Robert James Thomson Quotes

I don't see any possible excuse for any driver anywhere to endanger people.

Metro shows no signs of being able to make its trains run on time. This occurs during single-tracking and it occurs during normal rush hour service.

I wish the dashboard indicators for lights were standardized throughout the auto industry.

I don't know of any source for online maps showing the platform, stairs, escalators, elevators, mezzanines and other station details.

I don't believe any sort of traveler does a better job than any other sort of traveler at obeying traffic safety laws. It's difficult to foresee a camera program that can be used with bikers and walkers.

Drivers tend to look for other drivers, rather than for pedestrians or cyclists.

Many police officers watch for vehicles without headlights because it's a telltale of a drunk driver.

Metro, built in the late 20th century, is the most escalator-dependent system in the world.

When different generations of cars are combined into one train, it messes with the loudspeaker system.

I'm surprised when I see someone doing the logical, commonsense thing: Walk facing the oncoming traffic.

Automate the headlights so drivers can't forget to turn them on in low visibility.

I think that maps showing platform details would be useful to visitors, especially to chaperones of school groups, etc. Also useful would be either a compass rose or an arrow pointing North at every metro exit. Emerging from underground is disorienting, especially at night.

Over the decades, you got various companies involved in making escalators and you've got Metro varying between internal repair crews and contractors. They're dealing with old equipment, which of course is prone to break down, and the repair crews don't even know what's busted or who made the busted parts till they tear the things open. Then sometimes they have to go back to the shop and manufacture parts, because the original maker has gone out of business.

Back in 2011, when the weekend maintenance disruptions got more aggressive, we were told that the work on weekends and at night and midday would be enough to get the system back to a state of good repair.

That's the original problem from which the escalator mess stems. There's just too many of them.

When I look at the faces of turning drivers, I mostly see them looking in the direction of oncoming motorists rather than at the people they're about to turn into.

As our eyes age, they have a tougher and tougher time adjusting to rapid changes in lighting, and we need to be aware of this.

I don't see traffic fines as a substitute for a commuter tax.

I don't like the midnight closing on weekends. It's one thing to tell people they have to drive to Jiffy Lube Live in the outer suburbs.

If the Metro general manager, Paul Wiedefeld, says those extra hours for maintenance are necessary to help fix the system and make it safer, then that gets top priority.

My philosophy is: Everybody needs to look out for everybody else.

Motors that are vulnerable to shorting out because of snow ingestion should have snow filters installed over air intakes, and spare motors should be ready to replace any failed motors.

If you're driving more than 50 mph through a neighborhood where the speed limit is 25 mph, I question whether you should keep your driver's license. You're a menace to society.

The cars themselves are getting smarter and will be increasingly able to assist drivers - to the point where the cars will be completely automated.

I can't see a problem with imposing fines on drivers who violate traffic safety laws. The speed limit is the speed limit. A red light means stop. These things haven't changed since people got their driver's licenses.

Nobody likes paying tolls. It's difficult to explain the concept of dynamic tolling, where the price varies to maintain the flow of traffic. And it's difficult to explain why highway widenings don't wind up helping commuters in the long run.

There are easily accessible programs to help aging drivers maintain their skills, or recognize when they need to give up their cars.

Seems like people could behave themselves without making a calculation regarding how likely or unlikely they are to kill other people.

Some people make a separate argument about the red light cameras. They say it just changes the type of crash that's most likely to occur at an intersection.

Many Saturday mornings, I take 495 from Fairfax to Maryland in the morning, and I'm astonished by the speed of many of the drivers. Even when I drive 70 mph, I'm being passed by people driving 80-90+ at times.

SafeTrack - I keep saying this - is not going to fix Metro. It's a speeded up track work program, compressing three years of already planned work on the track bed into about a year.

It would be helpful to be able to see the layout and for the maps to label what exits to use to get to nearby sites/buildings so you aren't wandering the station trying to read the signs in the crowds.

If you think your job requires you to endanger people, get another job.

I love the cameras and don't mind mailing in my check when I fail to pay attention and go too fast.

Tolling plan is a wonderful opportunity for political pandering, and some candidates are taking full advantage of it.