Where cops are most likely to search your car: If police pull you over for even the most minor traffic violation -- say, for forgetting to signal a turn -- they can decide to search your car. In some parts of Texas, the Houston Chronicle found, traffic searches are shockingly likely. Cleveland, just north of Houston, is among the worst: More than 90% of cars stopped for traffic violations are checked for contraband. Critics say that those intrusive searches tend to be racially biased, and besides, turn up very little that's illegal. (Houston Chronicle)
Robots could enforce traffic laws more fairly. So we ought to automate as much as we can, argues writer Matthew Yglesias, using things like the red-light cameras that the state of Texas outlawed a couple of years ago. "We have the technology to detect vehicle speed, take images of cars breaking the rules, read license plate numbers from those photos, and fine the responsible drivers," he writes. Machines' traffic enforcement would be fast and fair -- and it'd work best, he argues, if the fines are lower than they are now. (Slow Boring)
“Escape California”: Gov. Greg Abbott launched a Twitter campaign to convince shippers to forget the Port of Los Angeles and come to Texas. A snappy embedded video notes that some Golden State ports are backed up by 100 days – and that it'd only take about two weeks for a ship to detour through the Panama Canal up to Houston. (Abbott’s tweet, via Bloomberg)
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