Quote:
Originally Posted by golfing eagles
There are always financial constraints to be considered. The number stated in the thread, accurate or not, was $300,000 to install striping and $100,000 per year maintenance. Divide by about 50,000 homes and this is 50 cents/ month for 1 year and 17 cents/ month thereafter.
Now consider this:
Ever notice those little highway millage markers every 1/10 mile on interstates, US highways, and most state highways?
There are 46,876 miles of interstates, with signs in both directions every 1/10 mile, for a total of 937,520 of them
There are an additional 175,514 miles in the National Highway system= another 3,510,280 signs
There are 780,000 miles of state highways = another 15,600,000 signs
Total 20,047,800 of these little markers
According to the Illinois Dept of highways, it costs $125 to MANUFACTURE each of the signs and more to install them, so lets assume a low number 0f $300/sign. This makes a total cost for these signs, installed, of 6.014 BILLION dollars. God only knows the yearly maintenance cost.
According to the IRS, there are 243 million adult Americans, of which 122 million pay federal income tax (which in and of itself is a different problem). Just under 1/2 of the returns are joint filings, so let's assume 80 million distinct 1040's that actually pay tax. Dividing into the 6 billion cost = $75.18 per tax return over however many years it took to put these signs up.
So, as far as cost benefit goes, what would you rather have---striping for $3 or little signs for $75??? I'm sure the maintenance on these little signs is more than that of the striping as well
And now for the coup de gras: The stated purpose of these markers, according to the US Highway Dept, is "to aid tow truck operators in locating disabled vehicles"
Now, if a professional tow truck operator cannot see a disabled vehicle from far further away than 1/10 mile, he certainly cannot read those little signs. And despite what I already posted , HE should be the one to stay off our MMPs
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When a sudden blown tire at 70 mph on an interstate caused my TR6 to lose control, bottom out in the median, take to the air across two lanes of opposing traffic and land up against a billboard, the people who stopped to help knew exactly how to pinpoint my location to the EMS by the mile marker.
Also, the quicker you can get disabled vehicles off the highway, the safer it is for motorists and occupants of the disabled vehicle.
I am not a careless driver, speeder, drunk driver, any of those things some are saying "Too bad, stay off the road" to. To this day I wonder if in my shock I ever even stepped on the brakes. I don't remember.
To me it's a matter of making the roads as safe as possible for every kind of driver. Back in the '70s it was a big deal to tally up the road deaths after holiday weekends. Cars and the roads have been made so safe you don't hear that much anymore.
And as for the poll... pick a torrential downpour after dark, take the pollsters out and let them navigate both marked and unmarked trails. Then let them vote.