Washington: Vote NO on I-985

The following paragraph applies to all initiatives written by Tim Eyman, just update the number in the title:

Voters in Washington State should not be fooled by the promises made by I-985. Its simple description is written in nice-sounding language that makes everything sound great. However, it's full of unintended consequences, promises to get something for nothing, is ill-informed, and will hurt the citizens of Washington.

To be more specific, I-985 will not make traffic congestion any better and hurts ongoing efforts by the Washington State Department of Transportation to reduce congestion. It should be clear to people by now that in the unique geography of Washington State, and especially the greater Seattle area, we cannot simply build our way out of congestion. Ever more roads are not the answer. Better use of our existing roads will be increasingly important. HOV lanes provide a benefit to all drivers, not just the ones in carpools, by providing faster service for buses. More buses = less cars. This measure would open up HOV lanes to everybody, except at certain "rush" hours -- but unfortunately, peak driving hours, and traffic congestion, spill out of the hours used in the initiative.

Don't be fooled by the provisions in the initiative. It has just enough sensible-sounding stuff that a well-intentioned voter who doesn't take time to learn about it might just vote yes. Some of the provisions, such as traffic light synchronization, are obvious best practices that most locales already do. But this initiative isn't the way forward. I am focusing on some of the traffic measures that I know most about, but understand that this initiative is more far-reaching, has adverse implications for the state budget, and that it is widely discredited. We must defeat it. And any transportation bill opposed by both the Association of Washington Businesses and the Sierra Club must truly be awful.

Educate yourself further, so you can tell other people. And vote NO on I-985!

LINKS:
Full Text of I-985 (25 page PDF, for the real junkies in the crowd)
Ballotpedia.org summary of the issues
Washington Policy Center analysis

NO on I-985 Coalition Website
Education League Comes out Against I-985
Tim Eyman is such an ass, honestly, do you really want to support this poppycock?