Dear Editor,
Our legislature has its top transport priority, and it is not
safety of motorists or pedestrians or bicyclists or children on
scooters.
So, what is it?
Dear Editor,
Our legislature has its top transport priority, and it is not safety of motorists or pedestrians or bicyclists or children on scooters.
So, what is it?
If you want to see our leaders’ highest transport priority, read our legislature’s priority mandate in Section 99401.5 of the Public Utilities Code. That section states that all “unmet transit needs” must be met before any money can be spent on streets and highways, e.g., safety improvements.
Does our legislature see the problem?
For the Year 2003 (the most recent year for which total statistics are available):
– 59 seconds: time between reported traffic accidents in California
n 1 person killed every 2 hours and 4 minutes as a result of traffic accidents in California
– 1 person injured every 1 minute and 43 seconds as a result of “”””
– 1 person killed for every 73 injured on our streets and highways in California
– 1 out of every 8,505 persons living in California killed in a traffic accident in California
– 1 out of every 117 persons living in California injured in a traffic accident in California
– 1 out of every 59 licensed drivers was involved in a fatal or injury accident
Thanks to our legislature highway safety improvements like the Don Pacheco Y Interchange are “on hold” until transit advocates get everything on their wish list satisfied.
This is, to use a legal term, bassackwards; it should be just the opposite – no transit spending unless and until all highway safety improvements are finished. At least the voters in each county should have the right to decide their highest priority for transport. Motorists and pedestrians should not be raped so that pork peddlers can reward transit agencies and their subsidy recipients.
Please tell your readers the truth in transportation. Don’t mislead them into thinking that highway safety is our #1 transport priority. Our legislature has decreed that it ain’t.
Caveat Viator!
Joseph P. Thompson, Gilroy
