Travel light, and ride close

May 12, 2008

It's been quite an experience riding the light rail system the past couple of weeks. Certainly it's been a great way to get to know your fellow Baltimoreans a little better. My favorite was that southbound stretch between Mount Washington and North Avenue, whipping around curves in a stuffed-to-the-gills one-car train while standing in a stairwell jotting down quotes offered by fellow members of the "crush load."

Recent columns

• Traffic court debate in session

  May 5, 2008

  Christopher Winslow of Baltimore is an ardent opponent of speed cameras who thinks I "really do follow the party line - the Nazi Party that is." He found my suggestion two weeks ago that citizens monitor the performance of their traffic courts to be downright sinister.

• Driven to make our roads safer

  April 28, 2008

  Two weeks ago, this column suggested that cutting Maryland's highway death toll of more than 600 a year in half would be a worthy -- and achievable -- goal.

• Speeders have their field day in court

  April 21, 2008

  Did it ever occur to you, while driving around Baltimore and its environs, that respect for Maryland's traffic laws had evaporated like dry ice left out on a July afternoon? Have you ever wondered why?

• It's time to form a safety coalition

  April 14, 2008

  Maryland's speeders can rest easy another year. Thanks to the tender concern of the Maryland General Assembly, they are free to race through your neighborhoods and through highway work zones without fear of being nailed by speed cameras.

• Gas pain might be changing our ways

  April 7, 2008

  It had to happen sometime. With gasoline prices pushing $3.50 a gallon, Marylanders might actually be changing their driving habits. The next thing you know, we'll be stopping for red lights.

• Drinking, driving, ferrying abroad

  March 31, 2008

  For a transportation junkie, one of the great attractions of foreign travel is seeing how other societies handle the universal challenge of getting around.

• Some big bothers over Big Brother

  March 24, 2008

  It's about time someone stood up for Big Brothers everywhere.

• LA roads are worse than ours. Hooray?

  March 17, 2008

  Last month, before taking a vacation of almost three weeks, I noticed a large pothole smack in the middle of one of the left-turn lanes of Conway Street at South Charles Street - right across from the Sheraton Hotel.

• Speeders don't like snitches, either

  February 25, 2008

  Avisit to Annapolis during the General Assembly session is usually good for a surreal moment or two. Last week's brought a doozy.

• Speeders, camera shy, slow down

  February 18, 2008

  There's a reason lead-footed folks hate speed cameras. They work. Right here in Maryland, they're already motivating drivers to take it a little easier on the gas.

• Every city deserves a ciclovia of its own

  February 11, 2008

  Greg Cantori wants to get into the Colombian import business and bring his product to the streets of Baltimore.

• ICC opponents can keep project honest

  November 26, 2007

  The toothpaste is out of the tube. The fat lady has not only sung; she's cooling down with a post-operatic beer. The Rubicon has been crossed - by a six-lane toll bridge.

• 'DWT' getting adults' attention

  June 18, 2007

  Sorry, kids. The sleeping Grownup Majority is awake - and ready to clamp down.

• Safety should be paramount in ICC

  June 4, 2007

  There are compelling reasons to build the Intercounty Connector and compelling reasons not to build it. I'm staying neutral on that issue. But let's assume the courts uphold the decision to complete the 18.8-mile toll road through the Washington suburbs.