Texting While Driving. Stop It.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2007/12/man_texting_whi.html

Guy texts while driving.  Guy kills kid.

Any questions?

At least the guy did the right thing and turned himself in.

Who Is The Worst Driver You've Ever Met?

http://jalopnik.com/cars/question-of-the-day/who-is-the-worst-driver-youve-ever-met-335240.php

Car site Jalopnik poses the question. Some great answers follow!

I guess I'd give the honor to my friend Ed, who apparently enjoys driving fast.  We worked together at a startup doing car insurance, for which we had access to the "points" on people's licenses, and while most of us had the low, "safe driver bonus" points, Ed was maxed out. 

And then there was the time he needed me to go pay something like $400 in tickets for him because he'd moved away and was trying to renew his license in his new location, a few hours away.

Ed used to debate with me that traffic violations like speeding, changing lanes without signalling and so on, should not be ticketable offenses unless you actually caused an accident.  Because, in his logic, some people are just better drivers than others, so if you're able to do all those things without getting into an accident, you shouldn't be penalized for it.

Gas Tanker Erupts Outside Boston

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/05/boston.fire/index.html#

That'll put a damper in your commute.  It's all that was on the news this morning.  It's actually quite scary how quickly everything exploded.  There was chaos trying to get everybody out, but somehow there were no injuries.  The news was full of shots of people standing around in their pajamas watching the blaze.

I wish I had video of the one kid on the news who said, "My uncle and I are just throwing old ladies over the fence to get them outta here."  I hope someone was catching them on the other side!

Now I've Seen Everything?

Bored in traffic?  Pay attention to the commercial vehicles.

Today I was riding behind a black van for a company called VampFangs, which claimed to be an "alternative goth superstore" or "for all your alternative goth needs" or something like that, I remember the alternative goth bit but not the end.

I checked out the website, which I am deliberately not linking to so nobody thinks I've picked up sponsors :), and they apparently offer "the finest, most realistic fangs available." 

Hey, whatever floats your boat.  Anybody need some blue hair dye or purple body paint?  I know where you get such things now.

Science Friday : On Stress

NPR's Science Friday program had a segment up this past week called "Tis the Season For Holiday Stress."  If you've never heard the program, it's a sort of science roundtable where they'll bring several experts together who offer various insight into a particular problem.  Hosted by Ira Flatow, who sounds a little too much like Alan Alda for me.

Anyway, this particular episode is interesting to me because they keep using traffic as an example of "bad stress".  Someone talking on a cell phone cuts you off.  Or, worse, somebody comes out of an intersection without stopping and almost gets you killed.  The program explains, in easy to understand language, what exactly it is that's happening in the brain and why sometimes it is a good thing.  You see that other car coming your way and instantaneously you jam on the brakes, or swerve to get out of the way -- because your brain is pumping the same chemicals around your body that are about to make you swear your head off at the guy.  On the one hand that is "bad stress", according to one of the experts, because it's the kind you can't do anything about.  A situation came up and your brain did a priority interrupt on whatever else you were doing.  You can't, in that situation, calmly say "Oh look, a truck is coming my way, I should move."  Just doesn't work like that.  But that's also what makes it a good thing - because it got you out of the way!  Make sense?  What would you rather have, a near collision followed by a lengthy wind down period because you're so stressed out.... or no stress because you're dead?

Most of the episode is actually about what they call "holiday" stress, which can be summed up as "Trying to control every aspect of the holiday season to make it perfect, and realizing you can't."  There's nothing particularly special about the holidays, there - the same logic can apply to everything from getting to work on time, to organizing a family reunion or running a big project at work.  On this subject the experts have a great deal of advice on how you can, in fact, cut back your stress.  Mostly it comes from realizing that simple fact - that you're controlling your own stress levels in those situations, and as soon as you say "You know what, I guess I'm not gonna find that Nintendo Wii this Christmas," the stress starts to go down.

Highly recommended.  The link above is to the podcast, where I found it, but I'm sure if you went straight to NPR you could find it for direct download.

(It dawns on me, on the walk across town, that this is pretty much identical to that old "Serenity Prayer" poster we all used to have in college : Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.)

Driving While Grooming

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/12/03/driver.pet.peeves/index.html#

It's a little late for Thanksgiving, but I have to say how thankful I am that CNN keeps running these regular stories of interest to commuters.  Here we look at which habits of drivers are the biggest pet peeve for other drivers.

For me it's the cell phone.  I rarely speak on mine, so when I see somebody driving badly and talking at the same time I just wish they'd plow right into a tree.

Walkability

Sure it's easy to say "Walk more", but depending on where you live, that's easier said than done.  How close are you to where you want to be? How safe is it to get there?  How's the weather?

CNN's got the list of metropolitan areas ranked for walkability.  I'm happy to see Boston at #2.  Nice, too, that they speak of having a good commuter rail / subway system, so that people don't have to literally walk all the way across town.  Sometimes walkability ultimate means "Can I get there without a car."

Are The "Super Trains" Coming?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4232548.html?page=2

An interesting article about the possibility of bringing maglev and other technologies to high speed rail in the United States, like they already do in Europe and Japan.  Easing the commute is mentioned, but this technology isn't really for short term trips - the example given maps a ride from Boston to Baltimore.  Not something you do every day!