| Referendum Summary 2.3 July 5, 2005 California Residents are asked to vote for the largest anti-congestion and gasoline conservation initiative ever implemented anywhere, including: 1) The allocation of at least 30% of the planned California High Speed Rail sales tax for implementation of the semi-governmental Hallitube program, including 2) Multiple design of carts pylons, power pickup, engines, rail switches, rail-carpet interfaces, and powerline-street interfaces. 3) Legislation requiring the addition of yielding lights to all automobiles in California, to reduce confusion in unregulated right-of-way situations. 4) Mandatory usage by police of anti-rubbernecking visual shielding to prevent delays at accident sites. 5) Special grants and tax incentives for buyers and manufacturers of car-top cameras. 6) Rearrangement of existing bus stations to coincide with stop signs if within reasonable distance, and attachment of new signal lights at the back of buses informing motorist of likely duration of the stop. 7) Installation of left-turn green-arrow audible signals at the busiest intersection, and second-in-queue motorist obligation to briefly sound horn on green arrow if external signal is not provided. 8) LED annunciator boards at bus stations displaying in large LEDs the next three bus numbers arriving and probable duration, equipment of buses with corresponding emitters. Installation of all bus stop enhancements will proceed from most to least busy route. 9) Minimalist passenger overpasses/mechanization program will install non-escalator mechanisms to rapidly move trained pedestrians over elevated overpasses. 10) Traffic rules will be modified to allow 42-55 age group to proceed through certain marked red lights under specified conditions, additional penalties for intersection blocking, and physical manipulation of cell phones while at unregulated intersection. 11) Incentives for local transit agencies to dispose of large non-natural gas buses in favor of smaller buses easily operated, and with lite handicap access. 12) System to allow passenger to act as light-bus drivers including training and financial rewards, to reduce operations cost of mass transit. 13) Subsidization of portable devices such as the "staircane TM" to ease handicapped interaction with transit facilities 14) Significant funding for additional handicapped buses with a cell phone based position reporting system. (Compliance with ADA via extra ride creation) 14) i.) braille or sound sound-based query interrogation system for handicapped transit options for the blind. 15) Additional exit and sedan microflyover ramp development for selected shopping malls meeting specified congestion criteria (attempt to exit > 9 minutes) 16) Establishment of a semi-public body to administer these reforms and market their adoption to other states with California as expertise center. 17) New traffic rule: departure intent positioning of vehicles in lanes which are both straight and right turn lanes. Currently, a vehicle driving straight is still allowed to clog the gap that could be used by right-turners. 18) Pull-up-to-bumper (PUB) rule for cars waiting in a lane divide section where their car obstructs cars behind them waiting to move into a lane besides them. 18.) a) Intend to depart lane-positioning (IDLP). Driver must park on leftmost portion of a right lane if he plans to drive straight, so that right-turners can pass him. 19) Standardization of driver alert and police procedure for road sections involving ongoing suicide attempts with lane alerting rather than blocking. Front seat occupants to pull seat back from front window, lean back, cover face while observing jumper when passing lane below jumper position. Drivers in adjacent lanes to move to sides as much as possible to allow center car to evade central jump path. 20) Funding for novel, safe technologies to stop highway police chases, including devices relayed from helicopters, mandatory public participati 21) Drivers to carry disposable or other camera in car at all times, implementation of new procedure for minor accidental handling, drivers required to remove cars at once in many cases. 22) Funding for development of large LCD displays posted at shopping mall entrances, displaying enhanced real-time video of empty spots, and departing and cruising vehicles, to insure that drivers enter a lot only when spots are available. 23) Enactment of rules to allow sidewalks to be shared by personal mobility devices, and funds for repairing of damaged sidewalks to make scooter and racebike use easier. Hallitube users excempt from local ordinances pertaining to sidewalks if adhering to safety rules. Bicycle obstacle course training to guard riders against greater frequency of falls and collisions encountered on sidewalks. Sidewalk advisories developed for 2-mile regions surrounding a Hallitube endpoint. Mandatory stopping at road intersections, with loss of license as violation penalty. 24) Tax-incentives for installation of drive-cams into cars to increase driver compliance with rules. 25) Employers required to send and update address list of employees (w.o. names) to CALTRANS/General Transit so that commuting patterns can be drawn, data to be shared by transit providers. 26) Creation of INOVETA, Institute for Non-Vehicular Transit Alternatives. To cultivate cross-discipline creativity, participants cannot be transportation engineers. Will test possibility of moving people through tubes without vehicles via cooled and highly lubricated surfaces. |