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Massively ICE'd
- Thread starter Jeffcanuck67
- Start date
GoBlue88
Member
You clearly haven't driven in Louisiana. My in-laws live there, and holy cow are their roads bad. I go there every Christmas for a visit, and coming back always makes California roads look pristine.
mknox
Well-Known Member
After TMC Connect, my wife and I went up to Sonoma (stayed near Bodega) and did lots of little day trips to Petaluma, Sebastopol, Santa Rosa, Napa, Sonoma etc. Both my wife and I commented on how great we thought the roads were, considering we were in a pretty rural part of the state.
Merrill
Merrill
Ok, I guess I go on more rural roads but glad to hear our roads are not that bad, everything is relative. But for the amount of gas tax that we in California are charged for road repair I would expect the roads would be in better condition. And they would be if they were actually using that tax that is collected to repair roads.
mknox
Well-Known Member
That's a big issue here as well. They've been talking about new road tolls and the CAA (Canadian AAA) has been lobbying hard saying they shouldn't be adding tolls until they actually use all of the money collected in the name of road maintenance for actual road maintenance.
The problem is that money is fungible, and we're going to spend $68 billion on a bullet train that epitomizes everything that is wrong with big government projects:
(1) It's insanely expensive.
(2) It will have massive "unexpected" cost overruns (already happening).
(3) It solves a problem that does not exist.
(4) It will not even solve that problem (see below).
(5) It will run roughshod over every environmental regulation because, hey, it's the government -- laws are for the little people.
(6) It will be an ecological disaster.
(7) It will never be completed. Like the Superconducting Super Collider, it will lose support and be killed -- after wasting billions of dollars.
If you can stand it, this is worth a read:
http://reason.org/files/california_high_speed_rail_report.pdf
If nothing else, check out the summary in Table ES-1.
Merrill
Merrill
We have kind of gone of topic, this should be in Energy and Environment. Having said that I agree with flashflood and as far as California is concerned what we should do is take the money we will spend on that rediculous project as well as the money for the water project and use it for building 2 water desalination plants because water is and always has been a problem in this state. We could power them with solar, but that makes to much sense for our politicians to understand.
rav
Member
Ever since reading this thread, I've been noticing ice'ing so much more and getting increasingly frustrated. Just noticed these two at a plaza north of Boston. Neither is even a hybrid. I do wish the spots were designed so atleast one could pull into the side and charge if both spots are taken up but that is out of the question.
GoBlue88
Member
A desalination plant is being built right now down in north San Diego county. Supposed to go online in 2016.
Agree we need many more of these.
Merrill
Merrill
Yes, I know about that one and wish that the others under consideration would move forward. If the oceans are rising then we have plenty of salt water that we can convert. The problem is all the rules and regulations and politics we have to deal with and by the time a decision is made it will be 10 years or more down the road.
rrosenbl
Member
I echo the sentiments, this is a fantastic sign. It's very clear and understandable. Are they for sale? I like to post a few at private locations that are plagued by ICE misbehavior.
However electric vehicles taking advantage of EV spaces without plugging in IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM. Especially when Fiat's, Leafs and others mid-range EVs are more dependent on public charging spaces. Here are just a few examples of what I'm finding, electric vehicles taking advantage of upfront parking but not charging!
These examples are most disappointing, raising the eire of other brand drivers. Of course being inconsiderate is is not the exclusive domain of ICE drivers (nor tractor drivers).
mknox
Well-Known Member
Yes, but the sign says "Electric Vehicle Parking Only". According to that, he/she is doing nothing wrong. Better signage is what's needed. (I do agree EV owners should know better, and this is extremely bad form. I see that occasionally around here too).
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I found the example in this document from the British Columbia, Canada Ministry of Transportation. There are a number of other suggested examples as well. I do not know if they are commercially available, but there are sign shops that can do custom work.
ChadS
Last tank of gas: March 2009
I like that too - it is a very clear and understandable sign. However, it looks like a mashup of a general service sign and a regulatory sign. For those of us in the US (I know you are not, mknox), there are federal standards and guidelines that signs should adhere to in order to be consistent, enforceable, etc. Unfortunately the regulatory process doesn't always produce the best signs, but as you can see from Plug In America's EVSE installation guide on p29, this is a very similar sign that meets the federal criteria for regulatory signs. We have been recommending this (and in fact we sell it in our online store) since 2009:
mknox
Well-Known Member
I actually very much like that all red sign. It is much more consistent with other "No Parking" signs here in Ontario, Canada. As I mentioned, the example I found was from British Columbia. In speaking with someone about the BC sign, part of the rationale for the blue design was to make a kind of mental association with current handicapped parking signs since people already know when they see the blue signs that it is a restricted parking area. As with the BC sign, I like the reference to "Charging" as opposed to "Parking".
mknox
Well-Known Member
I've been working with our local municipal government on this as well. One of the issues is that most of these spots are on private property. Apparently, private property laws already allow property owners to tow vehicles, but most are hesitant to do so for fear of alienating their customers. There is, however, a requirement for property owners to enforce handicapped spot parking and fire routes. It seems that governments are not yet ready to create handicapped-like by-laws for EV spots just yet, and prefer to leave it to property owners who, they feel, already have the tools at their disposal to enforce ICEing if they choose to.
But revenue isn't the driving force behind these laws, it's public safety. The $10M they brought in last quarter from the people making right-on-red turns at that camera-monitored intersection at < 3 MPH didn't factor into the legislation at all. Public safety.... yeah.
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