Image transcript:

  • caption: “state DOTs presenting their groundbreaking solutions to traffic”
  • image: stock photo of people in business attire holding up a poster together with the text “just one more lane bro”
  • BeefPiano@lemmy.worldEnglish
    27·
    1 year ago

    My state’s DOT measures success by Vehicle Miles Traveled. The more driving people do, the better the DOT is doing. Sprawl? Line goes up! One more lane? Line goes up!

    • Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
      16·
      1 year ago

      Honestly, that would explain a lot about why state DOTs are often so garbage. Sounds like a good example of Goodhart’s law:

      When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure

      In this case, trying to use VMT as a measure of success just means they’ll favor projects that needlessly sprawl, instead of more compact or transit-oriented options.