An awesome visual, courtesy of Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhagenize.com, that tells how our mobility models have changed over the years.. In a way it serves a testament to show how much the highway lobby has influenced our society’s transportation preferences, diminishing walking and bicycling over the generations.
A Short History of Traffic Engineering – Image Courtesy: Copenhagenize.com
Just a couple of hours ago, the premier transit agency in the nation’s capitol (WMATA) suffered a serious service outage on one of the heavily traveled train lines (Green Line). The abrupt disruptions have left many commuters stranded without a way out of the Navy Yard (and Anacostia) area, a major hub for riders employed at many of the facilities, including the US Department of Transportation, situated in the vicinity. Though it was an unexpected situation, #WMATA was a bit slow to respond and got customers ticked (to put it lightly). And the customers have already taken to using social media sharing pics. and tweets from the scene. To WMATA’s credit, the communications team at the agency was trying its best to deal with the situation, which is a bit more heartening than how they did in similar situations in the past. Here is a sample of what’s happening on Twitter as we speak :
A sample of what’s happening at Twitter hashtag #WMATA
Looks like it is going to be a long night for all involved, esp. for the communications team at WMATA. Hope they learn sooner than later to deal with/cool down their customers before they all start flocking to their personal automobiles to get around the town.
English: District of Columbia Department of Transportation (d-dot) logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’m a big fan of transportation agencies using social media to reach their customers & stakeholders. But often you will find many of these agencies send out tweets and Facebook posts that are plain boring and borderline irritating. Fortunately, some agencies do understand the importance of adding humor and fun to keep their messages appealing yet entertaining without looking too mundane. Among a handful of agencies that do this so well is @DDOTDC (aka DC Department of Transportation). They always know how to mix up the seriousness of a bland transportation message with a little bit of humor to make it easy for the end-user to consume, esp. at the end of a long day. The communications team at @DDOTDC has done a commendable job on many occasions and today is not an exception.
Like every time it happens, today DC metropolitan area got into panic-mode when snow flurries started hitting the ground. As folks left offices/workplaces early, the vehicle traffic started building up on the streets. So, to lighten up the mood and poke a bit of fun of the traditional behavior of DC metro residents, the @DDOTDC team pushed out a series of fun tweets titled Top 5 signs it’s snowing in DC”:
https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294905698196811776
https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906098425679873
https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906463334301696
https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906684915208194
https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906972103393280
https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294905698196811776
https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906098425679873
https://twitter.com/DDOTDC/status/294906463334301696
And you see my point? How refreshing is it to see a public agency do something like this instead of just sending out plain boring traffic congestion updates during an already crazy time on the streets? If you happen to serve as a communications in-charge at any transportation agency, you will be thrilled to see such great levels of audience engagement from the community for each one of these messages (i.e., retweets, Favs, etc). So, if you get a chance, say “Thank You” to the @DDOTDC team for their fun yet sincere community service and all the hard work they put in to keeps us safe on the roads.
(Image Courtesy: veterinarytechnicianschools.com)
Every year, the United States spends billions in medical, road-repair and vehicle costs due collisions between vehicles and animals, not to mention the trauma of all of the human and animal lives that are lost. But is anything being done about this problem? The professionals use their expertise to help shrink the number of animal-vehicle collisions (AVCs) and the resulting horrific consequences. This infographic gives some background on the problem of AVCs and presents some of the solutions currently deployed to mitigate this growing problem.
Image Courtesy: Veterinarytechnicalschools.com
Despite the bold predictions (75% of vehicles on road will be autonomous by 2040!!!), the infographic below visually captures some of the benefits of autonomous vehicles..
From: Bankrate Insurance’s InsuranceQuotes.com
(Image Courtesy: European PressPhoto Agency via NBCNews)
Prime minister turns traffic cop after hitting East Timor gridlock Image Courtesy: EPA via NBC News
Prime minister turns traffic cop after hitting East Timor gridlock Image Courtesy: EPA via NBC News
How often you see the leader of a nation get down to the street and direct traffic flow? The answer is NEVER. But that changed today. The Prime Minister of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao, turned traffic cop on Monday after his car got stuck in a traffic jam outside the presidential office in the capital Dili.
Source: Imgur via Reddit
Trying to take the subway the day after New Years.Image Courtesy: Imgur via Reddit
Blame it on Toyota for starting the fad of mommys and daddys rapping to sell an automotive (remember, Swagger Wagon?). Now, Fiat has taken it to the next level and added a bit of British Swag to make it sexy. Yeah! What is there to not love a Fiat driving, British mother of rap who brags about wearing her nursing bra like a bullet-proof vest and swapping her sexy handbag for a snot-stained sack. Oh, and she proudly declares that her crew also includes her bitches (two cute little dogs) and her hose (of the garden variety). Refreshing, right? Fiat is awesomely rolling in the deep lately with creative advertising. It all started with its commercial for the 2012 Super Bowl titled Seduction and it has progressively gotten better from there. Can’t wait to see the next evolution of this creative binge. Check it out!
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNVde5HPhYo&hd=1′]
(via Mashable)
(Source: Imgur)
Not sure what he is implying with the score keeping (possibly the 8 years he spent as a cyclist and four on a wheel chair or it could very well be the number of bikes and wheel chairs he took out while driving the car) but he seems to have a good sense of humor..
Image courtesy: Imgur
Came across this video of a dad advocating against drunk driving.. Mind you, this is not your average 2 mins. pitch. It leaves you with a haunting memory of a family that is trying to pick up its pieces after a horrific accident took away and shows you the lasting impact of a drunk driver on the society at large. Something about the man and his compelling but monotonous appeal still tugs my heart. Oh, please don’t think, even for a minute, that it is an isolated case. Here are some statistics from Mothers Against Drunk Driving that will sober you to the reality:
