Highway Bound
Highway 40, is it a battleground or an interstate? It is a large mass of asphalt, dark rubber tire marks burnt into pavement, tons of fast moving steel, confusion, boiling anger, mental anguish and lost souls. I view the nations first federally funded interstate as a large mass of asphalt that stretches from North Carolina to California. I have personally spent many infuriating, intense and mentally draining hours on this highway, traveling in route between Durham and Raleigh. The memories of a thousand trips all seem to fuse into one long memory of roadwork, delays, chaos and horror. It takes strenuous efforts to confess and alleviate this burden from my shoulders.
The nightmare begins as I navigate my pearl white Toyota Supra onto the Highway 147 onramp, denoted by an ever so familiar reflective green sign. My music blares a blissful tune as I sink the accelerator to the floor. Gaining speed, taking flight so that I can successfully merge into the never-ending column of vehicles racing towards their separate destinations. As I merge off of the onramp and into chaos I look cautiously over my shoulder, checking to make sure I am clear to get in. A minivan the color of the darkest midnight is the only obstacle in view. I merge successfully deciding the slow moving vehicle is well out of danger. No sooner do I slide securely into my lane upon the black asphalt than I notice that this family transport of safety is not really that, but a marauding mother hauling her troops into combat. The dark figure of the van grows larger and larger until it appears I am merely an obstacle meant to be trampled. I look down and realize that we are reaching speeds of eighty miles per hour, yet this minivan has virtually become a part of my bumper. I flash questioning glances behind me trying to predict the mad woman’s intentions. Unable to bring solace to the growing war behind me, I face forward concentrating on simply keeping my car between the bright, pure white line running broken down the highway. I keep my car within a few feet of the one in front of me, trying not to infringe upon danger but at the same time trying to keep mother murder behind me from laying on her horn.
My car slows as it approaches a stoplight. I take this opportunity to allow my mind to become engulfed with my surroundings: the bright fierce red of the traffic light, the brilliant blue sky with its specs clouds, and the mass of hurried people. The four corners of the intersection are filled with people who are preoccupied with their fast-paced lives to notice the little things, such as animals and anxious cars awaiting the traffic light. My thoughts vigorously put all of the information that my mind has gathered from the intersection to order.
In The Folklore of the Freeway: Space, Culture, and Identity in Postwar Los Angeles, Eric Avila discusses the history of the construction of the freeway in Los Angeles and the effects that this transformation had on communities of color. The construction of the freeway further increased the contrast between white space and non whitespace as white people moved toward the suburbs and communities of color were displaced to the inner city metropolitan areas. Avila explains that the impact of the freeways was not only economic, but also physical. The construction entailed immense destruction and displacement among inner-city communities. Boyle Heights, for example, experienced one-tenth of its population being displaced by the freeways. What I found
Throughout the book Tom Lewis goes back and forth between the good and bad that came about from building highways. While the paved roads connected our country, made travel time faster, provided recreation, and pushed the development of automobiles they also created more congestion and travel time, divided communities, and made us slaves to automobiles. The author is critical of the highways, but he does realize the great achievement it is in the building of America. Lewis said, “As much as we might dislike them, we cannot escape the fact that ...
Dangers on roadways is an issue that describes the discrepancy between perception and reality of road rage. The media, for some odd reason, tends to make road rage a huge controversial issue. As seen on talk shows from Oprah Winfrey to CNN, they reveal to people that road rage could happen at any time and to always be looking over your shoulder. These talk shows and news programs also put fear into our minds by explaining that most roadragers often use guns to kill or injure their victims. Glassner contradicts the media's speculations by stating that out of approximately 250,000 people killed on roadways between 1990-1997, AAA attributed that one in one thousand was an act of road rage (pg.5).
Many mass construction projects in the history of the United States have had a major impact on the economy and culture; however, not many of these have had as large as an impact as the Interstate Highway Act of 1956. The Interstate Highway Act revolutionized the way that we think about highways today. The act created an extremely easy mode of transportation for people across the country. Not only was the Interstate Highway Act extremely helpful in making rural and urban transportation for normal people, but it also helped commercial businesses in increasing sales across the country. These businesses were now able to transport their goods cheaper and faster. The Interstate Highway Act was tremendously beneficial in regards to its economic, social, and cultural significance. The legislation was significant economically in the way that it promoted business and cut travel costs, it was significant socially in the way that it allowed people to see friends and family even if they did not live close, and it was significant culturally in the way that it allowed people to move out to the country for low costs in order to live a happier life.
In general the main arguments of both sides center around whether or not the death penalty can be regarded as just, whether the death penalty is a deterrent to crime or not and finally other considerations such as the financial costs, to determine the morality of the practice. In this paper, I will explore the arguments for and against capital punishment to determine whether it is or is not ethical.
* Levinson, H. (2004). Highways, People, and Places: Past, Present, and Future. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 130 (4), 406 – 412.
"Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime? Essays and Articles at eNotes." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 13 Jan. 2010. .
Headlights always were intensely bright at night. They’re intimidating. It’s hard to move or react after being stunned by them. These lights were enormous circles, the first sign before the crunch of metal that followed afterwards. An impact side swept the vehicle into the snow. The spinning made the girl dizzy and she was sick upon her dress. The screams of a man and woman joined together in a terrifying harmony before they cut off
Commonly, vehicular collisions are considered a negative occurrence. Dave Eggers hints towards this mindset in his short story Accident. Plotted in the middle of an intersection in 2005, the story commences with the main character driving his automobile through the intersection and striking an older Camaro. The three teenagers in the Camaro are fine, but the main character notices all the damage he has done to their vehicle and he fears an unpleasant encounter with them. Dave Eggers uses irony throughout the situation to illustrate the main character’s relief. The characters’ involvement with the collision emphasizes Egger’s theme that no matter how unfortunate an incident, positivity can result.
In society, any accidents are perceived as negative outcomes illustrate a terrible ending that has taken place but in reality it can be perceived as something positive in the long run. By obstructing the 2005 Camaro and the three teens, it occurred that no one was injured and everything was calm. Accident by Dave Egger represents how a bad decision becomes a point of conflict and symbolism within the theme of the story.
[ix] Weingroff, Richard F. The Federal-State Partnership at Work. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration Public Roads Web site, 1996.
When someone is legally convicted of a capital crime, it is possible for their punishment to be execution. The Death Penalty has been a controversial topic for many years. Some believe the act of punishing a criminal by execution is completely inhumane, while others believe it is a necessary practice needed to keep our society safe. In this annotated bibliography, there are six articles that each argue on whether or not the death penalty should be illegalized. Some authors argue that the death penalty should be illegal because it does not act as a deterrent, and it negatively effects the victim’s families. Other scholar’s state that the death penalty should stay legalized because there is an overcrowding in prisons and it saves innocent’s lives. Whether or not the death penalty should be
I had driven home this way a thousand times before, but today would be different. The misty rain made the road slick as I steered the car through the slow, wide curve. It may have been the setting sun in my eyes, but it was probably a combination of the loud song on the radio and the slight yawn that escaped from my mouth. Regardless, a momentary distraction was all it took as the tires hit the damp gravel. The wet rubber and slick stones triggered the car to slide off the road to the right. In a panic, I jerked the wheel to the left, over-correcting the slide. Swerving across oncoming traffic, my car jumped over the drainage ditch and smashed down into a neighbor’s front yard. Continuing its dangerous journey, the car destroyed a lamp
The death penalty has been an ongoing debate for many years. Each side of the issue presents valid arguments to explain why someone should be either for or against the subject. One side of the argument says deterrence, the other side says there’s a likelihood of putting to death an innocent man; one says justice, retribution, and punishment; the other side says execution is murder itself. Crime is an unmistakable part of our society, and it is safe to say that everyone would concur that something must be done about it. The majority of people know the risk of crime to their lives, but the subject lies in the techniques and actions in which it should be dealt with. As the past tells us, capital punishment, whose meaning is “the use of death as a legally sanctioned punishment,” is a suitable and proficient means of deterring crime. Today, the death penalty resides as an effective method of punishment for murder and other atrocious crimes.