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Running red lights can get you a ticket. But in Oregon, you can be fined just for talking about it.
Mats Järlström learned this first-hand last year when the state of Oregon fined him $500 for publicly suggesting that yellow lights should last for slightly longer to accommodate cars making right turns.
[...] He did a little Googling and found the formula used to set traffic-light times. The length of time a traffic light stays yellow is based on a relatively straightforward mathematical formula, originally drafted in 1959. Mats realized that the formula is incomplete, because it fails to capture the behavior of drivers making right turns.
[...] Mats's work was generally met with interest and praise, but when Mats e-mailed the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying, things took an abrupt illegal U-turn. The Board told Mats they had no interest in hearing about his ideas. Fair enough. But the Board didn't stop there. They launched a full-blown investigation, alleging that he'd engaged in the unlicensed "practice of engineering."
After a two-year-long investigation, the Board fined him $500. According to the Board, "critiquing" the length of yellow lights and talking about his ideas with "members of the public" made Mats a lawbreaker because he's not an Oregon-licensed professional engineer.
The Board also told Mats that he couldn't refer to himself using the word "engineer" either. Most people would probably agree that "engineer" is a sensible way to describe Mats, given his education, experience, and skills. (He has a degree in electrical engineering from Sweden, and he's worked in a range of technical fields for decades). But in Oregon, none of that matters; the word "engineer" is off-limits to everyone who is not a state-licensed professional engineer.
Source: Institute for Justice
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @10:49AM (5 children)
Do not attempt to unclog a toilet without a plumber's license.
[I do not possess a degree in Engineering. I do have a driver's license.]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @11:41AM (1 child)
I know some Harry Tuttle (or was it Buttle, whatever), who will fix it, for free. What could go wrong.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Webweasel on Thursday April 27 2017, @01:43PM
Did you fill in form 27b/6?
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday April 27 2017, @02:10PM
I have none of those, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday April 27 2017, @04:32PM (1 child)
The word license has a meaning like permission.
Plumbers license -- means a permission to do something.
Drivers license.
Dog license.
Firearm license.
Marriage license.
Copyright license. That license gives you permissions to exercise certain rights that would normally belong exclusively to the rights holder.
Patent license. Same idea.
EULA is not a license, but an agreement (eg contract wannabe) you agree to in order to receive a license. But a license itself is not an agreement, just a permission.
Dog licenses expire.
Marriage licenses do not.
Doctors need a license to practice, despite their education. I suppose that gives the state the right to revoke the license even though the doctor still has their education.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @09:45PM
...or that can even be done [google.com] by a guild. [gmc-uk.org]
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