It's 2018 and I still can't belive that...

[SSOWorld]

This annoys me too

.....that people still type answers inside the post they quoted. 


Oh, and same for me jwolfer!

ICWYDT

....that spelling is a great challenge. 

....and that I let that bug me so much. 

On the first statement - damn you AUTOCORRECT!!!!

on the second... You grammar nazi!

[GaryV]

... I haven't written 2018 on a check yet.  Maybe once I write a check ......   

[Roadgeekteen]

We are as close to 2050 as 1986. I am 14 and I still can't believe that 2010 was 8 years ago!

[kphoger]

...my (biological) daughter will graduate high school this year.  I'm not old yet!

[slorydn1]

...my (biological) daughter will graduate high school this year.  I'm not old yet!

My youngest will graduate in January and will be at Parris Island in early February. I am not old yet either. 

[ColossalBlocks]

That Kmart is still alive.

[Bruce]

We don't treat fatal collisions with people on bikes and on foot as serious homicides, and charge as such.

Because they're not, unless they're intentional.  They are considered crashes.  Unless you want to be like the Italians and charge pilots for committing errors while flying.  (which is damned asinine)

We don't adequately fund and manage public transportation, certainly not at the level of subsidies and other support that automobiles get.

I see this often, but no one ever names the subsidies.  Name them.

We don't charge user fees for automobiles tearing up our roads, whose maintenance just isn't up to par.

Actually, we do.  It's called a "gas tax".  Flipping it around, why don't we charge bicyclists a user fee for the bicycle lanes and bike paths they want?

We don't build conventional high-speed railways like literally every other industrialized nation on earth.

You do realize that most places in North America are much, much farther apart than in Europe.  Flying is what originally killed rail, and would still be faster than most high-speed rail for our proposes.

1. Even accidental, there needs to be punishment for negligent driving that results in someone's injury or death. Frequently, drivers are given at most community service when a cyclist or pedestrian is killed, despite having the right of way and acting in a safe manner. Distracted driving needs to be taken more seriously.

2. Roads are funded through non-user fees (like sales taxes). Gasoline is given massive subsidies to make it cheaper to purchase (thus making people more likely to keep driving). Suburban developers are given huge incentives to build sprawling, automobile-oriented communities that worsen the harmful dependence on cars. Parking is heavily subsidized, with very little in the way of revenue covering the cost to build and maintain garages or even streetside parking (not to mention the wasted land that could be developed into profitable uses).

3. Bicyclists pay taxes, too, but a much smaller portion of their taxes are going towards bike paths than more roads. Road expansion and replacement should be entirely funded with tolls, otherwise it's unjustly charging society at large.

4. China is comparable in size to much of the United States, with far-flung city centers, and they are building a successful high-speed rail network that stretches across the country. Trains were originally killed by the railroads looking to increase freight use (which is why we ended up with Amtrak's minimal level of service), followed by the government offering incentives to switch to buses on those brand new (and not yet clogged) freeways. When accounting for time spent traveling to the airport and through security, it is slower than a high-speed rail line (which is normally meant for medium-length trips, within a contained mega-region, rather than transcontinental travel). Not to mention the burden placed on airports with all those short-haul flights that could easily be replaced with trains...no need to keep expanding gates when you can have people transfer to a train instead of hopping on a CRJ to the next airport over.

[JREwing78]

That Kmart is still alive.

... and that Sears is still alive.

[Brandon]

We don't treat fatal collisions with people on bikes and on foot as serious homicides, and charge as such.

Because they're not, unless they're intentional.  They are considered crashes.  Unless you want to be like the Italians and charge pilots for committing errors while flying.  (which is damned asinine)

We don't adequately fund and manage public transportation, certainly not at the level of subsidies and other support that automobiles get.

I see this often, but no one ever names the subsidies.  Name them.

We don't charge user fees for automobiles tearing up our roads, whose maintenance just isn't up to par.

Actually, we do.  It's called a "gas tax".  Flipping it around, why don't we charge bicyclists a user fee for the bicycle lanes and bike paths they want?

We don't build conventional high-speed railways like literally every other industrialized nation on earth.

You do realize that most places in North America are much, much farther apart than in Europe.  Flying is what originally killed rail, and would still be faster than most high-speed rail for our proposes.

1. Even accidental, there needs to be punishment for negligent driving that results in someone's injury or death. Frequently, drivers are given at most community service when a cyclist or pedestrian is killed, despite having the right of way and acting in a safe manner. Distracted driving needs to be taken more seriously.

There is such a thing as "vehicular manslaughter" - look it up.  However, if the pedestrian runs into traffic, or crosses against the signal, sorry, but the motorist should never be held liable.  Ditto for when a bicyclist rides negligently and runs a stop sign or signal.

2. Roads are funded through non-user fees (like sales taxes). Gasoline is given massive subsidies to make it cheaper to purchase (thus making people more likely to keep driving). Suburban developers are given huge incentives to build sprawling, automobile-oriented communities that worsen the harmful dependence on cars. Parking is heavily subsidized, with very little in the way of revenue covering the cost to build and maintain garages or even streetside parking (not to mention the wasted land that could be developed into profitable uses).

You do realize that the creation of parking lots isn't subsidized at all.  It's actually mandated by a county or municipal ordinance mandating a number of parking spots per square foot or space.  The size of lots is also mandated by these same types of ordinances.  That's not a subsidy.

3. Bicyclists pay taxes, too, but a much smaller portion of their taxes are going towards bike paths than more roads. Road expansion and replacement should be entirely funded with tolls, otherwise it's unjustly charging society at large.

Then don't whine about motorists not paying any sort of user fee as they are.  There are municipal, county, state, and federal fuel taxes they pay as a user fee.  Name me the fees bicyclists pay for the creation of a new bike path.

4. China is comparable in size to much of the United States, with far-flung city centers, and they are building a successful high-speed rail network that stretches across the country. Trains were originally killed by the railroads looking to increase freight use (which is why we ended up with Amtrak's minimal level of service), followed by the government offering incentives to switch to buses on those brand new (and not yet clogged) freeways. When accounting for time spent traveling to the airport and through security, it is slower than a high-speed rail line (which is normally meant for medium-length trips, within a contained mega-region, rather than transcontinental travel). Not to mention the burden placed on airports with all those short-haul flights that could easily be replaced with trains...no need to keep expanding gates when you can have people transfer to a train instead of hopping on a CRJ to the next airport over.

Horse manure.  China's largest cities are mostly grouped in the eastern quarter (or less) of the country, making them far more comparable with the Northeastern Corridor on a larger scale.  I say larger since China has a full billion more people than the US, and most of them are crammed into their version of the Northeast Corridor.

[index]

I haven't written 2017 rather than 2018 on a paper by accident.

[US 89]

We don't charge user fees for automobiles tearing up our roads, whose maintenance just isn't up to par.

Actually, we do.  It's called a "gas tax".  Flipping it around, why don't we charge bicyclists a user fee for the bicycle lanes and bike paths they want?

2. Roads are funded through non-user fees (like sales taxes). Gasoline is given massive subsidies to make it cheaper to purchase (thus making people more likely to keep driving). Suburban developers are given huge incentives to build sprawling, automobile-oriented communities that worsen the harmful dependence on cars. Parking is heavily subsidized, with very little in the way of revenue covering the cost to build and maintain garages or even streetside parking (not to mention the wasted land that could be developed into profitable uses).

3. Bicyclists pay taxes, too, but a much smaller portion of their taxes are going towards bike paths than more roads. Road expansion and replacement should be entirely funded with tolls, otherwise it's unjustly charging society at large.

Then don't whine about motorists not paying any sort of user fee as they are.  There are municipal, county, state, and federal fuel taxes they pay as a user fee.  Name me the fees bicyclists pay for the creation of a new bike path.

Not to mention the cost of annual vehicle registration. Would you prefer to have to pay to register your bike and have that money go towards bike lanes?

[US 89]

We don't treat fatal collisions with people on bikes and on foot as serious homicides, and charge as such.

Because they're not, unless they're intentional.  They are considered crashes.  Unless you want to be like the Italians and charge pilots for committing errors while flying.  (which is damned asinine)

1. Even accidental, there needs to be punishment for negligent driving that results in someone's injury or death. Frequently, drivers are given at most community service when a cyclist or pedestrian is killed, despite having the right of way and acting in a safe manner. Distracted driving needs to be taken more seriously.

There is such a thing as "vehicular manslaughter" - look it up.  However, if the pedestrian runs into traffic, or crosses against the signal, sorry, but the motorist should never be held liable.  Ditto for when a bicyclist rides negligently and runs a stop sign or signal.

What if a bicycle hits a pedestrian? My mom used to be a doctor, and she had a patient who was actually hit by a bicycle going down Emigration Canyon east of Salt Lake City. The bike was probably traveling above the speed limit of 40 mph.

[inkyatari]

3. Bicyclists pay taxes, too, but a much smaller portion of their taxes are going towards bike paths than more roads. Road expansion and replacement should be entirely funded with tolls, otherwise it's unjustly charging society at large.

Then don't whine about motorists not paying any sort of user fee as they are.  There are municipal, county, state, and federal fuel taxes they pay as a user fee.  Name me the fees bicyclists pay for the creation of a new bike path.

Generally it's lumped into the gas tax, which is a generic transportation fund, if the way I read the law is right.  Most bicycle owners, especially in the suburbs - like myself, own a car and pay these gas taxes

[US 89]

We don't build conventional high-speed railways like literally every other industrialized nation on earth.

What the hell does “conventional” mean? For most people, conventional rail would be typical Amtrak service today, not HSR. And Brandon outlined above why we don’t have much of a rail network. Really, the US is just too big for that to work.

[inkyatari]

... people are still bumping the "Knight Rider 2600" thread over at Atariage.com every New Year's at midnight.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/26594-the-knight-rider-2600-project/

[kalvado]

We don't build conventional high-speed railways like literally every other industrialized nation on earth.

What the hell does "conventional"  mean? For most people, conventional rail would be typical Amtrak service today, not HSR. And Brandon outlined above why we don't have much of a rail network. Really, the US is just too big for that to work.

Maybe "conventional" HSR as opposed to advanced technologies like  MagLev or Hyperloop?

[kphoger]

Would you prefer to have to pay to register your bike and have that money go towards bike lanes?

I registered my bicycle once.  This was back in 2000, in River Forest (IL).  The sticker is still on my bike, in fact.  I don't remember if I had to pay a fee or not.

[NE2]

That people still make shitty ass threads like this.

[US71]

I made it first.

It's 2018 and I can't believe you regurgitated the 2017 thread.

[NE2]

What if a bicycle hits a pedestrian?

What if a man gets raped? Who cares about women getting raped?

[english si]

advanced technologies like  Hyperloop?

HYPE-rloop isn't advanced technology, merely putting sci-fi veneer and marketing onto already-debunked-as-pointless technologies.

[kphoger]

What if a man gets raped?

Depends who entered the intersection first.

[US71]

CONGRATULATIONS! We now have our first locked thread for 2018.