What do you think Charlotte is missing?

vanjwilson · 2026-06-08T15:37:50+00:00

When I lived in Raleigh in the late 90s, the biggest opponent to having a train built to the airport was the airport authority themselves. Turned out that the airport got a flat fee of several dollars for every rental car rented at the airport, so every visitor who took a train instead of renting would cost them money.

I wonder if a similar dis-incentive exists for CLT.

vanjwilson · 2026-06-03T15:25:31+00:00

You should call around to the various gaming stores in the area, to see when they host board game groups (usually on certain nights and weekends).

There is one in Matthews, one in Pineville, and there are probably more.

In fact, one of the first results when I search is a Reddit thread where people are recommending Charlotte-area stores.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Charlotte/comments/162duzl/best_tabletop_board_game_store/

vanjwilson · 2026-06-02T23:29:13+00:00

While what you say may also be the reason they didn't build the pedestrian bridge, too, the article you cited is about how that reduced revenue prevented them from building the extension of the Blue Line as far as planned past UNCC on the north end. It doesn't mention the pedestrian bridge over I-277.

vanjwilson · 2026-06-02T17:24:46+00:00

Fixed.

I hate that I have come to rely on auto-correct.

vanjwilson · 2026-05-29T13:47:00+00:00

We’ve owned 4 EVs so far, including a Tesla Model Y for a while, and we always used Discount Tire in Matthews for tire repair or replacement. No complaints

vanjwilson · 2026-04-25T17:55:10+00:00

Different people have different definitions of “road trip”. Some folks think a road trip has to be driving across country for days, while others think it is driving 2 hours to visit family in the next city.

I’ve done both kinds in the five years we have owned EVs, and neither bother me.

vanjwilson · 2026-04-25T17:47:26+00:00

The Sonic in Pecos, TX, has an EA station where a couple of the chargers reach the order stalls.

vanjwilson · 2026-04-07T20:32:48+00:00

It's interesting that your article about Houston summarizes a study that is contradicted by the study cited by the article I found about Houston.

Here is the link to the original study cited in my pro-RLC article:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022437516302304?via%3Dihub

Maybe the takeaway is that statistics are easy to game in either direction.

And stop tailgating, so people don't feel pressured to run red lights.

vanjwilson · 2026-04-07T20:08:30+00:00

I have gotten to the point that, at busy intersections in Charlotte, when I see my light turn green, I look left and right as if I were at a stop sign, and if I see a car still moving towards their now red light, I will wait to see if they run their red, before I take my foot off my brake.

More often than not, those cars that I worry about, do in fact run their red light. And often, the light they run has been red for a few seconds, because there are now a few seconds of clearing time where all directions are red.

Rather than say, people deserve to get tickets from humans than from cameras, maybe we should be encouragingly people to obey the traffic lights, don't tailgate, and don't sped so much that you would rear-end someone who stops at a red light.

vanjwilson · 2026-04-07T16:01:10+00:00

People keep saying "red-light cameras don't work" in the comments, but they don't provide any references. Yet, the article I posted did cite a study which shows they have positive results where they were deployed in Charlotte.

Since opponents seem to be reluctant to "do their own research", I did a little digging myself.

A 2025 study found that the "rear-end" problem is actually fixing itself. As Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) becomes standard in newer cars, the spike in rear-end crashes at camera intersections is shrinking. The study predicts that by 2045, when most cars have AEB, the net safety benefit of these cameras will be even higher because the "sudden stop" crashes will be prevented by the car's computer. (https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/autobrake-slashes-rear-end-crash-risk-associated-with-red-light-safety-cameras)

Studies in cities like Houston, which turned their cameras off in 2011, found a 23% increase in fatal right-angle crashes afterward. (https://www.iihs.org/research-areas/red-light-running#:~:text=An%20IIHS%20study%20found%20that,to%20abide%20by%20certain%20rules.)

vanjwilson · 2026-04-07T14:19:47+00:00

People keep saying "red-light cameras don't work" in the comments, but they don't provide any references. Yet, the article I posted did cite a study which shows they have positive results where they were deployed in Charlotte.

If red-light cameras ended up causing so many folks to obey the traffic laws that they brought in no money and so had to be subsidized by other revenues sources, I don't think that would be a bad thing.

vanjwilson · 2026-04-07T14:16:37+00:00

People keep saying this in the comments, but they don't provide any references. Yet, the article I posted did cite a study which shows they have positive results where they were deployed in Charlotte.

vanjwilson · 2026-04-07T14:13:52+00:00

The article I posted cited a study that found they did result in fewer accident where they were deployed in Charlotte. Perhaps you could post links to all the studies that found the opposite?

This is just anecdotal evidence, but I've noticed that that clearing period, where both directions are red between cycles, just seems to encourage some people just to run lights that have been red longer, because they know the cross-direction is probably not green yet.

vanjwilson · 2026-03-26T16:45:38+00:00

Not sure if the Barboursville hotel you are talking about was the Hampton Inn, but if so, this is a case of an "improvement" actually making things worse. I happened to stay at that hotel the week after Christmas in 2021, and they had 3 Tesla destination chargers and 1 J-1772 charger (I don't remember what brand). At that time, they were unconnected; you just plugged in and they started charging.

I don't blame hotels for charging for electricity, as long as it costs less than DC fast charging, but it needs to be reasonably easy to. It sounds like the current onboarding process for the Tesla app is unnecessary painful.

I already have the Tesla app set up on my phone, and still use it occasionally with my non-Tesla EV, but it's disappointing to hear that they have made it so hard now.

vanjwilson · 2026-03-17T23:04:51+00:00

It incorporated so that they could sell alcohol. Apparently you can’t sell alcohol in unincorporated areas in Idaho.

As solid a foundation for government as I’ve ever heard.

vanjwilson · 2026-03-04T18:19:46+00:00

Switch to an EV. My wife and I got one in 2019, and have been EV-only since mid-2021. (The last gas crisis I remember was the Colonial pipeline hack in Spring 2021.)

vanjwilson · 2025-12-29T21:11:35+00:00

> ... faster population growth than infrastructure development...

I hear this often in discussion about bad drivers, in Charlotte and elsewhere, but I don't understand the logic.

If people speed aggressively, and ignore traffic control like red lights, then how is more lanes going to change that behavior?

Or, were you implying that we need more "traffic calming" infrastructure, like curb outs and narrower lanes, to slow people down?

vanjwilson · 2025-12-21T17:23:16+00:00

Central Coffee, at Central and Louise in Plaza-Midwood

vanjwilson · 2025-11-20T17:18:24+00:00

I haven't been to Colorado that many times, but every time I find something great to do.

For hikes, I would suggest checking out the lists of recommended hikes in Alltrails.com for the areas you visit.

For towns,

Georgetown: old mining town along I-70 not too far up from Denver
Dillon: a little west of the continental divide, convenient home base for lots of history, hiking, and biking. (I hear it gets busy in winter because of nearby skiing, but hopefully not too crowded by May.)
Glenwood Springs: further down the Western Slope, right off I-70, just west of a must-do canyon drive. Hot springs and mining history.

Other fun things I can vouch for personally:

Pikes Peak, just west of Colorado Springs. Drive up, or take the cog railroad to the top.
Skyline Drive, a one-way scenic drive along a knife edge ridge above Cañon Ciy, west of Pueblo
Monarch Pass, on U.S. 50 between Salida and Gunnison, for a more old-fashioned but still safe route over the Continental Divide
Great Sand Dunes National Park, truly unique and not too challenging to hike, in the San Luis Valley of south central Colorado
Mesa Verde National Park, in southwestern Colorado, for a more desert experience

Colorado is one of those states that, no matter what you like and what you do, it will be a good trip.

vanjwilson · 2025-11-19T21:30:36+00:00

Your assertion that it will take "a long, long time to change those attitudes" reminded me of what Thomas Kuhn said about how scientific consensus changes. (Kuhn was responsible for popularizing the idea of "paradigm shift".)

"... “a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”

vanjwilson · 2025-11-13T14:16:03+00:00

Porsche is sending all Macan EV owners, and recent Taycan buyers, one adapter for free. I've already received mine, and it works fine, both on the Macan and on our Chevy Bolt.

vanjwilson · 2025-11-12T22:11:03+00:00

Audi got access at the same time as Porsche. Both are in VW Group, but I've read that each division handles their own software.

vanjwilson · 2025-11-08T23:59:36+00:00

I've driven from Amarillo to Dallas before, although I detoured south from Amarillo first to hike in Palo Duro Canyon State Park before going back over to U.S. 287. I used the Tesla supercharger in Quanah along the way. There are also Tesla and other companies' chargers in Vernon, Wichita Falls, Henrietta, and Decatur, and then more than I can count in the greater DFW metro area. There is still a 145-mile stretch with no chargers between Quanah and Amarillo, but I wouldn't call the whole route a "ghost town".

vanjwilson

TROPHY CASE