for the power of Steven’s prose to influence policy. There is, however, a story in today’s Strib that confirms that Steven’s wish has indeed come true; click here.

Roadkill for dinner: This isn’t exactly a breaking development, but it was news to Roadguy that Minnetonka lets people sign up for the chance to haul away any deer that are killed by cars. Such crashes are unfortunate for both animal and motorist, but ruminant recycling seems to work. The story in today’s West section is here.

More tomorrow. In the meantime, have a safe Valentine’s Day, and keep those comments and e-mails coming.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 at 6:05 am and is filed under Links, Transportation conversations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.