#road legislation

[diagnozabam]

Sistemul e-SIGUR: Noile radare fixe din România trimit amenzile direct acasă

Poliția Română a activat sistemul e-SIGUR, o soluție modernă pentru monitorizarea traficului rutier și sancționarea șoferilor care depășesc limita de viteză. Primele dispozitive fixe au fost instalate pe autostrăzile A1, A2 și Drumul Național DN2, urmând să fie extinse treptat la nivel național. Cum funcționează sistemul e-SIGUR Sistemul e-SIGUR include radare fixe și camere video amplasate…

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to rule Friday on whether the Safe Third Country Agreement between the U.S. and Canada is constitutional in a case that could have ramifications on the 2004 bilateral treaty that governs the flow of asylum seekers across the border. Under the agreement, asylum seekers are required to make their claim at the first “safe” country they reach. It has meant that, in practice, border officials in Canada turn back would-be asylum seekers who show up at official checkpoints from the U.S. But a loophole exists, and those who cross into Canada or the U.S. at unofficial crossings have been able to make their claims when intercepted by authorities — for example, the border officials at Roxham Road in Quebec. The Canadian Council for Refugees brought forward the case in 2017 which is now before the nation’s top court, arguing that the U.S. is not always a safe country for all refugees. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada, @vague-humanoid

[sapphia]

USA please listen to me: the price of “teaching them a lesson” is too high. take it from New Zealand, who voted our Labour government out in the last election because they weren’t doing exactly what we wanted and got facism instead.

Trans rights are being attacked, public transport has been defunded, tax cuts issued for the wealthy, they've mass-defunded public services, cut and attacked the disability funding model, cut benefits, diverted transport funding to roads, cut all recent public transport subsidies, cancelled massive important infrastructure projects like damns and ferries (we are three ISLANDS), fast tracked mining, oil, and other massive environmentally detrimental projects and gave the power the to approve these projects singularly to three ministers who have been wined and dined by lobbyists of the companies that have put the bids in to approve them while one of the main minister infers he will not prioritise the protection of endangered species like the archeys frog over mining projects that do massive environmental harm. They have attacked indigenous rights in an attempt to negate the Treaty of Waitangi by “redefining it”; as a backup, they are also trying to remove all mentions of the treaty from legislation starting with our Child Protection laws no longer requiring social workers to consider the importance of Maori children’s culture when placing those children; when the Waitangi Tribunal who oversees indigenous matters sought to enquire about this, the Minister for Children blocked their enquiry in a breach of comity that was condemned in a ruling — too late to do anything — by our Supreme Court. They have repealed labour protections around pay and 90 day trials, reversed our smoking ban, cancelled our EV subsidy, cancelled our water infrastructure scheme that would have given Maori iwi a say in water asset management, cancelled our biggest city’s fuel tax, made our treasury and inland revenue departments less accountable, dispensed of our Productivity Commission, begun work on charter schools and military boot camps in an obvious push towards privatisation, cancelled grants for first home buyers, reduced access to emergency housing, allowed no cause evictions, cancelled our Maori health system that would have given Maori control over their own public medical care and funding, cut funding of services like budgeting advice and food banks, cancelled the consumer advocacy council, cancelled our medicine regulations, repealed free prescriptions, deferred multiple hospital builds, failed to deliver on pre-election medical promises, reversed a gun ban created in response to the mosque shootings, brought back three strikes = life sentence policy, increased minimum wage by half the recommended amount, cancelled fair pay for disabled workers, reduced wheelchair services, reversed our oil and gas exploration ban, cancelled our climate emergency fund, cut science research funding including climate research, removed limits on killing sea lions, cut funding for the climate change commission, weakened our methane targets, cancelled Significant National Areas protections, have begun reversing our ban on live exports. Much of this was passed under urgency.

It’s been six months.

[the-cimmerians]

In 2022, Massachusetts residents voted in favor of a Fair Tax ballot measure to extra-super-duper-tax those earning more than one million dollars a year and to spend the revenue from that on education and transportation initiatives.

Naturally, there were the naysayers. Those who warned that all of the state’s rich people would move away to their very own Galt’s Gulch or whatever, if they were forced to pay a four percent tax on anything they make over a million dollars. The implication there, of course, is that raising this tax would, ironically, lead to the state collecting less revenue overall.

That didn’t happen! In fact, the state has already raised $1.8 billion in revenue so far for this fiscal year — which is $800 million more than they expected, and they still have a few months to go. The vast majority of the surplus will go to a fund that legislators can use for one-time investments in various projects.

The revenue has already been invested in universal school lunches, in more scholarships to public colleges, in improvements to the MBTA, and to repair roads and bridges. These are all things that will improve the quality of life for everyone, including the “ultra-rich” who happen to live there. The fact is, it’s just nice to live in a society that is more civil, that takes care of its people and its children and that fixes things when they are broken.

[ ]

Elizabeth Warren, Pramila Jayapal, and others have introduced bills in the House and Senate for a nationwide millionaire’s tax of two percent — two cents on the dollar for all wealth exceeding $50 million and six percent on all wealth over a billion dollars. This would bring in an estimated $3.75 trillion over 10 years, which we could use to improve the lives of all US citizens. We could have so many nice things!

It’s time to stop living in fear of what millionaires and billionaires — who have made their fortunes off of roads we’ve paid for and employees we’ve paid to educate — will do or where they will move if forced to pay their fair share. That’s no way to live. If they have some place better to go that won’t force them to contribute to improving their community? Let them. Other people will come along and be more than happy to pick up where they left off. But more than likely, they won’t do jack shit because they’re rich, and if they wanted to live someplace else, they’d be there by now.

[manilaswivel]

We need everyone's help right now to protect the rainforest and Indigenous People

The Amazon Rainforest is under a massive threat. I know you've heard this a million times, but this is different. There is a piece of legislation that will decimate the rights of Indigenous people of Brazil, who have been protecting the rainforest. It's unfathomably bad. It has majority support. And they're voting tomorrow. As reported here, the Bill allows "the Brazilian government to find energy resources, set up military bases, develop strategic roads, and implement commercial agriculture on protected Indigenous tribal lands, without any prior discussion with the affected peoples."

The thing you can do—and I know this sounds overly simple—is sign this petition—and tell your friends to do the same: SIGN HERE.

As reported here, the Bill allows "the Brazilian government to find energy resources, set up military bases, develop strategic roads, and implement commercial agriculture on protected Indigenous tribal lands, without any prior discussion with the affected peoples."

Again, this bill has majority support. You may be wondering, why will a petition signed by people who don't live in Brazil make any difference? Because it will give those opposing it political air cover. It will show the world is with them.

But we need a LOT of signatures.

Please do this simple act and spread the word.

[techdriveplay]

The Impact of Autonomous Automobiles on the Future of Driving 

Explore the profound impact of autonomous automobiles on driving's future, from safety enhancements to urban mobility transformation.

The advent of autonomous automobiles is poised to revolutionize the way we perceive and engage with personal and public transportation. This technological leap forward promises to reshape the urban landscape, redefine our commuting habits, and even transform the underlying economics of transportation. In this article, we explore the multifaceted impact of autonomous automobiles on the future of…

[hargo-news]

Candidate for the Indonesian House of Representatives Visits Pinogu, Residents Say: Only Mr. Sawaludin

Candidate for the Indonesian House of Representatives Visits Pinogu, Residents Say: Only Mr. Sawaludin #SawaludinCampaign #VisitPinogu

Hargo.co.id, GORONTALO – Sawaludin, a legislative candidate from the United Development Party (PPP) for the Indonesian House of Representatives with number 3 on the ballot, becomes the first candidate to visit Pinogu District. This is based on Marten Laji’s (37) statement, one of the residents of Pinogu, after attending a PPP dialogic campaign on Wednesday (24/1/2024). “I am very amazed by him…

[emeryleewho]

I keep seeing posts talking about the WGA/Sag-Aftra strike, which yes, good, but in all this "support writers" sentiment I'm seeing no one talk about book writers, which I think is something people should know more about right now.

We are at an all-time high for book bans, namely targeting queer & PoC-authored books. This means that a lot of schools and libraries are no longer stocking diverse YA books, and if you're not in publishing, you may not realize this but school & libraries are by far one of the biggest markets for diverse YA books.

This means that in 2023, YA book sales are down. This is also in part because Barnes & Noble (the largest physical book retailer in the U.S.) is no longer really stocking YA hardcovers. This means that marginalized authors and debut authors are struggling to sell books.

But it's a LOT worse than that. In the past couple of years, marginalized authors are *really* struggling to get new book deals. Most books are acquired by a publisher about 2 years before they release to the public, so this isn't all that noticeable yet, but a LOT of marginalized authors I've spoken to (myself included) have been unable to sell a new YA book since 2020. So while I had a book out last year, even if I sell one right now, you won't see it until 2025-2026. That's three to four years without a new release or the income I get from publishing those books.

On top of that, Big 5 publishers have started closing imprints (namely their diverse imprints) and have started telling their marginalized YA authors to just go. I've had multiple authors tell me their publisher basically said, "eh, we don't care to put in the work for you anymore. You can just go somewhere else". Of the authors who *are* getting offered new contracts, we're being offered pay far below the cost of living and we're being handed contracts that split our payments 4 or 5 ways and require we sign over our work to be used to train AI so they can replace us a few years down the road.

Authors are freelancers who own our IPs, which means we can't unionize the way Hollywood writers can, and despite authors showing up in droves to support HarperCollins employees when they went on strike for fair wages, we're being hung out to dry when it comes to our own rights.

If you enjoy diverse books, especially diverse YA, please understand that many of the authors you loved over the past 3-5 years are being forced out of the industry. We're being exploited, and we have no way to defend ourselves. Our books sales are drying up thanks to anti-queer legislation, our rights are being eaten up by AI, and our publishers are degrading us while profiting of us and refusing to share those profits with us.

Within the publishing industry, we've all been watching this decline happen over the last decade, but outside of it, I know most people have no idea what's going on so please spread the word. And if you care about diverse books especially in YA, please support marginalized authors in any way you can. The industry needs to be reminded that it needs us before we're all eliminated from it.

[nientedal]

If you can't or won't put your religion aside when you go to work in government, where religion explicitly has no place, then you have an unresolvable conflict of interest and your only ethical course of action is to resign.

Assuming, of course, that you care about ethics 🙃

Rep James Talarico [D-TX] is making point after point, showing how Republicans are putting the Ten Commandments above the Constitution.

Vote the christofascist GOP out of every office.

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

hello and welcome to the uk is a fucking hell country, part 284829494

[alt text:]

Anti-monarchists receive ‘intimidatory’ Home Office letter on new protest laws

Home Office claims timing of new powers, taking effect days before king’s coronation, is coincidental

Ben Quinn, Rajeev Syal and Vikram Dodd

Official warning letters have been sent to anti-monarchists planning peaceful protests at King Charles III’s coronation saying that new criminal offences to prevent disruption have been rushed into law.

Using tactics described by lawyers as “intimidatory”, the Home Office’s Police Powers Unit wrote to the campaign group Republic saying new powers had been brought forward to prevent “disruption at major sporting and cultural events”.

The new law, given royal assent by Charles on Tuesday, means that from Wednesday:

Protesters who block roads, airports and railways could face 12 months behind bars.

Anyone locking on to others, objects or buildings could go to prison for six months and face an unlimited fine.

Police will be able to head off disruption by stopping and searching protesters if they suspect they are setting out to cause chaos.

Jun Pang, a policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: “Key measures in the bill will come into force just days before the coronation of King Charles – a significant event in our country’s history that is bound to inspire a wider national conversation and public protests. At the same time, the government are using a statutory instrument to bring draconian measures that the House of Lords threw out of the bill back from the dead, once again evading scrutiny and accountability.

“It’s worrying to see the police handed so many new powers to restrict protest, especially before a major national event. When the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act came into force, the police repeatedly misused them – in part because they simply did not understand them. Similarly, when Queen Elizabeth died, we saw police acting in inappropriate and heavy-handed ways towards protesters that violated their rights.”

Shami Chakrabarti, the former shadow attorney general, said: “During the passage of this illiberal and headline-grabbing legislation, ministers admitted that the new offence of ‘locking on’ is so broad as to catch peaceful protesters who link arms in public.

“Suspicionless stop and search is notorious for racial disparity and it is staggering that more of these provisions have brought into force so soon after Louise Casey’s devastating report [on the Met police]. The home secretary can blast ‘ecowarriors’ but this legislation may be used against anti-poverty and Ukraine solidarity protesters too.”

A statement from the home secretary, Suella Braverman, said: “This legislation is the latest step the government has taken against protesters who use highly disruptive tactics to deliberately delay members of the public, often preventing them from getting to work and hospital, as well as missing loved ones’ funerals.

“The range of new offences and penalties match the seriousness of the threat guerrilla tactics pose to our infrastructure, taxpayers’ money and police time.”

full article here

so just to sum this up, peaceful protesting can now land you in prison for a year and you might face an unlimited fine which i believe is up to £5000, and police can now stop and search you if they believe youre "setting out to cause chaos"

its specifically being put in place right before charles' coronation, but these are now considered criminal offenses so theyre not exclusive to it.

you know, a country where you can be put in prison for a year for peaceful protesting really doesnt sound like a fucking democracy to me.

[thesunsethour]

little bits of irish history for curious hozier fans: street signs edition

Do you love the song Butchered Tongue? Pay attention to these lines here:

So, may I draw your attention to the The Official Languages Act 2003 (Section 9) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No. 391 of 2008).

ok stay with me

In 2008, the Irish government passed legislation that made it mandatory for road signs in Ireland to have both Irish (Gaeilge) AND English names on them (or, in Gaeltacht areas where Gaeilge is still the first language, only in Irish). Here’s an example:

The Irish, or Gaeilge, is always above the English and italicised. This is because that while Gaeilge and English are both official languages of Ireland, Gaeilge is the ‘first’ official language

However, while it was technically only legislated in 2008, bilingual road sings in Ireland had been extremely common for decades prior to it officially being made law. In fact, the first bilingual signs date back to the early 20th century - before our independence from Britain!

In Tom Spalding’s book Layers: The Design, History and Meaning of Public Street Signage in Cork and Other Irish Cities, he found that the first recorded bilingual street sign was in Blackrock, Dublin (An Charraig Dhubh, Baile Átha Cliath). Their local council in 1901 rolled out yellow and black bilingual road sings as part of the Gaelic Revival.

The Gaeilc Revical was a period of time in Irish history that saw a huge resurgence of Gaelic art, sport, and language. Literature was written by Irish people about Irish history, current affairs, and folklore. Traditional Irish music was learned and played again. Gaelic games (Gaelic football and Hurling) spread across the country. And Gaeilge, our language, was to experience an incredible revival.

Despite Ireland’s long colonial history, Gaeilge actually remained the majority tongue until the early 19th century. However, a combination of teachers beating children for speaking it at school, the genocide of the famine wiping out mainly poorer communities more likely to speak Gaeilge, and the knowledge that speaking English unfortunately provided more opportunities than Gaeilge, the language was almost killed off. (This is shown most clearly after the 1800 Act of Union that meant Ireland was ruled directly from London, with no parliament in Dublin).

Although these maps make for grim viewing, Irish is so very far from dead. Our children learn it from the ages of 4-18 in school (though I believe it can and should be taught better, but I digress). Gaeltacht communities are still going strong particularly in the west of the country. There are more Irish-language schools (gaelscoileanna) than ever before.

And every day as we pass by road signs that display Gaeilge proudly, it is as a result of decades, centuries of people refusing to stop speaking our mother tongue despite incredible violence.

I am far from a fluent Irish speaker, despite my 14 years of learning the language in school. But what Gaeilge I have, I have proudly.

(The work isn’t over, however. I do not feel knowledgeable enough to speak on Northern Irish efforts to implement more widespread bilingual signage but anyone who wishes to share some info please do!!)

[diagnozabam]

Viteza minimă pe drumurile din România: Ce spune legea și ce sancțiuni riscă șoferii care circulă prea încet?

Pe drumurile din România, reglementările rutiere stabilesc limite maxime de viteză pentru a preveni accidentele, însă există și situații în care legislația prevede sancțiuni pentru conducerea cu o viteză excesiv de redusă. Iată cum se aplică aceste reguli și ce trebuie să știe șoferii. Viteza minimă și accesul pe drumuri de mare viteză Conform Art. 74, alin. 1 din legislația rutieră: „Pe…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Calls Road Men Slaves,” Border Cities Star. March 1, 1933. Page 2. ---- T. P. Murray, M. L. A., Attacks Ontario Camp System ---- Minister Replies. ---- Enrolled at Own Desire And Get Equivalent Of $23 Month ---- By Staff Reporter TORONTO, March 1 - Government roads and other relief works are being built by "slave labor," Thomas P. Murray, South Renfrew Liberal, stated in the Legislature Monday. He was criticizing the government for low pay given men employed on these jobs. 

A man in his home town had walked 88 miles to and from work, working 88 hours to get $8.80, he complained. "

TOO STINGY" LAST year the government had been extravagant in its outlay on northern work camps. "This year it is too stingy," he said. He claimed that the 80-cent per day payment made by the government to caterers who fed and housed men employed last winter on the Trans-Canada Highway was excessive. "If the government had sent a shanty foreman, the cook or even the chore boy from one of my lumber camps they could have saved the government $1,500,000 on that job," he said. 

Hon. William Finlayson, minister in charge of northern development. pointed out that the 80 cents had included payment to the caterers of their investment in cots, blankets and other supplies, as well as the cost of meals. Now that the equipment costs had been liquidated, the per day allowance had been reduced to 60 cents last summer and then to 50 cents. 

ASKED BY MEN Patiently and without any anger, the minister denied the "slave labor" claim by reviewing the history of the work camps of last year and the present "board camps." 

Last year men had been recruited from all parts of Ontario and paid 30 cents an hour for the highway work. When the sum granted by the federal government to finance this work ran out in the spring of 1932 the Ontario Government was appealed to by some of the men to keep the camps going. These men said they were willing to work without pay, rather than have to use up what they had saved. It had been arranged to keep a few camps open. 

By the end of last summer, homeless men had drifted into these "board camps" until the total in all camps reached 6,000 to 7,000. Last fall, it was realized that some help must be given these payless workers to supply them with winter clothing, and after arrangements with manufacturers to supply clothing at $18 a man. the men were given pay of $10 a month. This, with the cost of keeping them of $13 a month, meant they were getting $23 a month. 

11,000 IN CAMPS The total in these camps now is around 11,000. 

Hearing of the treatment these men were getting, family men in a number of centres asked similar help, and were provided with relief work near home. Since they were living at home, they were provided with $23 a month, the same actual return as secured by the camp forces. They brought the total to 12,000. 

Not a single man of the 12.000 had been solicited by the government to join camps or take the home jobs. All were doing it rather than be idle entirely, all were satisfied and all were doing excellent work, Mr. Finlayson reported to the House. 

The fact that 12,000 are ready and willing to work on these terms shows we're being fair to them," he answered Mr. Murray.

The South Renfrew Grit also included in his speech objection to the $1,000 paid John Aird, junior.

[shadowed-yet-vibrant]

It’s fascinating how little the US at large knew about Walz before this week, but at the same time… it makes sense. He wasn’t their governor. They haven’t seen the incredible work he’s done first-hand, and they haven’t had years to appreciate his authentic charm.

He’s never been a politician who sought out the limelight - everything Minnesota has done in this historic year of progressive legislation and policy has been relatively quiet. He’s not on the road jockeying for the latest sound byte on CNN or some podcast - he’s working to implement the policies people want. He’s tweeting about Mountain Dew. He’s at the state fair eating fried food and talking to his constituents. This is the governor we know. A man who cares deeply about the work he does and the people he represents, not the fame, not the clicks.

He’s genuine. Minnesotans know that. Now it’s time to sell that to the rest of the country.

[unhonestlymirror]

"In the first 9 months of this year, Lithuania recorded over 768,000 traffic violations, almost half of which were related to speeding, which remains a serious problem. The authorities are planning to increase fines to reduce the number of violations.

In neighboring Estonia, however, instead of increasing fines, they are using an alternative punishment - forced standing on the side of the road, which has shown good results.

The Estonian experience shows the importance of not only material but also time losses, since drivers value their time more than money.

Lithuanian experts are discussing the possibility of introducing such measures, but implementation would require changes in legislation and additional resources."

.

LMAOOOOOO

[reasonsforhope]

"Norway is on the cusp of bidding farewell to internal combustion vehicles forever now that the automotive transition in the country has reached highway speeds.

Tax incentives and other perks like free parking, a diverse market of foreign and EU-made vehicles, and a vast charging network have steered almost all of the country’s national consumption towards electric vehicles.

Setting a non-legislative and vague goal of phasing out fossil fuel cars back in 2017, the recent market data suggests that the goal is now well within reach for the Arctic country of 5.5 million.

Despite the cold temperatures regularly draining batteries, consumers speaking with the BBC said range and charging weren’t major struggles given a simple change of mindset: from charging when you need it to charging when you can.

They also said there’s no reason why the Norwegian model couldn’t be adopted by other countries, as there’s not really an overly ‘green’ mindset in the purchasing decisions: it’s more about ensuring EVs are available, affordable, and sensible.

The best-selling EVs in the country are Teslas, followed by models from VW and Toyota. Unlike the US and EU countries, Norway hasn’t imposed tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, and a variety of Chinese makes enjoy a 10% share of Norway’s market which saw EVs account for 88.9% of new cars sold in the country last year, up from 82.4% in 2023.

A third of all registered cars on the road in the country today are electric if one includes diesel. Compared to just gasoline-powered cars, the split is closer to 50-50.

Norway has more proven gas and petroleum reserves than any other European nation. Like many of the world’s largest oil and natural gas exporters, they enjoy a massive sovereign wealth fund totaling over $1.7 trillion which allows them, the BBC reports, to shrug off the loss of tax revenue from EVs most of which are exempt from import and property taxes."

-via Good News Network, January 14, 2025