Lindsay Fox warns of road congestion risks

[kscarbel2]

Prime Mover Magazine  /  November 3, 2016

Australian truck industry icon, Lindsay Fox, has reportedly urged Australia’s political leaders to take greater risks and adopt a science-based approach to alleviating road congestion.

According to The Australian, the Linfox founder recently likened Australia’s road systems to a critically ill patient in need of emergency surgery.

“Having just watched the Hollywood adaptation of Moneyball – the story of a cash-strapped Major League Baseball manager who uses business ­analytics to squeeze more wins out of unfashionable players – Mr Fox called on both sides of politics to take a similarly radical approach towards improving traffic flow on our roads,” reported The Australian’s Chip Le Grand.

“Over the past 20 years we haven’t had a politician who was prepared to have a go,” Fox told Le Grand. “They are totally risk-averse and because of that it is easier for them to stay doing what they are doing. If I had stayed with my first truck I’d still be driving it instead of employing 36,000 people.’’

According to The Australian, Fox said just as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane made radical use of available data on baseball to shape a winning line-up, governments needed to make better use of information and technology to get the best return from city roads.

“City infrastructure hasn’t changed with the exception of more people and congestion,” the told the newspaper. “As long as you eat and as long as you drink and as long as you drive you have got to have trucks to move it all. Instead of roads being used as roads they are being used as bicycle paths, tram stops and car parks. It can’t go on.”

[mrsmackpaul]

Love him or hate him, he is on the money with this.

Paul

[TeamsterGrrrl]

Makes sense- Many big governments and corporations are pretty dysfunctional and inefficient. 

[carlotpilot]

Mr. Fox has not seen anything yet. Wait until the utter insanity of driverless vehicles combined with 160-180 mph cars+robot trucks +those looking to get rich with law suits hits the freeways.

[Quickfarms]

I see it around here. The traffic engineers and tree huggers are nuts.

In industrial areas they remove the painted median and plant trees thus forcing vehicles to stop in traffic lanes and other issues.

The other thing that is happening is they take a four lane road and add a planted median and bike lanes and you end up with a two lane road thus forcing the traffic onto the freeways.

[BillyT]

Several things,as usual each member has an insightful comment! Poor highway design,one of my.pet peeves for the last 40 yrs! Two examples, I 40, Ok City westbound as I remember there is an overpass where  The highway dips down to go under the bridge! No problem in the day,it is obvious,at night if vehicles are going N or S across the bridge and you were tired or dozing, It looks like you're gonna hit them broadside! Of course you aren't supposed to drive when you're tired so of course nobody does right?😁 Of course if you aren't fatigued you realize you're on an interstate and there is no cross traffic ( hopefully!) I can imagine a fatigued driver seeing the lights of those vehicles for the first time and locking it up!  My "lock it up" reflex entered my mind even having driven thru there many times! The other one should get the award for potentially fatal highway design! 84 Pa where nb I 79 crosses I 70 ! There is a 90 degree turn, very well marked, but if you're new to the area you aren't gonna believe how tight it is! So many truckers were killed there that the Washington County coroner sat there several days to figure out how to make it safer! I lived three miles away for ten yrs! They finally put up a shiny smooth concrete barrier for the trucks to rub on to prevent them from turning over! Haven't been thru there for years,so I don't know if they have improved it further! How about "a 1000.00 fine and 10 days in jail if you hit this wall? Maybe that would get their attention! Another situation that every driver puts up with is the penchant of every big box store industrial park, and parking lot owner to plant trees and shrubbery on the corners of every street in their facility so it blocks your vision when you try to pull out! Also in many cases the stop signs are too low to see if you're in a higher truck or Cabover! Should have a second ss up higher! Every Wal Mart in America has this situation! Car lot, there was an article in Car and Driver concerning the Legalities of driving an autonomous vehicle! Who is responsible when the collision mitigation feature fails or the brakes lock up for no reason? The builder or the rider? Like you said wait til the folks who have been staging accidents for the insurance money home in on this opportunity! I was looking for a video of the Edmund Fitzgerald for my grandson ( he's a fan of maritime disasters)  and I came across a survey of otr truckers some media types did at the Petro in Effingham! Very depressing! Every member needs to see this! I need all of the members especially OD since he runs long haul and seems to still love it!,to see this and comment! A couple of real truckers among them,the rest hmmm? The 22 year old from Maine has potential!  If I was younger I'd love to apply at one of these diploma mills or truckload carriers who train steering wheel holders and pretend I've never driven!  What a rush! But how do you pretend you have never driven a stick? Whoops I forgot  you dont have to!