Friday, July 08, 2005

Smooth Move



The London terrorist attacks have presented an opportunity for one of America's politicians. In the coming months, I think Biden has a chance to start to make his presence better known than it already is. Many already know that he is planning a presidential run in '08. Logically, people are going to watch his politics from now until Election Day in '08. Here's what's happening...

This is coming from an article from USA Today.

As a result of the attacks, Americans are expected to be concerned about the security of our railroads, buses, ferries, and other transportation systems. Currently, U.S. transit authorities are reporting that our nation's ground-transportation network requires an immediate $6 billion security upgrade. But our budget currently allows for only $100 million to go towards ground-transportation next year. Millions have gone to make our defenses better but it is obvious and well-known that we need to spend more on mass transit.

This is where Joe Biden comes in. Biden has an opportunity, "as Congress prepares to take up the federal government's fiscal 2006 budget next week", to get behind a Homeland Security Appropriations bill to increase money to rail and transit security . Biden is being smart and seizing this opportunity to get behind and put his name on a bill to increase the money going to rail and transit security to $1.2 million.

His logic is well-founded. Right now, most money for transportation is going to aviation security because the aviation industry was the industry hit by terrorist attacks. Yet statistically, mass transit carries "16 times more passengers than do the nation's airlines". More statistics that go in favor of Biden: The feds invest one penny on security per passenger on mass transit compared to $9.16 per passenger for those on airplanes. And when people here statements like this from the president of the American Public Transportation Association is saying something like this

When it comes to security, public transportation riders are treated as second-class citizens by the federal government

People listen in. And if the people start to feel cheated, they start to want more money to go towards the system they ride every day. And with Biden in full support, he stands to gain supporters or constituents.

Also, consider this.

Worldwide, terror attacks on passenger railroads and bus systems have been far more numerous and deadly than attacks at commercial airports and on airplanes, according to Rand security analyst Jack Riley. Recent examples: the 1995 sarin attack on Tokyo's subways that left 12 people dead and 5,000 people seriously ill; the Moscow subway bombing in February 2004 that killed 41 people; and the Madrid rail bombing in March 2004 that killed 191 people. Train-related plots also have been uncovered in Singapore and Milan.

National transportation security specialist Brian Jenkins, a researcher at San Jose State University's Mineta Transportation Institute, says trains, subways and buses are "ideal targets" for terrorists who seek to indiscriminately kill large numbers of people and then find ready escape.


Once again, if the people listen to the experts, they will realize the government needs to change its funding so that the mass transit systems can be better equipped. They need things like "closed-circuit TV surveillance systems, K-9 guard dogs, chemical detection systems, employee drills and training". These are common sense items that need to be given so that citizens in America can be safer. Biden knows what the public needs. The public will eventually realize that. When they do, Biden will benefit and gain supporters. This is a smooth move by a future Democratic presidential candidate.

1 Comments:

At 6:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Safety is a very important issue, one that definitely needs more attention. When politicians look at where to send the funding for this security, it doesnt come down to pennies per passenger. It comes down to how many lives are being saved. You said that attacks on trains and busses are much more common, which is completely true. The thing that you didnt look at is that, to put it frankly, planes are much more deadly when flown into structures and landmarks than any bus, boat, or train will ever be. Look at 9/11. 3,000+ were killed and countless thousands of others were wounded because of 4 planes. In the examples that you give, less than 500 were killed. While every life is valuable, it comes down to what is more deadly, and planes take the prize. I agree with increasing spending to make public transportation more safe, but in this case, the unbalanced money distribution is not a bad thing.

Andy O'Dell

 

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