Traffic Control
Mike-K sent me this. I'll be presenting it in reverse order (which make a bit more sense). The first is a link to a town's traffic control policy. For whatever reason, a section of downtown was designated 'pedestrian only' during shopping hours. The town was having problems policing the area, so decided upon a technical solution to the problem of keeping unauthorized vehicles out of the area.
Here's a video of the devices (Bollards) in action. I viewed the video from the house last night, but am having problems at work - apparently the 'use policies' are blocking the viewing here.
Mike first sent the link to the video and commented that this was a harsh thing to do. After viewing the video, I replied that it actually made sense. If the policy is no un-authorized vehicles, then the devices do an excellent job of enforcing the policy. Impartially, if harshly*.. Mike did a bit more research and found the link to a town's policy. It appears that the video and policy are for two different towns. In any case, the policy seems fair to all involved. It does allow vehicles for loading/unloading after hours, and has exceptions for emergencies. My other comment was that if the public does NOT like the policy, they have recourse to change the policy**.
I checked a few of the other links on the traffic policy site mentioned above - this one is related to parking. It also seems reasonable. Of course this is a government supported site, so it would tend to present the policies in a favorable light. To test the 'favorable light' idea, I did a quick check on Five Points. It's a shopping/entertainment area in Columbia SC (for those out-of -towners reading this). Currently there is a (minor?) dispute about parking meter enforcement and policies. The official Columbia SC website makes no mention of this.
Guntis
* Impartial except for the fact that maybe some town official and/or politician could try to get one of the devices that lowers the bollards. I am hoping that if somebody pulled strings to circumvent the policy, the media (newspaper, TV, radio) would publicize that official's mis-use of office.
Harsh, only in the minds of those who try to 'beat' the system and fail.
** Yes, I realize that fighting city hall can be a tedious process, and that sometimes special interests have an edge. The idealist part of me thinks that if the 'no vehicles policy' had enough support, it would get rescinded. Especially if economic pressure is put on the merchants by the public.