sasha on the street

Having recently returned from a ski camp in  Quebec I was just amazed at their snow removal and ice maintenance procedures.
Snow Removal…
The Quebec plows don’t mess around, if you are in the way you get hit AND it’s your fault! Out in the rural areas on the highways the plows drive at about 100 kilometers [...]

The London Free Press is reporting this morning on an audit currently underway in Ontario. The number 1 concern … SAFETY. The article starts with the devastating propane explosion in Toronto this passed summer; that definitely was a wake up call that perhaps we aren’t that safe!
What peaked my interest in the article was the [...]

As the term comes to a close here in Toronto (no I do not go to York, which is currently on strike) I am in the process of writing all my final papers. One of my classes is called Concrete Technology and Non-Destructive Testing and initially I thought the paper I was writing was not [...]

I wrote a book review for a class I’m taking and decided to post it on my blog as well (you can find it here).
The book was amazing. Jane Jacobs helped to shape Toronto to who it is today - full of character, full of life, and full of interesting people and places.
Her book definitely [...]

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the joint OTC/ITEconference on urban streetscaping. Most of the speakers were from the City of Toronto but the first presentation, one of the better ones, was from the City of Markham. The best presentation of the day was by Phil Weber of Ourston Roundabouts.
What is Streetscaping?
Streetscaping is any [...]

Transit City. Metrolinx. Promised money from Government. All of this is supposed to help the ailing TTC system. But aren’t there a few things we can do in the short-term that are inexpensive and would improve the system.
Here are some of my suggestions:

Paying with Plastic: We live in a plastic society. Rarely do I carry [...]

Podestrian = pedestrian + mp3 player.

Apparently people are listening to music so loud that they cannot hear the approaching traffic. Or they have the headphones that cancel out the background noises, which again make it difficult to hear approaching traffic. Plus with all the new smartphones (blackberry, palm, iPhone, etc) people really are not intune [...]

When I took my new job in the spring one of my goals was to use my car less frequently and travel by ‘green’ means, whether that was by public transportation, carpooling, biking, etc.
Lately it has become more challenging with the weather, but more importantly because I’m beginning to fear my own personal safety.
On Wednesday night [...]

BBS, what’s that? Bus-Bypass Shoulders. What that means is that during peak congestion hours on highways buses have the right of way on the shoulders and can pass slower moving traffic. Back in August I wrote an article for Traffic Technology International on the benefits of BBS. (It can be found here).
Last week I had the [...]

It was a pretty busy week between class and the Transportation Association of Canada Conference but it was a great learning experience. This week our focus was the technology-based connectiveness …
Did we influence technology or did technology influence us?
Vanderburg cited that it was cyclical and he used the example of the the textile industry to illustrate [...]