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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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