Recently I saw a line of cars Eastbound on Market waiting to turn right onto 16th to park in a parking garage. For the Blues playoffs? Big concert at Scottrade Center? No, shift change at the main post office. Seriously.
At right a white car waits on 18th St to turn right onto Market St, 6:50am on 5/26/2016Thew line of cars you see aren’t parked on Market, they’re in the outside drive lane in a line to access the USPS parking garageThese cars, between 16th-17th, are also waiting. The parking is on the upper level(s) of the addition to the main post office shown in the backgroundThis view shows cars waiting next to a line of cars parked on the streetLooking East from 17th the waiting cars are now against the curb because parking isn’t allowed on this blockWhen a car exists another is allowed to enter. Supervisors don;t wait in line, they come up from 16th and enter upon arrival.
A postal employee waiting in line told me this was a routine shift change…waiting for parking. Another said the garage has about 300 spaces…and exposed rebar. I was unable to determine when the addition was added to the East of the main post office. I’d guess 1960s or 70s.
While I did see some workers arrive via Madison County Transit, more need to consider public transit, car pooling, etc. All these running cars, polluting my neighborhood, waiting to park is unacceptable. Recently I posted about intersections that bookend the post office, on 16th & 18th.
When you have your windows open in an urban environment you hear all sorts of strange sounds. Two weeks ago we heard a diesel engine plus something odd enough that we paused what we were watching to have a look.
Thursday May 19, 2016, 7:13pm
A tow truck was into a corner after having pulled the Chrysler 200 from the other side of the drive. Curious how this would play out I switched to video.
The Chrysler 200 is a front wheel-drive car — which should be towed from the front. You always want the drive wheels off the ground — except, manual transmission vehicles in neutral can be towed with all four on the ground.
If the car was being towed to a mechanic for repairs, the owner would’ve given the operator the key so it could’ve been pushed away from the wall and towed from the front. The most obvious answer is the car was being repossessed, though parked illegally in someone’s reserved spot is a remote possibility.
I’m very open to the idea of driverless/autonomous vehicles, but as a pedestrian in a wheelchair a recent patent gave me pause:
Google has patented what is essentially a flypaper that sticks pedestrians to a vehicle should they be hit by an autonomous car. The tech giant sees the solution as a way to minimize crash injuries, which it says aren’t caused by the initial collision with the vehicle but when the pedestrian is thrown to the ground after the impact.
The patent describes the solution as a layer of adhesive on the front of a vehicle that pedestrians will stick to in the event of a collision with a vehicle. To prevent other objects from sticking to the adhesive in everyday driving, Google has placed a covering over it that will break in a crash to reveal the adhesive layer that sticks to pedestrians.
Google is the latest to develop a system aimed at reducing pedestrian injuries if a vehicle hits them and is doing so with self-driving cars in mind. Volvo developed a pedestrian airbag, which deploys out of the hood while Jaguar created a system that raises the car’s hood after a collision so that the pedestrian that is hit gets redirected to a softer crumple zone. Neither system, however, addresses the issue of pedestrians experiencing more serious injuries by being thrown off the car. (Motor Trend)
So glad engineers are working on ways to minimize injuries after hitting a pedestrian. Seriously, many new cars sold the last few years have self-stopping technology. This car wasn’t so equipped — though they thought it was.
Ouch!
A couple of guys tested two Volvos that were equipped, but it didn’t always work
Here’s a promotional video from Volvo talking about 100 self-driving vehicles they’ll have on the roads in Gothenburg next year:
Volvo isn’t the only manufacturer working on self-driving technology, Tesla introduced Autopilot in October 2015.
Here’s a young driver who finds it hard getting used to the car driving itself.
The following video went viral — a guy’s mom behind the wheel. She was a bit more freaked out than the guy above.
Below she says she’s been driving for 50 years.
Generally younger drivers are more open to autonomous features than..uh…more seasoned drivers. But even the young can get freaked out:
Funny videos, but one Tesla owner posted an informative video of his 35-mile commute showing Autopilot in use for 37+ minutes, with just 6+ minutes driven manually.
From 2014:
The poll of 1,033 vehicle owners found 65% of vehicle owners think self-driving cars are a dangerous idea. Yet 61% say they are likely to consider a model with autonomous safety features like park assist and collision avoidance on their next purchase. And by a wide margin, 84% those participating in the survey said safety features take precedence over infotainment. (USA Today)
From 2015:
Self-driving cars may be cool and the wave of the future, and if you believe Elon Musk, human-driven cars could one day be illegal. But many Americans aren’t convinced, with a third of saying they would never buy a self-driving vehicle. That’s among the findings of a new Harris poll on Americans’ attitudes toward autonomous vehicles. The poll surveyed 2,276 adults online and found that, for the most part, we can’t agree on the good and the bad when it comes to self-driving vehicles. More than a third of respondents say these vehicles are the future of driving, while almost one quarter believe the vehicles are something out of a ‘Jetsons’ cartoon. (NBC News)
Self-driving autonomous driverless cars are quickly becoming a reality. New Tesla’s have autopilot and Uber is testing in Pittsburgh:
The first Uber car that doesn’t need a driver has hit the streets.
The ride-hailing behemoth announced in a blog post Thursday that it has begun testing a self-driving car in Pittsburgh, home of the company’s nascent Advanced Technologies Center.
The car, a Ford Fusion Hybrid with a roof-full of radar, lasers and cameras, will be collecting road-mapping data as well as testing its real-world traffic reactions. Uber’s interest in autonomous car technology dates to a year ago, when the $60 billion start-up began hiring Carnegie Mellon University robotics experts to staff its new center not far from the Pittsburgh-based school.
As with all self-driving cars that are approved for testing on public roads, Uber’s vehicle will have a safety driver who can take over the controls should the situation demand it. (USA Today)
I’m curious to experience the technology, but I’d be nervous. So this is the subject of today’s poll:
This is based on today’s technology — not five years in the future. The poll closes as 8pm tonight. No new post tomorrow, have a happy Memorial Day!
When Culinaria opened it was a relief having a decent-sized grocery store downtown. A problem was trying to get to the entrance at 9th & Olive. The public sidewalk along 9th was so full it was basically single file for many years.
I got the number of tables reduced — and pushed back out of the way. But the four original “dish drainer” style bike racks remained.
Bike racks that place bikes perpendicular to the building/curb lines never should’ve been allowed by the cityMay 26th 2015 I posted this image to Twitter & Facebook of the new rack being installed on 9th Street
Nearly a year later those old racks that place bikes so they narrow the sidewalk remained in place, getting used at times. On May 10th of this year I asked the manager, Adam, when the old racks would be removed. He wasn’t sure how to get them removed — they were anchored pretty well. So that day I emailed photos to people at Streets Dept and Great Rivers Greenway (did the new rack) to inquire, copying Adam so he’d be in the loop.
The old races the next day, May 11, 2016They were removed on May 16, 2016, the cones are gone now.Cyclists now have a much better rack right in front of the entrance and pedestrians have full use of the sidewalk.
It’s all about how we share the public right-of-way (PROW).
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