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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 $500. According to the Board, "critiquing" the length of yellow lights and talking about his ideas with "members of the public" made Mats a lawbreaker because he's not an Oregon-licensed professional engineer.
The Board also told Mats that he couldn't refer to himself using the word "engineer" either. Most people would probably agree that "engineer" is a sensible way to describe Mats, given his education, experience, and skills. (He has a degree in electrical engineering from Sweden, and he's worked in a range of technical fields for decades). But in Oregon, none of that matters; the word "engineer" is off-limits to everyone who is not a state-licensed professional engineer.
Source: Institute for Justice
(Score: 3, Touché) by inertnet on Thursday April 27 2017, @10:57AM (9 children)
I've put Oregon on my list of states to avoid, should I ever visit the USA or even move there.
I wonder if people like the Wright brothers had an engineering degree, or if it was up to the state of Oregon we'd still be using horse and carriage. No scratch that, the person who invented the wheel surely didn't have a degree either.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday April 27 2017, @11:54AM (7 children)
Oregon is a lovely state. This turn of events is bizarre and uncharacteristic. If more people in Oregon know about it, it won't be long before the bureaucrats in question have their asses handed to them.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @12:05PM (2 children)
Ah, but do they have people with ass-handing degrees who could do that for them?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DECbot on Thursday April 27 2017, @01:13PM (1 child)
We recognize that there are people with degrees in ass-handing, but without board certification from the State of Oregon in ass-handing, they are not allowed to practice in ass-handing--paid or otherwise.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday April 27 2017, @07:03PM
Not (ass-handing) is handing-not-ass which resolves to handing-opposite-side-from-ass.
The president approves.
(Score: 2, Touché) by WillR on Thursday April 27 2017, @01:13PM (2 children)
This turn of events is bizarre and uncharacteristic.
For a state where you have to be a licensed professional gas pump operator to fill up a car?
Oregon *is* a lovely state but it has some really strange quirks, like the gas thing, and now overzealous defense of the title "engineer".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @02:07PM
It's because Oregonians are all blood related, and gas pumps have too many moving parts for regular folk to operate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @04:35PM
Are general people in Oregon allowed to comment on SoylentNews, or do you have to be a licensed professional SoylentNews commenter? :-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @05:05PM
Portland.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @07:32PM
oh noes!