Tag: Transportation

Step 1: Defrost your windshield

With this week’s cold snap, it should take people a little longer to hit the road to ensure plenty of time to have windshields fully defrosted. 

Please don’t be one of those idiots who attempts to drive with a collective 1 square foot of defrosted areas on the windshield.  I nearly got creamed by someone this morning who was weaving all over the road while apparently trying to wipe clean the inside of his/her windshield — the windshield wipers were working furiously on the outside to no avail.  (Note that I was running on the sidewalk and was wearing an OSHA-approved day-glo yellow construction shirt with six 3″ wide bands of reflective material on it, plus a powerful LED headlamp, and reflective material on my hat and shoes.)

My suggestion?  Start your engine and turn on the defroster and heater.  Stand near a window inside your house where you can see your car and use the time while your car is warming up to check your voicemail, e-mails, or to peruse the paper some more; this way, you can keep an eye on your car while the engine is running.  (I could have had no fewer than five free cars this morning while unattended vehicles were rid of their frost.) 

Ha ha, you’re going to jail

I was reading this story today about how the new freeway message boards encouraging drivers to call 911 if they suspect someone is driving under the influence were very effective this holiday season and couldn’t help but wonder.

Has anyone ever called 911 to report a suspected drunk driver? Is it an easy process? If so, I have to think this can really get out of hand in a jif. Get cut off this morning on the W-X? Fix their wagon by dropping the 9-1-1 on their ass! Have a buddy that is always one-upping you? Here’s a way you can have the last word. What about the night club scene? I can see it now. A dude sees a gal that he is really sweet on. He walks over to buy her a drink but is intercepted at the last minute by a larger, buffer dude who closes the deal. They take off together and dude decides to let his fingers do the walking.

But seriously, folks, what’s the deal with this program? If anyone knows the 4-1-1 on the 9-1-1 feel free to drop a comment and get the word out.

Spending RT’s money is a “Tall Order”

I’m not really sure why they called it that, but the Metropolitan Transportation Plan is holding “Tall Order: Moving the Region Forward,” a one-night, eight-venue simulcast town hall to hear from the public on how MTP might invest $36 billion over the next few decades. The event is being held tomorrow night in locations from Freeborn Hall to the El Dorado Office of Education and offers free food. It looks like you have to register to attend. Might I suggest that free food on the bus be priority #1?

Transit Tales Redux

The Sacramento News and Review is running a cover story this week about “life that exists every day on Sacramento’s buses and trains”.  Sound familiar?  It should if you’re a frequent visitor to this here web log.  Sac Rag authors/commenters CoolDMZ and HeyMeg have been posting and commenting about their daily observations on the RT for quite some time.  While SNR did a fine job with their piece, it just doesn’t compare to HeyMeg’s recounting of the discussion between “Eye Patch” and “No Teeth”.

Regional Transit: The Soundtrack

If you’re like me, you enjoy musical accompaniment on your RT commute. Be it the popular Apple iPod device, a Walkman, or the songs in your head, there are certain tunes that really fit the bill for your particular route and time of day. For example, on a rainyish day like today, crossing the river on I5 heading into Natomas, Sufjan Stevens was where it was at. After work, heading uptown on the 50E I’m thinking maybe something a little more rockin.

Well, I want to hear from you. Leave a comment with your route and some songs that make it rock (or make it roll) for you. Perhaps we could get a mix CD going…so feel free to also donate several thousand dollars for permissions if you’d like to see that happen!

The real live bunch from Coney

A few observations from my morning RT commute today:

I saw a “tag” under the I-5 J street offramp that read “The Warriors,” as in the dystopian 70s gang film. Does this mean that the kids are getting smarter (or at least more into kitsch popcult references)? Or does it mean that graffiti artists are just getting older. Any other Warriors fans out there?

Can anyone tell me what they’re doing with those long narrow concrete pillars on the site of The Towers? There are several dozen sticking out of the ground at different heights which leads me to assume they are being tested for strength or something. Anybody have any experience with skyscraper construction?

Interstate the obvious

Breaking news. CBS13.com is reporting that California’s roads are bad:

A new report by a group called the Road Improvement Project found that the state has some of the worst major roads and highways.

It ranked the ten US urban areas with the greatest share of substandard roads, based on how bad drivers are shaken around in their cars. Five of them are in California…

Guess who rounded out the California’s Bumpy 5 and made top bottom seven on the list?

And Sacramento scored seventh worse. Fifty percent of its roads don’t meet the group’s standards.

At least now you can justify that Hummer.