While driving a sudden thought had strikes me. Why do we have to stop at red light? it took me back when i was kid and living in small city called Vadodara in state of Gujarat in India. And i do remember my very first encounter with Traffic police, he was old man and neighbor where we used to live. That means i am talking something that is less than 30 years old story. There used to be human police man, also known as traffic police, standing in center of intersection and guide the traffic.
I did little research and found this information for some one who might be interested:
Even during the horse and buggy days, traffic in big cities was often heavy. Police officers had to be stationed full time directing traffic at busy intersections.
On 10 December 1868, the first traffic lights were installed outside the British Houses of Parliament in London, by the railway engineer J. P. Knight. They resembled railway signals of the time, with semaphore arms and red and green gas lamps for night use. The gas lantern was turned with a lever at its base so that the appropriate light faced traffic. Unfortunately, it exploded on 2 January 1869, injuring the policeman who was operating it.
The modern electric traffic light is an American invention. As early as 1912 in Salt Lake City, Utah, policeman Lester Wire invented the first red-green electric traffic lights. On 5 August 1914, the American Traffic Signal Company installed a traffic signal system on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. It had two colours, red and green, and a buzzer, based on the design of James Hoge, to provide a warning for colour changes. The design by James Hoge allowed police and fire stations to control the signals in case of emergency. The first four-way, three-colour traffic light was created by police officer William Potts in Detroit, Michigan in 1920. In 1923, Garrett Morgan patented a traffic signal device. Ashville, Ohio claims to be the location of the oldest working traffic light in the United States, used at an intersection of public roads until 1982 when it was moved to a local museum.
Traffic light technology I am sure has been invented and is constantly evolving with the aims of improving reliability, visibility, and efficiency of traffic flow. The very latest on the line is Red light cameras... an automated camera is connected to the triggering mechanism for the corresponding traffic light, which is targeted to photograph any vehicle which crosses against the light. The driver or owner (depending on local laws) of a vehicle so photographed can then be fined for violating traffic laws.
Someone will say, thanks for the information but what it has to do with health care, coming back to the point:
the thought that had stricken me was, if there was human police at 2 AM(???) standing there, what he would have done... let me stand for those 3 - 4 minutes?
its not important at this point, that the only time waste was 3 to 4 minute. If I count so many people like me those minutes will grow exponentially, and add the cost to the car, breaks, gas so and so on... but that is not the point i am trying to make....
So what is the point
people needed to travel and were traveling for thousands of year, before any government even existed. Government thought a brilliant idea, let us devise system where we will control the traffic. So , suddenly from individual, or citizen you became Traffic. not human but traffic that needs to be governed. first came the system where some government official, with power to stop or let you go, with mere flick of hand. What worse..., well we can not pay those employees let us replace them with machines. Control those Traffic with machines. Oh and what is worst, economy is bad, we have deficit in our budget... let us put some camera and charge the Traffic for not obeying. I still remember the ticket i got with picture of my car, front and back in color, showing - I have ran the red light for 0.01 second. Can human reflex be accurate up to 100th of a second???
Now let us talk health care... people needed the access of health care, and getting health care before any government even existed. Medicine was considered holy profession, doctors were respected as some one who comes next to god. I still remember when i was kid, we had one doctor and he was treated as celebrity in my village. I still remember going to doctor and tell him what i am going through (symptoms) and he used to listen carefully, listen to the heart bits... go mix some medicine in mystery liquid and give in bottle that i used to carry from home. Just like those cloth bags, which later replaced by poly-thin plastic bags, the system of carrying your own medicine bottle is replaced by prescription. In my last visit to India this year, i met our family physician, who surprisingly still gives medicine not liquid but tablet forms (yellow, Red, Orange, White - unbranded) in paper packets. you go to him every day, he will listen, and if needed change the medicine tablet and so and so on... this things goes on until you are cured. For last few years i had found myself in position (in India) while taking medicine in front of someone, they look at me strange way, and sometime even asks, is still your doctor, gives medicine this way? I can see very clearly in their eyes written, Your doctor is old fashion - old is bad - change your doctor.
Let us see the new fashion doctors - go to doctor, he runs several tests, prescribe you the medicine for X days. Come back once the dose is over and you still needs me. No continuous monitoring, no doctor / patient relation... and worst, lost the respect.. While my work with Lab System company, I came across the other side of the profession where they had to be business man... even if i don't like it, it is what it is.
looks like i got side tracked again... My point is the profession of medicine has changed over the period instead of charging Rs 20 for home visit 10 years back, or Rs 5 for office visit which includes diagnosis and medicine. we are at Rs 1500 per office visit and forget about home visit. Who does that these days? (any one who knows what were the doctor office charges in US 20-30 years back please comment)
Health Insurance:
My curiosity lead me to this website where i have found the history of health insurance:
http://www.neurosurgical.com/medical_history_and_ethics/history/history_of_health_insurance.htm
Some highlights:
In 1929, the first modern group health insurance plan was formed. A group of teachers in Dallas, Texas, contracted with Baylor Hospital for room, board, and medical services in exchange for a monthly fee.
1932 nonprofit organizations called Blue Cross or Blue Shield first offered group health plans. Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans were successful because they involved discounted contracts negotiated with doctors and hospitals. In return for promises of increased volume and prompt payment, providers gave discounts to the Blue Cross and Shield plans.
Employee benefit plans proliferated in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Wartime (1939-1945) wage freezes imposed by the government actually accelerated the spread of group health care. Unable by law to attract workers by paying more, employers instead improved their benefit packages, adding health care. Strong unions bargained for better benefit packages, including tax-free, employer-sponsored health insurance.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s, the cost of health care rose rapidly and the majority of employer-sponsored group insurance plans switched from “fee-for-service” plans to the cheaper “managed care plans.” As a result, most Americans with health insurance were enrolled in managed care plans by the mid-1990s
The things i have highlighted in highlights:
- Health Insurance is the contract between two parties where one party agrees to provide monitory help agreed in the contract to another party in case he need health care services.
- Group health plan was first offered by not for profit organization (BCBS), yes that's how it was started.
- Employer provided health insurance was started by employers as benefit package to attract workers since government was not allowing them to pay more.
- Unions have made them even sweeter for the employees
And with what is going on by government, what i feel is, government is intervening in this business transaction with another system of theirs, just like they have done for the Traffic.
Let us talk back about the Traffic light system, here are the words of transportation engineers:
According to transportation engineers, traffic lights can have both positive and negative effects on traffic safety and traffic flow. The separation of conflicting streams of traffic in time can reduce the chances of right-angle collisions. But also the frequency of rear-end crashes can be increased by the installation of traffic lights, and they can adversely affect the safety of bicycle and pedestrian traffic. They can increase the traffic capacity at intersections, but can also result in excessive traffic delay. Hans Monderman, the innovative Dutch traffic engineer, and pioneer of shared space schemes, was sceptical of their role, and is quoted as having said of them: "We only want traffic lights where they are useful and I haven't found anywhere where they are useful yet".
Shared space is a traffic engineering concept involving the removal of the traditional separation between motor vehicles and pedestrians and other road users, and the removal of traditional road priority management devices such as kerbs, lines, signs and signals.
The reasoning behind the idea is that it will result in improved road safety by forcing users to negotiate their way through shared areas at appropriate speeds and with due consideration for the other users of the space, using simple rules like giving way to the right.
Here are some Results:
United States
In West Palm Beach, Florida planners are reported to have removed traffic signals and road markings and brought pedestrians into much closer contact with cars. The result has been slower traffic, fewer accidents, and shorter trip times.[20]
Sweden
Since the zebra crossings and traffic signs were replaced with a spacious fountain, benches and other street furniture, the Skvallertorget square in Norrköping has experienced no accidents, mean traffic speeds have dropped from 21 to 16 km/h (13 to 10 mph) and liveability has increased.[14]
Netherlands
There is a traffic sign at the entrance to Makkinga which reads "Verkeersbordvrij" meaning "free of traffic signs". The town has no road markings and no stop signs or direction signs visible in the streets. Parking meters and stopping restrictions are also absent.[4] Drachten is one of the pioneer towns for such schemes. Accident figures at one junction where traffic lights were removed have dropped from thirty-six in the four years prior to the introduction of the scheme to two in the two years following it. Only three of the original fifteen sets of traffic lights remain. Tailbacks (traffic jams) are now almost unheard of at the town's main junction, which handles about 22,000 cars a day.
Learning:
In answer to a direct question about the role of local legislation, a member of the Shared Space Expert Team replied:
“ To understand how shared space works, it is important to move away from reliance on "rights" and laws, and to recognize the potential for conventions and protocols. ”
“ Such conventions and protocols evolve rapidly and are very effective if the state does not intervene through regulation. ”
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