Don't be too intelligent when writing up reasons for state to change something, it's a crime

[The Straight Story]

Citizen activist grates on state over traffic signals

RALEIGH -- David N. Cox says he was merely exercising his right to petition the government, but a state Department of Transportation official has raised allegations that Cox committed a misdemeanor: practicing engineering without a license.

Cox and his North Raleigh neighbors are lobbying city and state officials to add traffic signals at two intersections as part of a planned widening of Falls of Neuse Road.

After an engineering consultant hired by the city said that the signals were not needed, Cox and the North Raleigh Coalition of Homeowners' Associations responded with a sophisticated analysis of their own.

The eight-page document with maps, diagrams and traffic projections was offered to buttress their contention that signals will be needed at the Falls of Neuse at Coolmore Drive intersection and where the road meets Tabriz Point / Lake Villa Way.

It did not persuade Kevin Lacy, chief traffic engineer for the state DOT, to change his mind about the project. Instead, Lacy called on a state licensing agency, the N.C. Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors, to investigate Cox.

....

Cox has not been accused of claiming that he is an engineer. But Lacy says he filed the complaint because the report "appears to be engineering-level work" by someone who is not licensed as a professional engineer.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/03/964781/citizen-activist-grates-on-state.html#ixzz1CyzsWAZh


Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/03/964781/citizen-activist-grates-on-state.html#ixzz1CyznAgte

[lbrtbell]

1. Oh...my...gawd.

:argh:

[Toon Me Out]

2. make mine a double

:argh: :argh:

[WillParkinson]

3. Wow....

No other words I can think of other than :facepalm:

[MrModerate]

4. Which is utter bullshit anyway, because in every state in the Union . . .

You can practice engineering legally without a PE qualification. You might not be able to certify design drawings, but you can engineer your butt off and the state licensing bodies don't have a word to say.

[boobooday]

5. In my little hometown they can't afford engineers

So they use guys like my Dad, who learned engineering and AutoCad drawing and all that back in the day when the US still had manufacturing, and my hometown still had factories where people with real, often unconventionally acquired skills made real things.

It may be incredibly important when you are building bridges and designing load bearing walls and such to have an engineering certification, but traffic lights?

[MrModerate]

9. Well . . . you don't want them to fall over. But skill and experience are often . . .

More than enough if the physical parameters are not overly complicated.

[d_r]

6. I wish that teachers could do this

every time some one spouts off about how teachers don't know what they are doing, that they think they should be doing X, Y, or Z, the state could zap them for thinking teacher-level work without a teaching certificate.

[Generic Other]

7. it "appears to be engineering-level work"

that appears to be an improvement on a plan by someone who appears to have an engineering license?

Didn't Kurt Vonnegut write a story about how to rectify this sort of situation? "Harrison Bergeron"? Lacy should blind Cox so he can't do a better job than a licensed professional. Wouldn't be fair after all.

[Festivito]

8. I'd wonder if this David N. Cox understands abuse of power as he tries to act like a lawyer.

maybe he's also a lawyer.

On the other hand, no degree is required of the stupid to be stupid.

[Dappleganger]

10. We are truly in a race to the bottom.