Of Traffic Lights and other Traffic Security Measures – Good and Evil

Tenth Amendment Center: Constitutional Conversation

“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil.”, Thomas Paine

During my morning commute the other day, I was stopped at a traffic light. While sitting there fiddling with the radio dial, my mind wandered. At that instant, how many cars were stopped on how many highways by how many red-lights all around the country? How many gallons of gasoline were being wasted while car engines sat idle? How many minutes were being lost? How much traffic congestion was being created as groups of cars were being forcibly compressed into tightly condensed clusters?

All of these must be huge numbers. Now multiply them by the number of instants in a day and the number of days in a year, this is surely a huge (and growing) waste, each and every year. Early in the morning or late at night in my area, it is not even unusual to be caught at a traffic light with no competing traffic moving in any direction through an intersection. We surrender our intelligence, our freedom, and our mobility to an automaton, thoughtlessly cycling through red, yellow, and green. Well there are many traffic lawyers however I recommend to visit kpnylaw.com/speeding-ticket/ you really should have the highest-quality legal counsel available.

When you add it all up, this is an immeasurable evil perpetrated against the American people. The loss of freedom, the mindless submission, the loss of time, the loss of money as our gasoline is consumed…. Yet this evil saves lives. I am convinced that most of these traffic lights are worthless, merely moving accidents from one place to another, but at least a few of them actually do prevent accidents and traffic fatalities according to the report from a wrongful death attorney in las vegas nv. As much as I am convinced that traffic lights are evil, I am also convinced that some percentage of them are necessary. The lesser of two evils, as it were.

Last Wednesday, I was picking up my daughter from Blues on the Green. The weekly music festival is so large now that we agreed to meet at the McDonald’s on the corner of Barton Springs and South Lamar. Around 9:30, I saw a young woman on an electric scooter come whizzing by. And then another. And then another. Eventually, Barton Springs was literally swarming with electric scooters. Riders of every age, shape and size. And none of them were wearing any protective equipment or even paying full attention to the traffic lights; no helmets, no knee or elbow pads, no gloves. I even saw one teenage girl wearing heels as she zoomed along.

As a personal injury attorney, when I see an obviously dangerous activity taking place, I sit up and take notice. According to Atlanta personal injury attorneys at Harris Lowry Manton LLP, you only have two years from the day you were injured, or the day you could have reasonably known you were injured, to file your claim.

Electric scooters have become wildly popular in South Florida. And apparently it’s not just me, E-scooters were first a novelty and then many began to find them annoying: the darting electric scooters have startled and sometimes scared South Florida pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists.Electric scooters travel up to 20 miles per hour and can carry passengers, including children, who stand on the floorboard with the driver. Many people don’t have experience operating or riding on e-scooters, adding to e-scooter’s erratic zipping and zapping in traffic.

Florida’s Governor DeSantis recently signed HB 453. Under this new legislation, e-scooter riders have “all rights and duties applicable to the rider of a bicycle,” including the use of streets and bike lanes.

Cities and municipalities can still place some restrictions on e-scooter use, such a keeping some sidewalks and streets scooter free, and regulating where and how the scooters can be parked.

In sum, HB 453 will take some e-scooter riders off sidewalks and put them on the streets with bicyclists and cars.

See the potential danger here?

E-scooter proponents cite the scooter’s easy and affordable availability, and the ease of taking short trips without getting into a car.

They also point to reducing city traffic congestion and pollution from car emissions.

But what about Florida’s pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists?Particularly in the populated areas of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, e-scooters add to the already dangerous mix of crowded roads and never-ending construction.

A South Florida Sun Sentinel review of Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue records found that 74 scooter riders were in accidents from December 2018 through April 2019.

57 of the accidents required a trip to the hospital, with ten suffering severe injuries. One victim died as a result of e-scooter injuries. Another has been in a vegetative state since late December 2018. Other states besides Florida are also reporting increased accident rates. If you have also been involved in an accident, we recommend contacting a Car Accident Attorney.

What can you do to protect yourself from an e-scooter accident?

• If you’re driving an e-scooter, remember that most scooter accidents occur at night, and during the weekend. Exercise extra caution and care after dark, and especially so on weekends. Think of an e-scooter as any other type of machinery, and don’t use under the influence.
• Pedestrians, bicyclists or motorist in e-scooter traffic must also exercise abundant caution. Give e-scooters a wide berth, even if it means slowing down considerably: e-scooters can and do weave in and out of traffic.

What should you do if you’re in an accident?

If you’re hurt, call emergency medical services. But don’t assume that you’re not hurt just because you don’t need an ambulance. Many injuries don’t manifest until well after the accident. Call Chicago escooter crash attorneys if you’re injured in an accident in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan or of course Chicago. Matthew Waring has been on both sides of an accident: from winning for a client the compensation they deserve to being in an accident and feeling the pain and suffering of accident victims.

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