Cameron on Transportation
Dudaweyll Dietmar Rabich

Faster Trains Are More Dangerous Trains, and When They Have a Lot of Railroad Crossings …

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Much has been written in praise of Brightline, the modern, stylish privately owned railroad serving Miami to West Palm Beach to Orlando with fast, comfortable trains. But the railroad also has the highest death rate of any railroad in the U.S., having killed 108 people since it began operations in 2017 — not its passengers but people crossing the railroad’s tracks. Last week alone at one grade crossing in Melbourne, Florida there were two accidents causing three deaths in as many days. Those “accidents” are under investigation by the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board. But all indications are these deaths, like the others, were caused by stupidity: people driving around the crossing gates that lower before the train roars through.

Cameron on Transportation

The Car Insurance Trade-Off: Cut Your Bill or Keep Your Driving Habits Private

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Are you paying too much for auto insurance? You’re not alone as rates in Connecticut went up 8% last year and 20% since 2018 thanks to inflation, higher repair costs and riskier driving by too many drivers. But now there’s a way to lower your rates significantly — if you are willing to let Big Brother monitor your driving habits online via Telematics. All of the major insurance companies are now employing this technology to better understand their customers’ driving style and reward good drivers. When first launched almost 20 years ago this meant you’d have to plug a fob into your car’s OBD (on board diagnostics) connection which would monitor how you drive for a few months.

Cameron on Transportation
Jim Cameron

It’s Easy to Identify the Problems on Interstate 95 — Much Harder To Pay To Fix Them

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Have you noticed how terrible our traffic is lately? Not just in comparison to the empty roads and blue skies during the pandemic lockdown, but even compared to pre-COVID times. The rush hour on Interstate 95 starts earlier and runs later, pretty much all day long. The increased volume is due in large part to the return to the office but by car, not mass transit (where ridership is still only 50% of the good old days). If there were easy answers to this congestion, they’d have been implemented by now.