[PRCo] Re: Add this to "Swindler's List" of "Engineers - a strang e lot...."

Sun Apr 8 14:46:17 EDT 2001

Sorry that John isn't here to fight this.  But what has literacy to do
with driving anyway?

I carry a Pennsylvania Commercial Driver's License.  When I took the
test, I was astonished that we were first asked who could not read or
write so that the test could be given orally.  To the best of my
knowledge, we have no law that requires the driver to be able to read
"Slow down, road banked wrong way"  

The smoke plume John mentioned was caused by a trucker who rolled 8,000
gallons of gasoline and a smaller amount of #2 oil on a ramp from US 30
east to US 222 north in Lancaster last week.  He claimed he wasn't going
too fast, that he has done it at least 60 times before!  One might
suspect that we need to add alarm bells to tankers to inform idiots like
him that trucks are more prone to roll when half empty, like he was!  

John Swindler wrote:
> 
> Likewise 222-283 Lancaster to Harrisburg.  Have recently come to conclusion
> that what will prompt me to take an early retirement will be opportunity to
> remove myself from traffic.  Passed second accident scene this week, and its
> only Tuesday.  Yesterday morning several cars mixed it up at rt. 283 exit in
> Harrisburg.  This morning an illiterate (must have been to ignore warnings)
> truck driver took out couple hundred feet of guard rail and rolled down an
> embankment trying to make a high speed exit from US 30 onto 222 in
> Lancaster.  Made for an interesting smoke plume.  And our pastor is still in
> a coma from head-on encounter with a tractor trailer last week.
> 
> Now, what was it that Wendall Cox and his colleagues say about there not
> being a need for rail transit?
> 
> John
> 
> >From: "Vigrass, Bill" <billvigrass at hillintl.com>
> >To: 'John Swindler' <j_swindler at hotmail.com>,
> >pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org, fschnei at supernet.com, twg at pulsenet.com,
> >pghpcc at pacbell.net, bob.dietrich at unisys.com,
> >owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org, MAmrhein at aol.com
> >CC: stennyson at webtv.net, transitmgr at worldnet.att.net,
> >jmay at americomm-dm.com, RSAUER at aol.com, JacksoRE at STVINC.COM,
> >Akftrain at aol.com, "Vigrass, Bill" <billvigrass at hillintl.com>
> >Subject: RE: [PRCo] Add this to "Swindler's List" of "Engineers - a strang
> >e lot...."
> >Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 09:52:06 -0400
> >
> >My worm's eye anecdotal view is that VMT keeps going up in he region in
> >which I drive.  I-295 is busier than ever.  I drive it from Cherry Hill
> >Woodcrest exit 32 to Willingboro, about 12 miles, daily.  It seems as
> >though
> >there are more trucks also.
> >
> >BillVigrass
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: John Swindler [mailto:j_swindler at hotmail.com]
> >Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 9:39 AM
> >To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org; fschnei at supernet.com;
> >twg at pulsenet.com; pghpcc at pacbell.net; bob.dietrich at unisys.com;
> >owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org; MAmrhein at aol.com
> >Cc: stennyson at webtv.net; transitmgr at worldnet.att.net;
> >jmay at americomm-dm.com; RSAUER at aol.com; JacksoRE at STVINC.COM;
> >Akftrain at aol.com; billvigrass at hillintl.com
> >Subject: Re: [PRCo] Add this to "Swindler's List" of "Engineers - a
> >strange lot...."
> >
> >
> >
> >Number went down because Fred the third retired.
> >
> >But seriously, wonder if number is derived from formula applied to gas tax
> >revenues.  Thus this might be showing the effect of higher gas prices last
> >year.  If so, might also be seeing multiple car families not using the SUV
> >as much. Will have to ask next door.
> >
> >Speaking of numbers taken to the 'upteenth' (a lot) decimal place, was
> >always amused by passenger statistics reported by a certain local transit
> >agency in eastern Pennsylvania.  (Such as claim that City transit division
> >carried 159,916,893 fixed route passengers in 1998/99)  Amused?  Well, yes,
> >because there is an internal memo from early 1970s that describes how this
> >local transit agency's ridership numbers are "heuristically derived."
> >(Something to look that up in your Webster's).  Essentially, the purpose of
> >the memo was to keep the agency's upper management and board members from
> >looking stupid trying to defend any ridership numbers reported to the
> >public.
> >
> >John
> >
> >
> >
> > >From: <tsquare at toad.net>
> > >Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> > >To: "Fred W Schneider III" <fschnei at supernet.com>,   "PRCo Group"
> > ><pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>,   "Ed Lybarger" <twg at pulsenet.com>,
> > >"Jim Holland" <pghpcc at pacbell.net>,   "Robert J. Dietrich"
> > ><bob.dietrich at unisys.com>,   "Derrick J. Brashear"
> > ><owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>,   "Ed Amrhein"
> > ><MAmrhein at aol.com>,   "Derrick J. Brashear"
> > ><owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> > >Subject: [PRCo] Add this to "Swindler's List" of "Engineers - a strange
> > >lot...."
> > >Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 18:38:06 -0400
> > >
> > >
> > >On 4/2 at 1021 AM, John Swindler wrote "Engineers - a strange lot...."
> > >and followed up before the ink was dry at 2:45 PM with the following
> > >which was excerpted from his very good and on-going "Transit news":
> > >
> > >Just what you might expect from a bunch of Gummit Bureaucrats.  Take a
> > >whole bunch of variables, multiply them together,, average out the
> > >product by dividing by the number of sources, and round everything off
> > >to the third decimal place!
> > >
> > >There is no way on the face of this earth to make a determination like
> > >this.  Sometimes the flaw is not with the Engineers but from those who
> > >would assume to be Engineers!  And for this the taxpayers pay and pay
> > >and pay...
> > >
> > >Tom Phillips
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Vehicle Miles Traveled Drops for the First Time in Two Decades
> > >
> > >The Federal Highway Administration recently released statistics showing
> > >that
> > >the number of vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. declined during 2000—the
> > >first drop in 20 years.
> > >
> > >Last year, VMT dropped 0.11 percent below that of 1999.
> > >
> > >FHWA noted that the downward trend in driving is unusual. VMT has been
> > >steadily increasing at an annual rate of about 3 percent between 1980 and
> > >1999. The last decline, 0.12 percent, occurred between 1979 and 1980.
> > >
> > >The FHWA’s Traffic Volume Trends estimate reports 2.688 trillion vehicle
> > >miles traveled in 2000, compared with 2.691 trillion miles traveled in
> > >1999.
> > >VMT for December 2000 totaled 210.2 billion, a full 5.5 percent below the
> > >222.5 billion clocked the previous December. This total includes 79.6
> > >billion vehicle-miles on rural roads and 130.7 billion vehicle-miles on
> > >urban roads and streets.
> > >
> > >
> >
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> 
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