jimmygo.com

I just saw a Reader’s Digest (RD) report on teen driving.  In it they show a breakdown of teenage vehicular fatalities by state (and they throw in some analysis of the “relevant” state laws). I look at the numbers here and I am quite encouraged.  With over 300,000,000 people in this country we only have around 5,000 teenagers die in auto accidents every year.  If you assume that about 5% of our population are “teenage drivers”, that gives you 5K deaths per 15M teen drivers (about 1 in 3,000 teens will die in car accidents). So far the data is encouraging, but that isn’t the conclusion RD wants me to come to.

Instead of just presenting the facts and letting them speak for themselves,  RD takes this “study” a step further and concludes that weak state laws are to blame in states with high numbers of fatalities.  They don’t show any sort of statistical rigor, they don’t even consider any other possible factors (rates of teenage drinking, driver’s ed curriculum, presence of public transportation, average miles driven by teens, etc).  RD was far from thorough here, and yet they confidently conclude that “States with the strictest driving laws tend to have lower fatality rates.” Even their conclusion statement has some weasel words in it.

What really has me upset about this “study” is that they encourage readers to use this information to press state lawmakers for stricter driving laws.  Look at the data they present.  There are many examples of states with low fatality rates but weak driving laws (the inverse is true too).  Just look at New Hampshire and Kentucky - just two examples showing that laws aren’t a good predictor of fatality rates.

I will admit that police fervently enforcing seatbelt laws will increase seatbelt wearing rates, but at what cost?  Do we really want the state dictating our every move?  Do you really want law enforcement officers to be able to stop anyone because they didn’t see the person in the backseat wearing a seatbelt? Don’t get me wrong I think that wearing seatbelts and driver’s education is extremely important, but using the police to scare people into driving safe is not the way to go about it.  Education is always the best way to change behavior.  As a nation we need to quit looking to the government to protect us from ourselves.

If you feel strongly about teen driving safety, how about lining up a speaker for your local high school?  How about checking to see what the curriculum  is for the driver’s education courses?  How about finding (and donating)  a video that can be shown to teens?  How about doing something useful instead of wasting everyone’s time trying to change laws that have no effect.  Laws aren’t the answer - action is.

I started taking classes this summer in potential pursuit of a career change.  Luck of all lucks - the school I signed up for is less than a tenth of a mile from where I work!  If not for a building in the line of sight I could easily look from my desk to the school.  How convenient! I can just leave my car in one spot and walk to and from school!

Oh - but wouldn’t you know it?  I live in a state (and a nation) that has a 25% obesity rate.  You can’t just walk the shortest distance to the place you want to go.  Check out this (Google) map:

I have to go from point A to point B, but there is a fence in the way!  The red line here depicts the fence. This fence doesn’t even enclose anything! If someone wants to get from one side to the other they simply have to walk around it.  What is the point of a barrier that someone can simply walk around? I imagine the fence is there so that people don’t use the residential parking lot as a through way… maybe without a fence a random passerby could get hurt and start a lawsuit?  Maybe a potential criminal sees the fence and realizes that the getaway route is forced onto a main road? These are the only reasons I can fathom and both are quite lame. The fence is sure to hurt everyday pedestrians - the sort of thing that makes Americans want to drive their cars a very short distance to the detriment of our health, environment, and economy.

I still walk it - the long way around is only 1.5 miles round trip. But a relatively pleasant very short walk has been replaced  by a longer one with increased traffic that skirts a bottling factory.

Jenn and I went to Mexico a little while ago. It was a great trip that consisted mostly of sitting on beaches, drinking, and visiting Mayan Ruins (Tulum, Coba, & Chitzen Itza). We mostly stayed at the beach in Tulum at cabanas that ranged in price from $15 USD (if you have your own hammock) to $20USD (Low season prices October).

The area has grown a LOT since I last drove through in December 2003. You can really see the effects that the cruise lines bring with them (there is now a Wal-Mart in Playa del Carmen). I suppose this influx of money is good for the area’s population, but it is a bit disheartening to see the quiet easy area turn into another Cancun. That’s the way of the world though.

Incidentally, there used to be a little cabana place just south of the military area (or whatever it is) that is south of the Tulum ruins. As of October 2007, these (along with the associated restaurant on the hill) have been wiped out - and according to the man that worked there there weren’t any plans to rebuild. This is really a bummer because those particular cabanas attracted a really neat sort of traveler. Ahh well - at least I have fond memories.

As for this trip - it was really a good time. Very relaxing. Jenn got to practice her Spanish… which was particularly fun for me because she is not at all shy about trying. In the smaller towns the locals were amazingly patient and would help her along with a smile. We made it a point to get to the ruins that we visited before anyone from the cruise lines could get there (generally 0800 is when they open), really magical when you are the only one there.

I have posted some of the pictures we have posted at my Picasa site.

Am I the only one that dives for the remote control whenever a “Carlos Mencia” commercial comes on? One sure way to get my TV turned off is making me listen to that hack. I can not stand that guy. I’m right smack in the center of Comedy Central’s target demographic (26, male, college) and I think that Mencia is categorically not funny. His attempts to push the envelope with racial commentary are tired (and stolen). I can stomach the occasional stereotype about “beaners”, but basing a whole show (or worse: career) on the drivel is just not entertaining. I’m not offended, I’m just not entertained.

I realize comedy central needed to replace Dave Chappelle, but someone over there needs to realize that it is time to pull the plug. The year of low-brow humor being “in” is over (thank God). “Blue Collar TV” and reruns of “Larry the Cable Guy” have shriveled up and died, now if only the same fate would befall “Mad TV” and “Carlos Mensteala” the world would be a much happier (funnier) place.

If you want to replace the 1/2 hour slot, just pick random stand up comedians. I’d rather watch an up-and-coming nobody than listen to endless “midget”, “retard”, “gay”, and “racial” botch jobs. Hell I’d be more likely to stay tuned to 1/2 hour of commercials than listen to this guy.

He isn’t edgy. He isn’t original. He isn’t funny. Cancel it.

You know what would be cool? I do. A GPS navigation receiver and the corresponding system that would allow drivers to get real time traffic conditions in their vehicle. It would be a blast to set something like this up. It wouldn’t be too complicated, but the cost would be steep. You would first have to setup speed detectors on all of the major through fares in a metropolitan area, set up a communication network (I’m thinking radar to a radio staion so that you could piggy back on AM or FM), then you just release the standards of your message broadcasting so that GPS nav system designers can implement it. This system would be extremely useful in people’s day-to-day lives, and what’s more it could be infinately tweaked and adjusted for performance. Come to think of it, a system like this would be pretty cheap to setup and maintain when compared to the transportation budget of a large city. Any engineering teams want to pick me up to work on this? Any banks want to give me a few million dollars?