After being mostly absent on the supply chain issues, like clogged ports, Mayor Pete has decided to look at a pie in the sky adventure. Sure, it’s nice to say, but, it won’t happen
Tucker Carlson: $1.2 trillion in infrastructure spending should mean better roads, but it doesn’t
Think back, you may remember Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill this fall. That bill emerged from Congress in November with a price tag of $1.2 trillion dollars. That so many zeros it’s hard to imagine. How much is it? It’s more than the entire GDP of the Nation of Mexico, one of the world’s biggest oil producers, by the way. So that’s a ton of money.
So for a bill that size, you would expect, well, big results. You’d certainly want better roads than they’ve got in Mexico. So we’re getting those what are we getting exactly from that bill? Well, today the Transportation Department, which is now run by Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, finally told us the answer. Effective immediately, we learned this country will undergo a “paradigm shift” in the way we think about infrastructure. (big snip, including through how many bridges and roads have problems)
So what are we going to do about this? What is the $1.2 trillion dollar plan going to do for our crumbling infrastructure? Well, Pete Buttigieg has a plan. Here it is: More speed cameras, according to The Associated Press, Pete Buttigieg would like to quote promote greater use of speed cameras, which the department says could provide more equitable enforcement than police traffic stops.
Got that? So because of equity, you’re about to get a lot more speeding tickets from robots. See how that works? Shut up, racist, pay the fine. The government does need the money for infrastructure even after $1.2 trillion.
Alright, some might think Tucker is being over-the-top. Nope. Here’s the Associated Press, as printed by KTLA
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is pledging to tackle rising traffic fatalities through a national strategy aimed at reducing speed, redesigning roads and enhancing car safety features such as automatic emergency braking.
Buttigieg said his department is embracing a new “safe system” approach urged by auto safety advocates to bolster initiatives, underway in several cities, that seek to eliminate fatalities by taking into account more than just driver behavior.
Over the next two years, he said, his department will provide guidance as well as $5 billion in grants to states to spur lower speed limits and embrace safer road design such as dedicated bike and bus lanes, better lighting and crosswalks. When roads become safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, that opens up transit options overall and can lead to fewer dangerous cars on the road, he said.
Money for the grants is included in President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law, which has an additional $4 billion in funding through the Highway Safety Improvement Program.
Ask your local police department about traffic cameras. That they don’t work very well, and actually cost more than they bring in. And, yes, this is quite a bit about forcing you out of your vehicle. Now, if he was pushing initiatives to get people to drive safer, stop blowing stop signs, I’d be on-board.
The strategy recommends pilot programs to study and promote greater use of speed cameras, which the department says could provide more equitable enforcement than police traffic stops. Automakers will be prodded to adopt more crash avoidance features and publish detailed information about them for consumers on window stickers for new car sales.
A goodly chunk of vehicles already have crash avoidance systems. But, they are designed not to stop a crash, but, to warn on when closing speed is high up to slamming on brakes to reduce the power of impact. If they were designed to stop, everyone’s vehicles would be slamming on brakes all the time. As for the cameras? What happens if “minorities” are getting more tickets than whites? Will they be called raaaaacist?
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board and a strong advocate for the broader “safe systems” approach, also has praised the department’s initial steps but stressed the importance of a sustained effort to get full cooperation from states, communities and automakers.
Last week, Homendy criticized the NHTSA for moving too slowly in removing from its website statistics that suggested that 94% of serious crashes are solely due to driver error; in fact, the agency’s own research describes it as one of several key contributing factors. The NHTSA has since removed the language.
Can’t have the real data out there, you know, when it gets in the way of a paradigm shift.
Our distinguished host quoted:
It’s simple: the Secretary wants, eventually, to force all vehicles to have autopilot systems which will drive for you. They’ll be restricted to the posted speed limits, of course.
Drive down the interstate highways today, and you’ll see that virtually everyone is speeding, because people drive the way they want to drive, not the way the law tells them they should. Unless you find an absolute [insert slang term for the rectum here] police officer, you’ll never get stopped for doing nine miles per hour over the speed limit, and in many cases 14 MPH over, because that’s the way the cops drive themselves, and they have recognized that people are voting on the speed limit with their right feet.
Remember: the American left are pro-choice on exactly one thing.
Maybe work first to solve the larger causes of death in this country. That would mean fentanyl would be the higher priority. And stopping the border crossings that bring this poison to our cities.
Thanks, Mayor Buttplug, for such a super idea….