From cell phones to parking, resolutions for the road
Posted on January 6th, 2008 – 7:05 AMBy Roadguy
Here’s Roadguy’s column from the Sunday paper. If you’ve read it elsewhere, please skip on down to the comments below. Thanks.
Many people’s New Year’s resolutions are already broken by now, but Roadguy has just gotten around to formulating his. They’re all transportation-related, of course, so let’s have a look.
Resolution No. 1: Less gadgetry in the car.
Roadguy lived his whole life without a cell phone until early 2001, and he can probably live for 30-40 minutes a day in the car without talking on the phone, unless the call is directly related to whatever event he’s driving to. (Or unless he’s bored out of his mind on an empty rural interstate on a sunny day.)
On a similar technological note, if he can’t get the CD into the CD player while stopped at a stoplight, he resolves to just wait until the next red light, instead of trying to futz, shift, steer and/or merge all at the same time.
Resolution No. 2: Stopping for yellow lights.
Believe it or not, the Minnesota Driver’s Manual does not say “floor it on yellow.” Rather, it says “do not enter the intersection if you can stop safely before doing so” — and it’s safe to do so far more often than Roadguy admits.He has been trying to follow the rule the past few days, and it’s required a bit of an attitude adjustment: What do you mean I’m going to get home 35 seconds later?
Roadguy does keep a close eye on what’s directly behind him — and how fast it’s going — as he makes the split-second decision to brake or go for it. But the bonus is that, if he does come to a stop, he can pop in that CD.
Resolution No. 3: Buy a parking-meter card.
Roadguy is philosophically opposed to spending money just so he can spend more money, but he’s realized that the $5 initial charge for a parking-meter card would probably be recouped in short order. On Friday afternoon, for example, Roadguy spent $5 to park in a ramp for an hour because he didn’t have enough quarters for a meter, which would have cost him less than two bucks.
Resolution No. 4: Bike to work at least once this year.
To the hardy among us who commute by bicycle year-round, this may sound like a pretty wimpy goal, but as Roadguy noted earlier, it’s hard to cover breaking news in a sprawling metropolitan area without a car. However, with a little planning, a reduction in the amount of junk Roadguy brings to work and the securing of a backup vehicle, he could probably handle a 4-mile ride each way — and he’d probably even enjoy it.
If you have a transportation resolution to share, please do so below. And let’s hope that our leaders resolve to find more money for transportation. The more metro areas that Roadguy visits, and the more he learns about Minnesota’s shrinking pool of younger adults, the more he worries that our infrastructure is going to keep us from being the vibrant kind of place we’d like to be. Happy 2008.
15 Responses to "From cell phones to parking, resolutions for the road"
As a long-time bike commuter but first-time winter biker, I can only say: Go for it! You’ll love it — as long as you dress for it. 
Wouldn’t Zipcar or HourCar like to maintain a site by the Strib building, with a company contract for reporters?
I like your goals…
I am a big person on stop on yellows, not race through. I love the look on people’s faces when they pass me when I’m stopping at the light and they were behind me and like “oh, i could have stopped” and then I will pass them at the next light since they couldn’t run that one. I do wish police enforced red light runners and cared less about speeders.
Parking meter card- worth every penny. Less issues with quarters not being read by the meter. Also much easier to track how much you spend on parking.
Well all in all best of luck to your goals for the year.
4 miles should be easy to do, as long as you don’t have to leave the office.
Wish St. Paul used those parking meter cards…or at least the Capitol district. Would come in much more handy when I do my yearly MnDOT visits…
Like SrThomas, I tend to stop for the yellow light, but my intentions are less virtuous (sp?). Most often it is to put distance between myself and drivers ahead of me that are acting like they don’t know what they are doing.
Quick note: As far as yellow lights are concerned, I’ve found that MN drivers are pretty good about them. Back in Ohio, if you didn’t run the red the cop behind would get annoyed that he couldn’t run the red as well (!).
–Steve
Actually, Hour Car already has a hub and 5th & Washington which according to Mapquest is .31 miles from the Strib’s office.
A neighbor was telling me that he used to bike commute from time to time - but left his car at work so he could get to job sites during the day. I suppose this wouldn’t work if you’re paying for parking. The hourcar alternative looks interesting.
Steve–
I have to respectfully disagree about Minnesotans running yellow/orange lights. Since I moved here from the East Coast 6 years ago, I have been amazed at the amount of straight-up red light running I have witnessed in Minnesota (and I used to live in Washington, D.C.–not exactly the land of good drivers). I am constantly amazed by the number of times I squeak not-quite-legally through a yellow light and 3 or 4 other cars follow me. I have a theory as to why it happens–the lights are badly timed for ice in the winter, when suddenly hitting the brakes would be dangerous (that would be why I was squeaking through the light, and I was not speeding), and people get used to running the lights even when they can safely stop.
Last time I went thru a red light, I was looking around for an entrance ramp to I-35, that was no longer there. I was driving at 12mph, and when I heard the loud car horn coming from the side, I knew I just had a temporary moron-moment and waived “sorreee!”
If I had been ticketed, I woulda deserved it anyway. Glad I wasn’t on the phone.
I think the increase in red-light runners started when they increased the time between when a light turned red and the light on the cross street turned green. They used to change at almost the same time. But several years ago, they started adding a lag time so there were a few seconds when both directions have red lights. It was supposed to improve safety but I think it made things worse. Now people think they can blast through the red, because the other light hasn’t turned green yet.
Interesting you say that, Suz. I was out in Seattle a few months back. The philosophy there is that you can make it through so long as you are done before the cars going the other way start. Basically, it doesn’t matter if your light is green or red, so long as nobody else’s is green.
As I mentioned earlier.. I would much rather see a police officer at every intersection handing out tickets for red light runners, than caring about speeders… Clearly the facts will show that running a red light is many times more likely to cause an accident than speeding and much more likely to cause a serious accident.
Yes speeding can be a problem but it’s a different kind of problem.
PS the reason I don’t run reds is I was hit by a semi that ran a red light when i was in college.
(i ran a green light and got a ticket… and yes the ticket said “failed to yield green light,” and the funny part was I wasn’t waiting at the light I was still aproaching the intersection when the light turned green. So now even though I have a green light I make sure people still aren’t running a red light)
I see yellow and red-light runners all the time, and as a pedestrian, I know better than to step into the intersection when the light first changes to ‘Walk’. Too many people are morons nowadays to risk my life over it.
Yes yes yes to SrThomasJN–I am currently in college, and was hit by a woman in a Ford F250 who absentmindedly ran a red light. Middle of the day, middle of the week, not too busy of an intersection, just decided it was her time to go, with me coming the other way through a green light. Well, my car was totaled, I had many weeks worth of headaches and phonecalls to various companies and people to endure, and then the process of finding another car because the many places I have to be for school and work mean I need personal transportation. All because some dumb woman decided yelling at her girl to shut up was more important than stopping at the red light. I would rather have everyone going 20 over the speed limit than running red lights.
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