Britain's Greenie "expert" at reducing traffic congestion wants to do it by slowing drivers down -- which will keep them on the roads longer -- which will INCREASE congestion!
Speed cameras are a major cause of traffic congestion and the technology to replace them already exists, Britain's new motorway "jambuster" has admitted. Derek Turner, who was appointed by the Highways Agency last month to tackle congestion on major routes, said speed governors, similar to those used in lorries and coaches, offered an alternative way of slowing traffic.
He said the device could help prevent the traffic jams caused by drivers braking sharply as they approach a camera. Mr Turner said: "Speed cameras do cause congestion. There is a lot of sophistication in the electronics field that you could introduce."
He also criticised car drivers who clog up motorways by taking short trips. He said: "A lot of the problem is to do with people joining the motorway at one junction and coming straight off at the next junction. These are strategic roads, designed for longer-distance traffic." He is considering placing more traffic lights on slip roads to encourage drivers to shun motorways. "If people can't get on to the motorway so easily, they will probably choose to use totally acceptable trunk roads," he said.
Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the AA Motoring Trust, said the comments seemed to be a "little bit batty". He said: "In a number of places ... previous roads have been replaced by motorways and have been seriously reduced in capacity in an attempt to stop people using them and in an attempt to make driving through surrounding villages less possible and less desirable." And he added: "I am a trifle baffled by the speed camera comment. "The only way I can think they affect congestion, they do make people go slower to be safe - and the answer to that is remarkably simple: go and put up signs so people know what the limit is."
Tony Vickers, spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, said Mr Turner's comments came as "no surprise at all" as he had been one of the major lights introducing the congestion charge in London. "He always made his priorities very clear. He sees private car users as the bottom feeders effectively, the people least entitled to any privileges whatsoever on the road." He described government policy since 1997 as "negative" and a "war on motorists", which had completely failed to reduce the numbers of cars on the roads.
Source
KILIMANJARO'S SHRINKING GLACIER AND GREENHOUSE GASES: A MOUNTAIN OF LIES
EXHIBIT #1: Hysterical Left-wing Greenies' Make Outrageous Charges -
EXHIBIT #2: REAL Scientists Counter with TRUTH -"Reuters": A photo of Mount Kilimanjaro stripped of its snowcap for the first time in 11,000 years will be used as dramatic testimony for action against global warming as ministers from the world's biggest polluters meet today. Gathering in London on Tuesday for a two-day brainstorming session on the environment agenda of Britain's presidency of the Group of Eight rich nations, the environment and energy ministers from 20 countries will be handed a book containing the stark image of Africa's tallest mountain, among others.
"This is a wake-up call and an unequivocal message that a low-carbon global economy is necessary, achievable and affordable," said Steve Howard of the Climate Group charity which organised the book and an associated exhibition. "We are breaking climate change out of the environment box. This crisis affects all of us. This is a global challenge and we need real leadership to address these major problems -- and these ministers can give that leadership," he told Reuters.
The pictures include one of Kilimanjaro almost bare of its icecap because of global warming, and coastal defences in the Marshall Islands threatened with swamping from rising sea levels.
(NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC) -
FACTS IN SUMMARY:... reports of glacial recession on Kilimanjaro first emerged in 2002, the story was quickly picked up and trumpeted as another example of humans destroying nature. It's easy to see why: Ice fields in the tropics-Kilimanjaro lies about 220 miles (350 kilometers) south of the Equator-are particularly susceptible to climate change, and even the slightest temperature fluctuation can have devastating effects.
"There's a tendency for people to take this temperature increase and draw quick conclusions, which is a mistake," said Douglas R. Hardy, a climatologist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, who monitored Kilimanjaro's glaciers from mountaintop weather stations since 2000. "The real explanations are much more complex. Global warming plays a part, but a variety of factors are really involved."
According to Hardy, forest reduction in the areas surrounding Kilimanjaro, and not global warming, might be the strongest human influence on glacial recession.
"Clearing for agriculture and forest fires-often caused by honey collectors trying to smoke bees out of their hives-have greatly reduced the surrounding forests," he says. The loss of foliage causes less moisture to be pumped into the atmosphere, leading to reduced cloud cover and precipitation and increased solar radiation and glacial evaporation.
Evidence of glacial recession on Kilimanjaro is often dated from 1912, but most scientists believe tropical glaciers began receding as early as the 1850s.
Stefan L. Hastenrath, a professor of atmospheric studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has found clues in local reports of a dramatic drop in East African lake levels after 1880. Lake evaporation indicates a decrease in precipitation and cloudiness around Kilimanjaro.
"Less cloud coverage lets more sunlight filter through and hit the glaciers," Hastenrath said. "That increase in sunlight then provides more energy for evaporation of the glacier."
Hastenrath found further evidence in sailing expedition reports from the same period. "Ships along the East African coast recorded very fast equatorial winds around 1880," he said. "Just like today, swift westerlies are always linked with drier seasons in East Africa, so it's very likely Kilimanjaro had a dry period around this time."
Along with a higher risk of evaporation, a drop in precipitation also makes for a dark glacial surface, made up of old, dirty snow. A darker glacial surface absorbs more solar radiation than fresh, white snow (like a blacktop playground baking in the sun).
Global warming began to take effect in East Africa by the early 20th century.
(1) The current recession of Mt. Kilimajaro's glacier began a CENTURY BEFORE fossil fuel use became global.(2) The current recession of Mt. Kilimanjaro's glacier is the result of LOCAL activities which can be addressed locally - and have NOTHING to do with use of fossil fuels in other parts of the world.(3) The current recession of Mt. Kilimanjaro's glacier is also effected by regional wind current patterns and local cloud cover - and NOT CLIMATIC CHANGES OR GLOBAL WARMING.(4) The "Greenies" ADMIT that Mt. Kilimanjaro was GLACIER FREE 11,000 YEARS ago; WELL... there were NO SUV's then, and NO man-made "greenhouse gases" to cause this; therefore, asserting that "greenhouse gases" are causing it now is HIGHLY SUSPECT.
(Post lifted from Astute Blogger. He might also have mentioned that some glaciers elsewhere are rapidly getting bigger -- such as the Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand. Tricky stuff that global warming! Using local phenomena to make global inferences is of course the real idiocy involved. You can "prove" anything by argument from example)
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Many people would like to be kind to others so Leftists exploit that with their nonsense about equality. Most people want a clean, green environment so Greenies exploit that by inventing all sorts of far-fetched threats to the environment. But for both, the real motive is to promote themselves as wiser and better than everyone else, truth regardless.
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Jim Hansen and his twin
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