Dodgers-Reds, Coachella Valley smog, Notre Dame: HWR, April 16

by ,

Dept. of Dodger Stadium Express — I suppose this made for a nicer ride home last night for many of you. Dodgers’ fans need not concern themselves with the question of why the Reds are still handing a baseball to Raisel Islegias when the game is on the line. With the Reds holding a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth Islegias burped forth a walk (which is unforgivable), then this…

Art of Transit 1 — In days of yore…

 

Art of Transit 2 — I don’t recall ever posting a pic from Uzbekistan. So here goes…

 

Dept. of Metrolink — The commuter rail agency has a survey involving the Antelope Valley Line and wants to know how you feel about new late night service and the possibility of new stations in Glendale and Cypress Park.

 

Dept. of Building Things — bridges are cool. This is part of the effort to widen and deconstipate the 5 freeway north of the OC boundary.

 

•Citylab has a map showing the parts of the county where children are at the most risk of having asthma. Not exactly a shocker that Southern California has the highest risk owing to our chronic air pollution — much of which comes from “mobile sources,” i.e. cars, trucks, trains, planes and ships.

•On the subject of foul air, officials in the Coachella Valley have asked to be designated an “extreme” area for ozone levels, reports the Desert Sun. As you might have guessed, that’s no bueno — ozone is a contributor to asthma and other respiratory issues. Air pollution remains stubbornly bad due to prevailing westerly winds blowing in smog from the L.A. region, drought and wildfires.

•Things to watch whilst transiting: the bald eagle nest cam from Friends of the Big Bear Valley is an excellent time killer.

•Coverage in Le Monde of the fire Monday at Notre Dame Cathedral. Read it in English or French. At the New Yorker, writer Lauren Collins talks about her tour of the cathedral’s roof in March. And this…

•Language in Uber’s IPO filings suggests that the firm sees transit as more foe than friend, opines Brian Addison in Longbeachize.

Quasi-related 1:

https://twitter.com/MattBruenig/status/1117951723119706113

Quasi-related 2:

https://twitter.com/A_W_Gordon/status/1115641920041230336

If this topic interests you, I’d encourage you to read the study. I did and it didn’t convince me — I’m skeptical of the direct cause-effect relationship in Uber and Lyft and accidents.

I think there could other factors at play — distracted driving, an increase in driving overall since the Great Recession, declines in traffic enforcement, the opioid epidemic and an increased appetite for larger vehicles. Thoughts?

 

Categories: Transportation Headlines

Tagged as: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

4 replies ›

  1. I cannot believe that you did not mention the Clippers historic win over the Golden State Warriors last night.

  2. I do think there is some contribution of ridesharing emergence and increase of accidents. There are now thousands (millions?) of “amateur” drivers picking up and dropping off passengers in thousands of cars that were not there before. Just the increase in “taxi” like driving (stopping and going, pulling-in, pulling-out, trying to make exits, rushing to the next fare, etc.) must have some contribution to the increase in accidents. Maybe not the sole cause, but a portion of the cause.

    I’ve had numerous close-calls where ride-share drivers stopped suddenly, or pulled-out suddenly, or did some maneuver that could have caused an accident. Plus, half of the time, the ride-share drivers are distracted looking at their phone at the GPS or the app for their next fare.

    • I know I’m late, but exactly this. I’ve never seen a Lyft/Uber driver who isn’t distracted. They’re constantly looking at/fiddling with their GPS contraption.

  3. I was actually at that subway station during my recent Uzbekistan vacation. The stations are all artistic and the trains are very retro dating back to Soviet times!