Safety
Basics
Seatbelts and Tickets Alone Won’t Cure America’s Traffic Death Epidemic
Motor vehicle crashes caused 28 percent of all deaths among people 24 and under in the United States in 2006. In 2009, nearly 34,000 people died on America's roads, and that was considered a big improvement over previous years. More and more, it seems, Americans are wondering why our country is so far behind on creating safe transportation systems.
November 17, 2010
See a Pattern of Deadly Dump Trucks? Don’t Bother Federal Safety Officials
Last Wednesday in Brooklyn, the driver of a private garbage truck ignored a bicyclist riding alongside and crushed him as the truck rounded a corner, according to a preliminary NYPD investigation. Police identified the victim as Eling Rivera, 51, of East New York.
July 13, 2010
Arizona Nixes Speed-Limit Enforcement Cameras
In the latest in a series of high-profile conservative moves, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's (R) administration has announced it will stop using cameras to enforce speed limits on the state's highways -- ending a program once billed as a boon to road safety that would also help raise revenue.
May 7, 2010
Senate Dems Unveil Auto Safety Legislation
Democrats are moving quickly on their plan to take a unified approach to auto safety reforms in the aftermath of the Toyota recalls, with Senate Commerce Committee members releasing a new bill today that would quintuple the maximum existing penalties for carmakers who -- like Toyota -- fail to promptly notify the public of defective products.
May 4, 2010
RITA Speaks: What Technology Can Do for Transportation Safety
Among the myriad of smaller agencies that comprise the U.S. DOT, the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) tends to stay in the background, not unlike the wonky, computer-hacking sidekicks often found in action movies.
April 29, 2010
House & Senate Taking Unified Approach to Post-Toyota Auto Safety Bill
The two congressional chairmen with primary jurisdiction over auto safety today vowed to work together on new legislation aimed at staving off a repeat of the debacle facing Toyota, which was recently fined $16 million for failing to promptly inform federal regulators of defects in its cars that sparked millions of recalls.
April 27, 2010
Transit Industry Asks Congress to Quadruple Annual Security Funding
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA), the D.C. lobbying arm for much of the transit industry, today asked the House committee in charge of homeland security spending for $1.1 billion next year to beef up rail and bus security, a four-fold increase over the level that Congress approved for 2010.
April 21, 2010
Obama Aide Defends Transit Safety Plan as Different from Rail Rules
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff today mounted a defense of the White House's transit safety plan, assuring some skeptical members of Congress that he does not want to "replicate" inter-city rail safety rules that have taken flak for impeding the development of viable U.S. train networks.
April 21, 2010
Senate GOP Continues to Resist Sanctions-Based Distracted Driving Rules
The Senate environment committee's senior Republican yesterday joined his counterpart on the commerce panel in criticizing legislation that would withhold federal highway funding from states that fail to crack down on distracted driving, casting doubt on Congress' ability to approve any punitive approach to reining in texting and cell phone use by drivers.
April 15, 2010
Feds Stepping Up Enforcement of Distracted Driving Laws in Two Cities
The Obama administration today launched what it describes as the first federal push for increased enforcement of distracted driving laws, funding local police crackdowns in two northeastern cities aimed at drivers using hand-held cell phones.
April 8, 2010