In Cambridge Massachusetts and its affluent outlying suburbs, these days cars are second class citizens. Peds think nothing of jay walking, and motorists almost always give them right of way when they do. Sometimes, peds get aggressive about it, charging across the street en mass just as the light turns green, with looks of entitlement upon their faces. Across from Harvard Yard, peds parade in front of cars turning onto or off of Massachusetts Avenue, oblivious to how many cars they are forcing to wait for minutes on end. Amazingly, I haven’t seen road rage arise from this behavior. The motorists seem to turn the other cheek, or tire, as the case may be.
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The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) last month issued an official ruling that found red light camera “violation lines” illegal. A number of jurisdictions across the country paint four-inch wide white lines on the pavement at what is known as the “prolongation” of the cross street’s curb line in order to facilitate the use of automated ticketing machines. These are not the “stop bar” or crosswalk lines that most motorists expect, but a third set of lines that appear at the very edge of the intersection.

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Motorists who receive minor parking or traffic tickets in Indianapolis, Indiana are being threatened with fines of up to $2500 if they attempt to take the ticket to court. A local attorney with the firm Roberts and Bishop was so outraged by what he saw in Marion County traffic court that he filed a class action suit yesterday seeking to have the practice banned as unconstitutional.

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Another gem the department of oversharing at The Ford Story:

This may seem a little weird but its not common, On Oct.27 2009 i started having labor pains, Here in Hawaii everything is so close but it was about 8:00 am and traffic here is horrible. My husband and i left to the hospital expecting a normal delivery and no problems, well like i said traffic is horrible here what would of been 30 mins to the hospital ended up as an hour drive with my husband driving down the side lanes and finally calling for a police escort, the whole time this was going on i went into labor while sitting in the front seat and holding onto the anything in the car. I gave birth to our daughter 10 mins away from the hospital in the front seat of our fusion!! With all the crazy driving screaming and yelling we got there safe with our new little girl and no damages to the car inside and out!.I’ve got to say thank you Ford for making a spacious Safe car that got us safely to the hospital…

Ford Fusion: now with placenta-repelling leather seats. Seriously, does this even qualify as a testimonial?

Ever been stuck behind acres of traffic waiting for a left turn signal to enter a freeway? If so, you know it’s one of the more annoying traffic scenarios out there. But a crazy scheme called “diverging diamonds” might just be the fix. NPR has a widget that makes it a lot easier to understand, as well as this memorable response:

Some folks say, ‘It’s crazy. Why did they put it in? Wrecks gonna happen. Why did they do that to us?’

[Hat Tip: Richard Chen]

Angry shareholders yesterday ousted the chairman of the board of a major traffic camera company and two of his closest allies. Redflex Chairman Chris Cooper and Directors Peter Lewinsky and Roger Sawley resigned to avoid an embarrassing vote after learning that a majority of shareholder proxies expressed no confidence in their continued leadership. The internal revolt followed closely upon the revolt of Ohio voters in the cities of Chillicothe and Heath.

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