Greg Davis

Yikes I know I could get hit with a few of these:

LIST OF NOTABLE FINES

including fine, court cost and victim fine surcharge

Improper bicycle lighting – $35

Fail to wear proper helmet (under 18) – $80

Two people riding on a bicycle – $110

Riding along crosswalk – $110

Disobey officer directing traffic – $110

No bell or horn on bicycle – $110

Defective bell or horn – $110

Red light, fail to stop – $190

Careless driving – $325

via Toronto cyclists feel the heat, at $325 a ticket – Posted Toronto.

I hope it doesn’t take a fine at some point to straighten me out, but I don’t have a bell on my bike and often cruise through reds if there is no traffic.  Not sure I’m a big fan of these rules.  But even the rep from the “bike union” quoted in the article seemed to fall in line with these fines..

Okay I guess if I think about it, it makes sense to have them so the cops can have a leg to stand on when enforcing stupid behavior. But to actively have cops hiding behind vans to bust people riding through reds?  Not a fan.

Since last month a new book out dealing with education reform has been sending waves on some good blogs, like the post on Marginal Revolution: Diane Ravitch turns on school choice and testing.

Her new book is The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.  Her bottom line is this:

The more uneasy I grew with the agenda of choice and accountability, the more I realized that I am too “conservative” to embrace an agenda whose end result is entirely speculative and uncertain.  The effort to upend American public education and replace it with something market-based began to feel too radical for me.  I concluded that I could not countenance any reforms that might have the effect — intended or unintended — of undermining public education.

This is a very interesting topic.  We know that education is so important to get right if we are to improve economic competitiveness and continue to raise the standard of living for the next generation.  It’s no wonder many intelligent people are eager to believe that market based reform just has to be an improvement on the status quo.  But it is easy to argue for incentive based pay, vouchers, and all that stuff from the outside; while those on the inside often seem reluctant to embrace such ideas.  And it turns out this may be for good reason.

A great way to get up to speed on this stuff is to listen to Russ Roberts’ recent interview with Ravitch:

Ravitch on Education | EconTalk | Library of Economics and Liberty.

I’m a big fan of Roberts and his show.  Him being a proponent of free markets, and married to a teacher, I find his perspective especially relevant to me personally.