Transportation Library News

Flying Cars, Anyone?

The August 1, 2009 issue of American Airlines' in-flight publication, American Way included an article on the dream of building a flying car. The time-line runs from the Glenn Curtiss's early attempt to outfit a car with a propellor and wings (1917), through fantasy--the Jetsons, 1962--and failure--the "death trap" combination of the rear end of a Cessna with a Ford Pinto (1973)--to the latest PAL-V (Personal Air and Land Vehicle), a combination of a three-wheeled car with a single rotor and fold-away propellor (2009). We may yet be flying on our commute to work.

Airport Design - Slide Show

A few weeks ago Slate published an interesting slide show on the historical development of airport architecture and design.

Traffic Law from the 19th Century

The Volokh Conspiracy, a well-known blog on legal matters, has a post on an
1893 traffic law case in New Hampshire, Bly v. Nashua St. Ry. Co. The case, which was decided in the New Hampshire Supreme Court, touches on the issue of what counts as a vehicle in the state's traffic law. To quote from the
post:

"The case involved a New Hampshire traffic law that stated, 'no person shall ride through any street or lane, in the compact part of any town, on a gallop or at a swifter pace than at the rate of five miles an hour.' The question in the case was whether that law applied to a railway that went through the town of Nashua, New Hampshire."

View the post here to find out what the New Hampshire Supreme Court decided.

Hudson River: Pilots as Traffic Controllers

Hudson River: Pilots as Traffic Controllers

The Hudson River is used as a massive corridor for local air traffic in New York City, increasingly to disastrous results.

From:
Above the River, Pilots Must Serve as Their Own Traffic Controllers http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/nyregion/09corridor.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tra
ffic&st=cse

Follow-ups on the Chicago Parking Story

Back in June, this blog reported on an analysis of the City of Chicago's 75-year lease of its parking meters issued by the Inspector General's Office. William Blair & Company, the city's financial advisor in connection with the lease, has written a critique of the Inspector General's report. Here is a quote from the executive summary:

"[T]he two most significant inaccuracies contained in the Report are (i) its use of gross System revenue rather than free net cash flow in estimating System value and (ii) its use of an inappropriately low discount rate in estimating the value of the System to the City. Our analysis confirms that by properly projecting System revenues and by applying a discount rate that appropriately reflects the relative risks of the System, the conclusion that the City received full and fair value for the Concession of the System is clearly supported and affirmed."

And last month, this blog reported on an analysis of the lease issued by the Active Transportation Alliance and an official response to the analysis from the City of Chicago, disputing many of the claims made in the analysis. The response has led to a retraction of the report by the Alliance, in which Rob Sadowsky, the director of the Alliance, states: "I would like to simply state that we should not have published this report. I am embarrassed that it not only contains factual errors, but that it also paints an incorrect interpretation of the lease's overall goals."

(Hat tip to the Reason Foundation's Out of Control Policy Blog.)

Traffic camera firm open to two-tiered ticketing - Company may look at lower fines for rolling right turns

Chicago Tribune (IL) - Monday, August 10, 2009
Author: Bob Secter, Tribune reporter

As a backlash against red light cameras starts to gain steam, a traffic camera firm serving Chicago and several suburbs says it is willing to explore charging a reduced fine to drivers caught making illegal rolling right turns on red.

Australian-owned Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. recently told Naperville officials that it could, if asked, revamp systems so right-turn violators would be billed less than red-light runners who blow straight through intersections, a more dangerous infraction.

That position stands in sharp contrast to one taken last month by Lombard-based RedSpeed-Illinois, the dominant camera firm in the suburbs, which flatly refused to consider a two-tiered fine structure when asked to do so by River Forest, then a prospective customer. The near west suburb wanted to levy a $50 fine on rolling-right-turn violators, half the $100 standard in Illinois for red-light infractions caught on camera.

The inquiries from River Forest and Naperville followed a Tribune series last month that found the vast majority of red-light camera tickets were issued for right-turn-on-red violations, even though traffic-safety experts say such infractions rarely result in serious damage or injury. Underscoring concerns, trustees in Schaumburg voted unanimously last month to yank the town's last traffic camera, which had generated considerable revenue but also riled motorists while failing to produce palpable safety benefits.

More than 70 municipalities around the region have installed cameras in recent years, with backers arguing that they deter accidents. Critics argue that the devices are little more than money machines for camera vendors and cash-strapped municipalities, pointing to the large share of tickets for right-turn-on-red violations as evidence that cameras largely focus on less serious violations.

The River Forest Village Board voted July 13 to conditionally hire RedSpeed to install two traffic cameras on Harlem Avenue. The deal was scuttled two days later when RedSpeed said it wouldn't agree to lower fines for right-turn-on-red violators, contending that to do so would invite a lawsuit from someone claiming it was unfair to charge different fines for similar infractions.

Redflex supplies all of Chicago's traffic cameras and operates cameras in Naperville and other suburbs. Reacting to the situation in River Forest, Naperville Assistant City Atty. Michael DiSanto on July 15 asked Redflex if it could accommodate a similar break for right-turn violators, according to an e-mail exchange obtained by the Tribune through the Freedom of Information Act.

The answer was "yes," though Redflex officials said it would require some drastic software changes and could take nine to 12 months to fully implement. They made no mention of any legal qualms.

"Where you have dedicated right-turn lanes, this is a relatively straightforward process," wrote Redflex official Mark Etzbach. Where no dedicated turning lanes exist, the change would be more challenging but still doable, Etzbach said.

"Bottom line, if council wants to explore this further, we will work with the City to identify the needs and provide all the support we can to identify the requirements and give them what is required to make their final determination," Etzbach wrote.

Based on the response from Redflex, Naperville City Atty. Margo Ely informed her boss that it indeed was possible to give a break on fines to right-turn violators.

"The City's automated red light vendor believes it can accommodate such a scenario ... ," Ely said in a memo to City Manager Douglas Krieger.

Naperville spokeswoman Kate Houlihan said the inquiry to Redflex was informal and prompted by a request from a City Council member. Naperville charges $100 for all red-light camera tickets, and Houlihan said there are no plans at present to change that law.

Shoba Vaitheeswaran, a Redflex spokeswoman, said the firm's responses to Naperville addressed only the technological feasibility of changing the fine structure.

"If we decide to move forward with a customized solution, we will work with the city to do the due diligence to find out whether an ordinance and law would allow a tiered fee," she said.

Traffic cameras have proved big revenue generators, and any reduction in fees would appear to have more of an impact on municipalities than the vendors who provide the cameras and manage ticketing. Redflex charges municipalities a flat fee of under $5,000 per month for each camera.

RedSpeed equipment rental is much less, but the firm typically also charges municipalities up to $36 for every ticket processed. That arrangement could leave little financial incentive for municipalities to install cameras if the bulk of fines were reduced to $50.

A RedSpeed salesman objected to River Forest trustees when they voted in favor of lower fines for rolling-right-turn violators. He said the firm runs cameras in more than 50 suburbs, all charge $100 on every ticket, and changing things for River Forest would be an administrative headache that could lead to errors.

That was followed up by an outright rejection of the idea by RedSpeed lawyer Martin Korey. "In our opinion, this would be an invitation to a lawsuit based upon an equal protection violation under the Illinois Constitution," Korey said in an e-mail to village officials. "In effect, the village would be penalizing one violator $50 and another violator $100 for the same violation."