Posts Tagged ‘Ray LaHood’
Government Pushes for Federal Ban on Trucker Texting
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
The U.S. Transportation Department is proposing a ban on behind-the-wheel text messaging by interstate commercial truck and bus drivers.
The proposal seeks to make permanent an interim ban put in place in January by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The ban would apply to drivers of interstate buses and trucks over 10,000 pounds. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving could be assessed civil or criminal penalties.
LaHood has been campaigning against texting and cell phone use while driving.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order last year directing federal employees not to text while driving government-owned vehicles or with government-owned equipment.
Distracted driving is a factor is 25 percent of reported accidents today. By putting measures in place to combat texting behind the wheel, costly downtime and personal injury can more easily be avoided. Make sure your drivers know that messages can wait for their next stop.
Photo courtesy of RennetStowe and used under the Creative Commons license.
Tags: driver safety, Obama, Ray LaHood, texting, U.S. Transportation Department
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Wyoming Enacts Texting Ban
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recognized Wyoming last week for becoming the 20th state to enact a statewide ban prohibiting drivers from texting while driving, according to the Department of Transportation. The new ban will allow law enforcement officials to ticket anyone caught texting while driving in Wyoming.
“Wyoming has taken an important step to eliminate distracted driving,” said Secretary LaHood. “Texting while driving, like talking on cell phones while driving, is dangerous to the driver doing it and all of those around them.”
According to research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than half a million were injured.
In addition, on January 26, Secretary LaHood announced federal guidance to prohibit texting by drivers of commercial vehicles such as large trucks and buses. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750.
Secretary LaHood announced the department’s plan to pursue that regulatory action at the Distracted Driving Summit he convened in September 2009. The department recently launched a federal website, distraction.gov, as a forum and information clearinghouse.
Photo courtesy of poka0059 under the Creative Commons License
Tags: commercial vehicles, driving, law enforcement, Ray LaHood, texting, U.S. Transportation Secretary, Wyoming
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Federal Staff Banned from Texting and Driving
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
There’s been a lot of talk about texting and driving lately. Now a major step has been taken in the war against this distracting practice by President Obama, who signed an executive order on September 30th banning the practice among all federal employees.
The order covers federal employees whenever they are using government-provided vehicles or phones or conducting government business. In addition to this order, the government plans to issue a similar ban to drivers and truckers who travel across state lines and may even ban them from using cell phones altogether in non-emergencies.
Transportation secretary Ray LaHood says the new orders are intended to offer some relief from what he called “a deadly epidemic” of distracted driving.
“This meeting is probably the most important meeting in the history of the Department of Transportation,” Mr. LaHood said at the end of a two-day conference in Washington, D.C. He added that the order to restrict text messaging by federal employees behind the wheel “sends a very clear signal to the American public that distracted driving is dangerous and unacceptable.” President Obama’s order is immediately effective and applies to 4.5 million federal employees. The order for commercial truckers and other drivers will take longer to implement and will be more nuanced to fit the needs of computer-based systems in some trucks. The distracted driving conference provided a forum for a range of interests hoping to raise awareness of distracted driving and discuss how to fix the problem. The speakers included Senators Charles E. Schumer, (Democrat of New York), and Robert Menendez, (Democrat of New Jersey), who have introduced legislation to force states to ban texting while driving or lose federal highway funds.
Photo courtesy of indyplanets under the Creative Commons License.
Tags: Charles E. Schumer, Department of Transportation, DOT, president obama, Ray LaHood, Robert Menendez
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DOT: Highway Safety Still Highest Priority
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Despite ongoing efforts by the Obama administration to distribute billions of dollars in transportation infrastructure, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has stated that those programs will not distract the agency from going forward with its number one priority-improving highway safety.
“Safety of our transportation system is always going to be our number priority at the DOT,” he emphasized during a speech during the Dept. of Transportation’s annual “Bring Your Child to Work Day” activities. “That safety focus is across all modes of transportation – trains, buses, airplanes and trucks.”
LaHood said that he remains focused on getting $28 billion in highway infrastructure funding, $12 billion for transit systems and $8 billion to develop a national high speed rail system as soon as possible. He noted that efforts made by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) over the last nine years “should serve as an inspiring example” of how to improve highway safety where commercial vehicles are concerned.
“Since 2000, fatalities resulting from truck-car collisions decreased 13% to the lowest on record,” he said. “Today 72% of truck drivers wear their seat belts, up from 50% just five years ago, And last year FMCSA conducted 3.5-million roadside inspections – an all-time record.”
“More than 50% of the time in truck-car accidents, the passenger vehicle is the primary cause of the crash,” said Rose McMurray, FMCSA Acting Deputy Administrator, referencing FMCSA‘s own crash analysis studies that found 56% of crashes involving a large truck and a passenger vehicle are caused by to the passenger vehicle driver, with the remaining 44% the fault of the truck driver. “That’s why it’s important that we continue to highlight to the public how to drive safely around these big rigs,” she stressed.
Barbara Windsor, vice chair of ATA and chair of its safety task force, said the trucking industry is as safe as it’s ever been. She noted the large truck fatal crash rate dropped by 23% over the last decade despite a huge increase in the number of vehicle miles traveled. She also stated that more could be accomplished if motorists would simply learn to operate their vehicles in a safer manner around tractor-trailers.
“People just don’t realize how many blind spots there are around tractor-trailers, nor do they realize they can’t stop on a dime like cars – in fact, they need twice as much space and time to stop,” Windsor told FleetOwner. “Everyone knows it’s not always the truck’s fault – and the statistics back that up,” she said. “But we can’t take trucks off the highway, either. So we need to work more closely together – government and the trucking industry – to help educate the public about how to drive more safely around trucks.”
Photo courtesy of Kerosene Photography under the Creative Commons License.
Tags: Department of Transportation, DOT, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, FleetOwner, FMCSA, Obama administration, Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation, trucking industry
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Cash for Clunkers: The Statistics
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Now that the Cash for Clunkers program is over, the numbers are rollin’ in. During the program, 690,114 cars were destroyed. However, only 40% of cars purchased by consumers after trading in their old vehicles were American-made.
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood called the CARS program “wildly successful” because of the large jump in sales during its run and added that “American consumers and workers were the clear winners thanks to the Cash for Clunkers program.” Consumers definitely won with CARS. Demand was so high that the program’s initial funding was exhausted in less than a week. It is not yet known exactly how many of the 690,114 sales were pull-forward sales and how many were purchases that would not have been made without the incentive.
Sales of more fuel-efficient vehicles saw a huge spike during the run of Cash for Clunkers, with the average mileage on trade-ins at 15.8 mpg compared to new vehicle mileage of 24.9 mpg. That’s an average improvement in fuel economy of 58%. Although, it is debatable whether the sales of environmentally friendly cars offset the impact of manufacturing those cars.
American automakers did get a boost from Cash for Clunkers. Ford reported its first increase in sales since 2007 and GM added factory shifts to meet product demands. Manny of the cars sold were at least assembled in the United States, but the Big Three automakers only had 38% of total sales.
The biggest seller under the program was Toyota, with 19.4% of final sales. GM and Ford had 17.6% and 14.4% respectively.
*An interesting side note: all of the ten most traded-in vehicles come from US companies.
10 Most Traded-In Vehicles under CARS
- Ford Explorer 4WD
- Ford F150 Pickup 2WD
- Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD
- Ford Explorer 2WD
- Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 2WD
- Jeep Cherokee 4WD
- Chevrolet Blazer 4WD
- Chevrolet C1500 Pickup 2WD
- Ford F150 Pickup 4WD
- Ford Windstar FWD Van
10 Most Purchased Vehicles under CARS
- Toyota Corolla
- Honda Civic
- Toyota Camry
- Ford Focus
- Hyundai Elantra
- Nissan Versa
- Toyota Prius
- Honda Accord
- Honda Fit
- Ford Escape FWD
Tags: Big Three Automakers, CARS, Cash for Clunkers, Ford, fuel efficiency, GM, Ray LaHood, Toyota, US Secretary of Transportation
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