Miller Tax on Plate Renewal?

[kEiThZ]

I wonder how the net present value of tear down compares to annual maintenance. If tear down does save money, then I'm all for it. As for the Miller tax, it should at least be dedicated 100% to transit expansion projects.

+1

The city refuses to earmark the funds. I will bet that is going towards fat pay raises for city employees in the next fiscal year. This is turning out like McGuinty's health care levy...one of the most regressive taxes in recent memory....that went right into general revenue instead of paying for health care.

 

[nfitz]

What's your opposition to speed humps? In residential areas where posted limits are frequently disregarded, they are beneficial. They make a difference on roads by parks where kids play and on straight roads where at night people accelerate as hard as possible with the tires squealing, for instance. They also discourage traffic on side streets, which improves the quality of life of residents.

I think they make things more dangerous, and put lives in danger. More than once I've been following a car, at a distance, doing less than 30 km/hr, less than the posted speed, and come close to rear-ending them because they think that they have to cross a speed bump at 5 km/hr. I don't know the bump is there, so it's only that I've left a proper distance, and driving safely, that has stopped their being an accident. There are no speed bumps on my street, but are on many of the streets nearby. As a result, there is some traffic avoiding other streets to use mine; but I've not noticed any speed differences. I have noticed erratic driving on roads with speed bumps, as the cars drift to the edge of the road to avoid the highest part of the bump - surely that is dangerous to children on the sidewalk, that might step out suddenly onto the edge.

I have no idea how one would think that speed bumps make thinks safer.

 

[Dichotomy]

Speed bumps are great. They make driving down the roads at 50 or 60 km/hr fun, sort of like the CNE. The firetrucks especially love them.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

[junctionist]

I think they make things more dangerous, and put lives in danger. More than once I've been following a car, at a distance, doing less than 30 km/hr, less than the posted speed, and come close to rear-ending them because they think that they have to cross a speed bump at 5 km/hr. I don't know the bump is there, so it's only that I've left a proper distance, and driving safely, that has stopped their being an accident. There are no speed bumps on my street, but are on many of the streets nearby. As a result, there is some traffic avoiding other streets to use mine; but I've not noticed any speed differences. I have noticed erratic driving on roads with speed bumps, as the cars drift to the edge of the road to avoid the highest part of the bump - surely that is dangerous to children on the sidewalk, that might step out suddenly onto the edge.

I have no idea how one would think that speed bumps make thinks safer.

Why would you not know you're approaching a speed bump? They're signed. A reduction in speed of traffic does make it safer, and if there's a new traffic problem on your street, then there are ways of dealing with it.

 

[Dichotomy]

I think they make things more dangerous, and put lives in danger. More than once I've been following a car, at a distance, doing less than 30 km/hr, less than the posted speed, and come close to rear-ending them because they think that they have to cross a speed bump at 5 km/hr. I don't know the bump is there, so it's only that I've left a proper distance, and driving safely, that has stopped their being an accident. There are no speed bumps on my street, but are on many of the streets nearby. As a result, there is some traffic avoiding other streets to use mine; but I've not noticed any speed differences. I have noticed erratic driving on roads with speed bumps, as the cars drift to the edge of the road to avoid the highest part of the bump - surely that is dangerous to children on the sidewalk, that might step out suddenly onto the edge.

I have no idea how one would think that speed bumps make thinks safer.

Well, that's the joy of living in a nanny state.

Denmark and Holland have toyed with removal of signs and road markings from roads and discovered that accidents and fatalities actually declined. Imagine that? Let driver's judge for themselves and they will actually become MORE cautious!

I doubt 4-way stops and speed bumps 'calm' anyone. Frankly, I drive faster on speed bumps because they piss me off. And it has been documented that driver's will 'rub the curb' to avoid the worst of the speed bump. It works quite well, actually.

But all of this is just one more symptom of the slow, unerring degradation of the infrastructure in this city.

Recipe for disaster:

1) Build a city on a one mile grid.
2) Make those roads 4 lanes only.
3) Add parked cars to choke traffic to one lane in each direction.
4) Act surprised when motorists take side streets.
5) Choke said side streets with speed bumps, unnecessary 4-way stops.
6) Put useless, arbitrary cross-walks every 50 meters just to really mix it up.
7) Put streetcar ROWs on 4 lane roads to make everything slow more.
8) Tear down or strangle existing freeways.

Presto! Instant ghost town.

 

[urbanboom]

Recipe for disaster:

1) Build a city on a one mile grid.
2) Make those roads 4 lanes only.
3) Add parked cars to choke traffic to one lane in each direction.
4) Act surprised when motorists take side streets.
5) Choke said side streets with speed bumps, unnecessary 4-way stops.
6) Put useless, arbitrary cross-walks every 50 meters just to really mix it up.
7) Put streetcar ROWs on 4 lane roads to make everything slow more.
8) Tear down or strangle existing freeways.

Presto! Instant ghost town.

You are right again! London and Paris are as desolate as you can get! Talk about ghost town! Who would live in a city like that? What a hell hole, too bad their commie mayors can't get rid of the sidewalks to make the streets wider, or turn the Champs-Elysee into a twelve-lane expressway... Then those city *might* reach the world city status as such incredible car-friendly cities like Detroit or Atlanta!

 

[Dichotomy]

You are right again! London and Paris are as desolate as you can get! Talk about ghost town! Who would live in a city like that? What a hell hole, too bad their commie mayors can't get rid of the sidewalks to make the streets wider, or turn the Champs-Elysee into a twelve-lane expressway... Then those city *might* reach the world city status as such incredible car-friendly cities like Detroit or Atlanta!

...and Paris and London have no cars downtown, right? Last time I looked, those avenues weren't FOUR LANES. They were 6 and 8 - even (gasp) one-way.

 

[urbanboom]

6 to 8 Lanes! Are you kidding me? Save for the Champs-Elysee, most of the roads in those cities are two lanes. SOME are four. Six lanes? You could name those on one hand. And expressways? ... No chance.

 

[junctionist]

The best way to make a vibrant city is to keep things compact and prioritize the pedestrian experience, and build an efficient backbone of public transportation. The Toronto north

The "recipe for disaster" is the recipe for suburban disaster. Without the recommendations of expressways and wider arterials it may look loony to live in the suburbs. But the situation is understandable. We've built this hybrid that somehow tries to satisfy the suburban inclined and the urban. It's frustrating that what we have that it's the proverbial jack of all trades, but master of none. We have some expressways, but we managed to cancel others, preserving Victorian urbanity.

 

[adma]

Frankly, I drive faster on speed bumps because they piss me off.

Yup, you've got anger issues, all right.

Compounded by the masochistic abuse you're laying on your car's suspension and whatever else...

 

[TKTKTK]

Yup, you've got anger issues, all right.

Compounded by the masochistic abuse you're laying on your car's suspension and whatever else...

Nah, as long as you keep two wheels against the curb (and so off the bump entirely) you hardly even have to slow down. Bigger cars (heavier, longer, and with more suspension travel) can usually just float over them above a certain speed :S

 

[nfitz]

The things are generally designed so that you can take them at the speed limit. So generally you don't have to slow down. What always get's me is following an SUV vehicle that slows to 5-10 km/hr to take these things that are fine at the posted limit of 30 km/hr, and not even that bad at 40 km/hr. These SUVs must be pretty fragile things if they can't take a speed bump designed for 30 km/hr ...

 

[Dichotomy]

Yup, you've got anger issues, all right.

Compounded by the masochistic abuse you're laying on your car's suspension and whatever else...

Damn right I have anger issues: at the rate this nutty city is going, there will be a traffic light on every corner and speed bumps on sidewalks (before scooters get out of control!)

If you knew anything about cars (and clearly you don't) the SWB experience is different than a long wheel base. Trucks (like firetrucks, for example) will positively jackrabbit over the speed bumps. Small, fun cars actually fly over them better at higher speeds.

Something the idiots in city hall never took into account.

 

[Dichotomy]

The things are generally designed so that you can take them at the speed limit. So generally you don't have to slow down. What always get's me is following an SUV vehicle that slows to 5-10 km/hr to take these things that are fine at the posted limit of 30 km/hr, and not even that bad at 40 km/hr. These SUVs must be pretty fragile things if they can't take a speed bump designed for 30 km/hr ...

Their suspensions are stiffer and they do 'jounce' more over the bumps. If you have kids in the 3rd row of a minivan or SUV, the experience is unsettling, unless you crawl over them.
As I said, the shorter the wheel base, the more fun the bumps are.

 

[TKTKTK]

As I said, the shorter the wheel base, the more fun the bumps are.

Up to a point. I drive a short wheelbase car (not a smart) that's quite low to the ground. The car's barely had time to recover from the first bump before the rears are heading over - so it makes for a very crashy ride.

Having said all that, speed bumps are increasingly moot: the streets are in such shitty condition that the pot-holes and steel plates keep people honest.