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lawyer who handles traffic offenses?

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sat, 16 Nov 2013 7:52 pm

So how do those who live outside the city get home at night? Taxi out into the boondocks (where, unlike Singapore, there are NO street lamps at all). Most will not leave the city limits at night for safety reasons. Public transport? See, Singaporean are a spoiled lot, living in a city-state. Their whole country is nothing but a single city encircled by water. Considering the city-state is the same size of NYC, NYC has almost 50% more population density (7.5K to 10.5K/km2) and around 725 km2 to NYC's 784 km2. NYC has almost 100% more train stations, but traffic is gridlocked most of the time. Lot's of people there eschew cars altogether out of common sense.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by bloodhound123 » Sat, 16 Nov 2013 8:06 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:So how do those who live outside the city get home at night? Taxi out into the boondocks (where, unlike Singapore, there are NO street lamps at all). Most will not leave the city limits at night for safety reasons. Public transport? See, Singaporean are a spoiled lot, living in a city-state. Their whole country is nothing but a single city encircled by water. Considering the city-state is the same size of NYC, NYC has almost 50% more population density (7.5K to 10.5K/km2) and around 725 km2 to NYC's 784 km2. NYC has almost 100% more train stations, but traffic is gridlocked most of the time. Lot's of people there eschew cars altogether out of common sense.
I do agree, NYC is an exception. I was there 6 years back and they have an excellent subway network with stations in each street and express lines too.
But why aren't the other city/state corporations making an effort to build well connected mass rapid transit systems? Is it a lack of political will/public funds or is there a nationwide propaganda to encourage the usage of cars to keep the consumer index high?

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Post by JR8 » Sat, 16 Nov 2013 8:48 pm

bloodhound123 wrote:Cities in US should try to build better public transportation and incentivise the usage of cabs by making then cheaper. With pubs around every nook and corner driving offenses are here to rise. My friend in Atlanta says that he has seen cops standing outside pubs to arrest people who walk straight out of the pub to reach their car doors.
Cities? But 95% of Americans don't live in cities, so how ah?

There is a risk of suggesting a 'teeny little island city-state' solution to an entire continent.

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sat, 16 Nov 2013 9:04 pm

Sadly, what can be accomplished in Singapore cannot be done in any normal country. Singapore is abnormal to start with. They have the luxury on not having to think outside their boarders when it comes to city planning. The city limits are the country limits. Other Cities, just like NYC, have hinterlands that are not feasible, population density wise, to make those kind of investments. You need heavy population density to make Mass Transit systems work in the first place.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by JR8 » Sat, 16 Nov 2013 9:13 pm

>> 'You need heavy population density to make Mass Transit systems work in the first place.'


Good observation. I hadn't thought of it from that angle before, but you're right.

Economies of scale. Which towns or smaller cities have full public transit systems?

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Post by bloodhound123 » Sat, 16 Nov 2013 9:13 pm

Many major cities in India have suburban rail networks/late night bus services. Trains/buses are poorly maintained, frequency is not great at all times during the day but they do ferry people back to distant suburbs upto 12-1am and bus services even run throughout the night ( not all ). But owing to the high population density in the suburbs there are enough travellers even during the wee hours to make it commercially viable.

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sat, 16 Nov 2013 11:05 pm

Just goes to strengthen my position. We have bus services in the US, but they don't run at a frequency to really call them a mass transit systems with 5 to 20 minute intervals between buses. Might run hourly or 2x/day.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by JR8 » Sat, 16 Nov 2013 11:09 pm

I'm not being funny, but yeah, when I lived in the states, the only people who took buses in *suburbia* were blacks and Mexicans.

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Post by bloodhound123 » Sun, 17 Nov 2013 12:10 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Just goes to strengthen my position. We have bus services in the US, but they don't run at a frequency to really call them a mass transit systems with 5 to 20 minute intervals between buses. Might run hourly or 2x/day.
It would not create a big dent in the state's budget to run these bus services every 20 minutes/30 minutes intervals. Why is that not being done? Measures could be put in place to incentivise public bus transit. I am guessing that one of the reasons for the high number of DUI arrests in US must be the unavailability of any mode of transport other than the private cars.
DUI is way more serious in the US than in SG. That said there is no other option for people but to drink in their own home as if they drive out they cannot get back home without driving their own cars.
Just my thought. I dont know much about the social setup and the general way of life in the US and just wondering why there are way more DUI cases when compared to other countries.

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Post by JR8 » Sun, 17 Nov 2013 12:21 am

bloodhound123 wrote: It would not create a big dent in the state's budget to run these bus services every 20 minutes/30 minutes intervals. Why is that not being done?
So all 5,000,000 American towns should have bus services. and trains each 20 minutes all day, right?

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Post by bloodhound123 » Sun, 17 Nov 2013 12:50 am

JR8 wrote:
bloodhound123 wrote: It would not create a big dent in the state's budget to run these bus services every 20 minutes/30 minutes intervals. Why is that not being done?
So all 5,000,000 American towns should have bus services. and trains each 20 minutes all day, right?
I am not implying this. But it sounds more like a chicken and egg problem to me. There is no good public transport so ppl go for cars. And since most ppl own cars there is no push for an improvement in public transit.

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sun, 17 Nov 2013 12:57 am

bloodhound123 wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:Just goes to strengthen my position. We have bus services in the US, but they don't run at a frequency to really call them a mass transit systems with 5 to 20 minute intervals between buses. Might run hourly or 2x/day.
It would not create a big dent in the state's budget to run these bus services every 20 minutes/30 minutes intervals. Why is that not being done? Measures could be put in place to incentivise public bus transit. I am guessing that one of the reasons for the high number of DUI arrests in US must be the unavailability of any mode of transport other than the private cars.
DUI is way more serious in the US than in SG. That said there is no other option for people but to drink in their own home as if they drive out they cannot get back home without driving their own cars.
Just my thought. I dont know much about the social setup and the general way of life in the US and just wondering why there are way more DUI cases when compared to other countries.

If you are not yet a Citizen of Singapore, they should give you citizenship tomorrow. You don't drink & drive, period! And you don't need mass transit if you don't live in major cities. When I was still in the US, when we went partying we always had a designated driver. We'd drive 100 miles to go partying but that designated driver stayed sober and did not drink any alcohol at all. Works for anybody who has just a modicum of common sense. What's that? you say. That's why dui are heavy duty there. You don't have ANY excuse drinking and driving.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by zzm9980 » Sun, 17 Nov 2013 8:16 am

bloodhound123 wrote: Just my thought. I dont know much about the social setup and the general way of life in the US and just wondering why there are way more DUI cases when compared to other countries.
Per capita, the US has a very high ratio of cars to people. Probably one of the highest in the world.

Next, it hasn't been mentioned in this thread but US traffic enforcement is also seen as a huge revenue stream for many local governments. In California, they have traffic cameras that give you $400+ tickets for going through a yellow/red light. Do you think it is more about safety, or raising money in a state with budget problems? Oh yeah, those towns that installed cameras also often lowered the length of yellow lights after installing those cameras. Was that for safety or to increase the violations?

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Post by x9200 » Sun, 17 Nov 2013 8:23 am

It is worse in the States (and many other countries) for that simple reason that more people drink alcohol. It is easier available and it is more in the culture. I doubt it has anything to do with the infrastructure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... onsumption

0.5/l/head in SG comparing to almost 9 to the US, few orders of magnitude smaller country and you are surprised they have it under control.
Correlate it further with the car prices/availability.

And for the record, my earlier point was about social responsibility, not legalities, statistics or infrastructure. You don't go drunk behind the wheels because you don't want to hurt someone.

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Post by bloodhound123 » Sun, 17 Nov 2013 11:34 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:
bloodhound123 wrote:
sundaymorningstaple wrote:Just goes to strengthen my position. We have bus services in the US, but they don't run at a frequency to really call them a mass transit systems with 5 to 20 minute intervals between buses. Might run hourly or 2x/day.
It would not create a big dent in the state's budget to run these bus services every 20 minutes/30 minutes intervals. Why is that not being done? Measures could be put in place to incentivise public bus transit. I am guessing that one of the reasons for the high number of DUI arrests in US must be the unavailability of any mode of transport other than the private cars.
DUI is way more serious in the US than in SG. That said there is no other option for people but to drink in their own home as if they drive out they cannot get back home without driving their own cars.
Just my thought. I dont know much about the social setup and the general way of life in the US and just wondering why there are way more DUI cases when compared to other countries.

If you are not yet a Citizen of Singapore, they should give you citizenship tomorrow. You don't drink & drive, period! And you don't need mass transit if you don't live in major cities. When I was still in the US, when we went partying we always had a designated driver. We'd drive 100 miles to go partying but that designated driver stayed sober and did not drink any alcohol at all. Works for anybody who has just a modicum of common sense. What's that? you say. That's why dui are heavy duty there. You don't have ANY excuse drinking and driving.
I am neither saying that there is any excuse for drinking and driving nor that every city/town should have a mass transit. The state from where I hail from in India has a good bus/rail transit connectivity ( not in terms of quality ) which would enable me to cover 90% of the towns/cities without the need for private transport.
My friend works for Amazon in the Bay Area and he says that he drives to work. When asked why he said that the public policy in California ( or most of the states for that matter ) is designed with the basic assumption that everyone owns a car. Most developed countries in the world - Europe, Japan etc invest heavily in High Speed rail connectivity and rail connectivity between nearby towns as well. Japan has very good rail connectivity to nearly every town and city. But in the US driving seems to be the only option most of the time. So was wondering what is different in the way of life in the US when compared to other developed nations.

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