Hi friends,
Last night, the speed cameras in school zones started operating round the clock.
[N]early one-third of on-street fatalities occur in camera zones at times when cameras were previously not permitted to operate.
There’s lots of evidence that speed cameras work:
Most important, automated enforcement often works. An international 2010 study found that speed cameras reduce fatal and serious injury crashes by 11 to 44 percent, depending on the context in which they’re utilized; in a matter of months, New York City’s camera program slashed speeding violations by as much as 89 percent in select school zones. Put simply, traffic cameras provide a direct financial incentive for drivers to stop speeding — at least in areas where they know a camera is likely to be watching.
Read this excellent discussion of two studies conducted in Chicago.
Street redesign has to be part of the safety equation. Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine has called on NYC and NYS transportation commissioners to convert one lane of the West Side Highway into a protected bike lane for cyclists.
"This is most heavily used greenway in the country, and at peak hours during the morning and evening commute times, on the weekends, when the weather is nice, it is incredibly crowded," Levine said.
This would be a four-mile long bike lane running between 57th Street and Chambers Street, officially known as New York State Route 9A.
Contact NYS DOT to let them know that you support the conversion of one lane of car traffic for use by cyclists of all kinds. This is a 30-second action!
There has been a welcome fuss about the emissions from private jets in the news. Taylor Swift has gotten defensive about her status as the most frequent celebrity flyer, insisting that her jet has been loaned to others. Her flights so far this year have emitted more than 8,293 tons of carbon pollution, which is
1,184.8 times more than the average person’s total annual emissions.
Thin-skinned rich folks are not understanding the outsize impact of their travel habits. The top ten celebrity polluters include Floyd Mayweather, Jay-Z, A-Rod, Steven Spielberg, Kim Kardashian, Mark Wahlberg, Oprah, and two people I’ve never heard of before.
Drake, who didn’t make the top 10, explained that one of the short flights he was mocked for was simply looking for parking (no passengers). A fan wondered on Twitter why Drake didn’t see why that was somehow even worse.
The flight was revealed by @CelebJets, a Twitter account that tracks the private jets of billionaires and celebrities. The account is owned by 19-year-old Jack Sweeney, a University of Central Florida sophomore who also “controls 30 Twitter accounts that track the private jets of billionaires, celebrities and Russian oligarchs,” according to CNBC.
Nearly every story written about this flight—and there have been many—notes either the disproportionate climate impact of private jets or the disproportionate emissions from rich people. (Private jets are 5 to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes per passenger, and the wealthiest 1 percent of people emit double the combined climate pollution of the poorest 50 percent).
There they are, ruining the earth as if they matter more than our children. Atkin’s outstanding reading list led me to this:
Keep up with the latest on the nascent movement to ban private jets!
Mario Huber, the guy behind site linked above, explains the rationale:
“The most privileged people should be the ones who start sacrificing first. It’s unfair to ask the poorest people to give up polluting activities first if the richest don’t have to give up anything.”
Huber lamented that much of the vitriol veered towards abuse as it so often does on the internet. He also wondered why Jenner was such a focal point for criticism while Bill Gates, for example, owns four private jets and emitted 1,629 tons of CO2 from 356 private flight hours in 2017 while writing a book titled How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.
If you were worried that I was going to shame you for your road trip or your flight, you can relax. You’re not a climate criminal if you fly to visit family or take a trip.
I went to Burlington, Vermont for the weekend and it was an amazing trip, but it was not direct, owing to the ravages of late-stage capitalism: Central Warehouse, an 11-story building, is crumbling onto the tracks in Albany.
The city is still working inside the building to make emergency repairs to keep the façade on the southern side of the building from possibly collapsing on to the Amtrak rail lines that run adjacent to the property. Fear of falling debris prompted Amtrak to suspend train travel from Friday to Monday.
Albany has cited Evan Blum, the owner of the warehouse, for neglecting to repair the building. Shamelessly, Blum filed a suit against Albany county for trying to seize the building for nonpayment of property taxes.
I have to commend the folks at Amtrak. They activated plan B — bussing us from Albany to Saratoga, where we resumed our train trip. We were a mere 15 minutes late.
It didn’t matter, because we were greeted by enthusiastic Vermonters, ringing cowbells, cheering, and handing out swag (t-shirts, tote bags, reusable water bottles). The trip back to NYC was right on time. Amtrak’s communications could have been clearer, but the transportation worked and I’m going to give them another shot at a direct train later this month.
Look both ways when you cross, travel safe, and stay cool.
with love,
L