Bus makes mistake on HOV exit ramp...Atlanta

[Glenn MC9]

Below is a link to The Atlanta Journal and Constitution.

I seems that the same HOV exit ramp that caused seven people to loose their lives in March 2007, nearly happened again one day last week.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2009/04/05/hov_ramp_bus.html?cxntlid=homepag e_tab_newstab&imw=Y

NOTE: You may have to copy and paste the link in order for it to work properly.

Glenn
Tallulah Falls, GA

[PADoug]

It's a shame. I was reading the comments, and the "locals" don't seem to be too sympathetic with out-of-towners. I'm just glad nobody was hurt.

I've never been there, but I do drive into Pittsburgh regularly. And even after 20+ years of driving there, I realize things can be tough. One moment, you are crossing a bridge, and 100 yards later, they tell you you have 200 yards to get 2 lanes over to reach your exit or through destination. Sure, a quarter mile is plenty of room... in a car when you know where you are going. At least the Interstates were built as originally planned, staying at least 10 miles outside the city with connectors to them.

Washington, Dc and Baltimore are a little better as far as signage. I drive both of those cities pretty regularly too.  How I get around without a GPS..G^D only knows (and I'm single, so no on board navigator). Methinks it's time to buy one.

Don't let my comments scare you away from Pittsburgh though. It's a great and very diverse city. Not too bus friendly, but transits seem to get around fine. Bring a toad, park the bus, and if you enjoy bridges, tunnels, water, and of course fine dining and scenery (Mount Washington), by all means, visit!

(This was not a paid advertisement, and the author does not drink. In fact, many from the " 'burgh" consider him a very uninformed Hillbilly: Ridgerunner/redneck to be correct, who only comes into town to watch football games or see how the "other half" lives. Truth be told, they're right!)

Doug 

[Tim Strommen]

I see this kind of thing in many different public service areas...

The elected boards for these public agencies see $$$$$ every time someone ask them to change something - money they didn't plan on spending on something that wasn't their idea.  Often times the people who get elected into these public service agencies, don't have a background in the area of service that they get appointed to manage...


The comment from the gentleman: "We think that's safer than closing it and forcing people on the left to have to weave through all that traffic on the Connector to get to a right-hand downtown exit." 

Translated: "We think that's safercheaper than closing it (for one evening's worth of overtime during off-commute hours) and (now I'm going to scare everyone who's reading this by telling them that doing anything to fix this problem we've already identified and the NTSB has reported to us will definitely) force[ing] people on the left to have to weave through all that traffic on the Connector to get to a right-hand downtown exit (putting their precious children at risk and this isn't something we want to attempt to manage with current temporary electronic sign technology from a local equipment rental place for less cost per day than my tie cost - and we wouldn't want to post a state trooper in the area to ensure people slow down, or ticket them for speeding through a construction site possibly getting us enough revenue to pay for the new signs and the construction overtime involved...)."


Of course you can see the problem this that...  when I was taking business classes in college, one of the first points they made was that in order to manage - you needed to know the business (and this was Business Supervisory Management 101 ).

Quite often, the way things end up changing "for the better", is the department or agency getting sued for not properly doing their job.  The board of directors don't get fired for mismanagement, nor do they get prosecuted for negligence (nor do they really lose any of their own money...).  After all, most of the board members just want to get re-elected - why try to do their jobs and make a decision that would possibly make them unpopular with anyone?

Think about that the next time you vote for someone for your water board, or your school board, or the local county hospital board... 

-Tim

[JohnEd]

Now this is a PRIME example.  I mean PRIME.  I'll tell you who straightens this travesty out.  Its a friggen attorney.  Those blood sucking bottom feeders that we love to hate.  Let the victim's families sue for whatever amt the attorney thinks will turn those "locals" around in their cavalier attitude of not caring about "out of towners".  That's what it took to change Ford's mind about the Pinto exploding gas tank.....$112,000,000.  And that went to the Father of a 26 year old young lady that was immolated.  Punitive damages for "alienation of affection", got that?  The day of the jury award the Ford management started the recall project with telegrams to all dealers.  This is the system we have.  This is how victims break the back of heartless corporation executives and save the next guy.  Then there is Rodney King and his $12,000,000 award.  That did absolutely nothing to the LAPD.  Business as usual so I guess $12,000,000 was not the correct number.  Attorneys get a bad rap and they are vital to our safety and the policing the society.

What do you think?

John

[bottomacher]

Unfortunately, suing the government punishes only the taxpayers. No one gets fired or prosecuted for being an idiot government-decision maker. I have owned a bus for many years, and I damned sure don't agree with the way traffic signs are placed in my native Georgia. But the morons who head the departments that control the government are so well insulated that there is no way to hurt them when they perform their usual magic.

[JackConrad]

(This was not a paid advertisement, and the author does not drink. In fact, many from the " 'burgh" consider him a very uninformed Hillbilly: Ridgerunner/redneck to be correct, who only comes into town to watch football games or see how the "other half" lives. Truth be told, they're right!)
Doug 

Hey Doug,
   I resemble that remark!  Jack

[jackhartjr]

I made this comment to the Atlanta Journal Constitution;

By Jack Hart

Apr 6, 2009 10:46 PM | Link to this

And to add insult to injury, the stupid cops just had to give him a ticket when he got stuck. Another case of 'Revenue Enhancement'!
I hope all of the states, towns, etc. CHOKE on all of the money that are stealing by giving out millions more tickets than they did a year ago!

I drive a lot, between 3,000 and 4,000 miles a week, mostly to FL or AL and back.  I am amazed at the cops writing tickets compared to a year ago!
Jack

[PADoug]

(This was not a paid advertisement, and the author does not drink. In fact, many from the " 'burgh" consider him a very uninformed Hillbilly: Ridgerunner/redneck to be correct, who only comes into town to watch football games or see how the "other half" lives. Truth be told, they're right!)
Doug 

Hey Doug,
   I resemble that remark!  Jack

Jack,

Which part? I hope not all, otherwise I'm gonna consider getting that "short" Bluebird with the blown 350 gasser and move to Florida, instead of starting to save the 15-20K or so for a solid shell.   

Doug

[ktmossman]

Oddly enough, just after the crash in 2007, they put up all kinds of signage, complete with flashing lights, rumble strips, etc. But all of it was "temporary" until the permanent items could be installed. I guess the "temporary" stuff was removed while they were still arguing about the "permanent".

This is actually a symptom of a bigger problem. The GA DOT was turned into a big political "jobs program" years ago. It has been over-run by incompetent political cronyism. There is finally a bill making its' way through the legislature to completely restructure the dept and remove the political influence (or at least attempt to.)

[JohnEd]

KT,

I think you are describing the birth of Civ Service.  I read that every election cycle "ALL" the people employed by gummint turned over with the winning party.  Said that the complete incompetentance of the "appointees" destroyed any confidence in the gummint system.  They prevented this process by making it difficult to arbitrarily sack and replace a worker.  It always amazes me when I hear people say "they should replace every one of those idiots".  We had that system and it was so bad in the extreme that we legislated how they can be hired and fired.  Ability and qualification is the criteria to be selected and promoted.  And don't tell me they can't be fired....I fired two.  I recovered many more with counseling and training.

John

[BG6]

No one gets fired or prosecuted for being an idiot government-decision maker.

In fact, they usually get re-elected . . .

[niles500]

Fired? - Heck they won't even lay-off a government employee - Federal, State and Local officials keep proclaiming "we will make what ever cuts necessary in order to NOT lay off any employees - Latest monthly report on nationwide employee layoffs @ 665,000 vs. number of govrnment employees losing their jobs @ 5,000 (reported by CNBC) - The government in any market is the LARGEST employer in the market, and depending on where you reside, as much as 10 to 20 percent of the workforce are government employees - If we're all going share the pain then the government should have layed off about 100,000 employees - To the contrary in Floriduh they're all demanding merit, longevity and COLA raises - Although the AIG bonus fiasco in the amount of 165 mil+ has been played to the hilt, how many billions are being wasted by maintaining the Civil Service status quo? Has any one of the government regulators that totally missed Madoffs Ponzi scheme been fired? Has any elected official offered to trim their staff or work for a dollar a year like Edward Liddy did when he was ASKED to come help clean up AIG? Why doesn't someone ask Barney Frank to "give back" all the monies he has been paid to take "no responsibility" for his actions/inactions?

[Glenn MC9]

The following article was announced Monday April 13 in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. It seems that for the time being, the Georgia DOT is willing to make a few changes.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/04/15/hov_ramp_upgrades.html



Glenn
Tallulah Falls, GA

[gyrocrasher]

Hi Glenn
Isn't that article dated 3/13/07?
I wonder how much signage they have completed in two years? M

Never mind. I just read the first article referenced in this thread.
Seems they have not completed enough.

[niles500]

What do the elected officials, mayor and the civil "servants" do in Tampa when faced with at least a 52 million dollar budget shortfall?


http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/apr/16/161407/tampa-council-vote-raises-employees/




Why ..... negotiate for, vote for, and recieve raises ...... tell me again how are they any different than the people at AIG?