A week ago, states were asked by the National Transportation Safety Board to bar phone calls from drivers using any type of portable device. While the request included hands-free devices, it excluded systems like OnStar that come installed as part of a vehicle. Recently, Ray LaHood, Transportation Secretary, stated that he is not in support [...]
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator David Strickland said last week that he will fight unsafe infotainment technology that is simply converting vehicles into smartphones with four wheels. “I’m just putting everyone on notice. A car is not a mobile device,” Strickland said. “I’m not in the business of helping people tweet better. I’m not [...]
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood took a tour of the construction site where Nissan is building a plant to manufacture advanced lithium-ion batteries. The Smyrna, Tennessee plant, which will be the largest in the country capable of manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications, will produce the battery packs for the Nissan [...]
Earlier this week, we wrote that federal regulators were considering imposing incrementally increasing minimum fuel-efficiency standards over the next few years, eventually reaching 47 mpg – 62 mpg by 2025. The plan would increase car costs by about $770 to $3,500. A trade group that represents Detroit’s three automakers as well as Toyota, is urging [...]
The Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General led a probe into the conduct of private sector automotive industry employees who were formerly in the employ of the NHTSA. The probe specifically was intended to determine whether such employees were abel to exercise improper pressure or influence on recall decisions. The review was requested by two [...]
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced today that the number and rate of traffic fatalities in 2010 fell to the lowest levels since 1949, despite a significant increase in the number of miles Americans were driving during the year. “Last year’s drop in traffic fatalities is welcome news and it proves that we can make [...]
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today that he won’t be calling for restrictions on hands-free systems, such as Ford’s SYNC, until there is further government research. The NHTSA is currently investigating whether such systems pose a ‘cognitive distraction’ to drivers. It is argued by some that phone calls can distract drivers, regardless of whether one’s [...]
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has been heavily criticized for his focus on distracted driving, but says that he will keep that at the top of his agenda. “We will not be deterred by false choices about addressing distracted driving on the one hand and alternative critical safety issues on the other,” LaHood said today in [...]
Despite the resistance seen from many politicians and pundits, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is sticking to his guns and supporting high-speed rail projects around the US. LaHood even wrote an op-ed piece in support of his idea, saying that it was good for the economy and the environment, and rife with social benefit. He [...]
In the latest move in Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s campaign against distracted driving, his agency proposed on Friday, prohibiting commercial truck and bus drivers from using cell phones behind the wheel. The rule would effect approximately 4 million drivers, who are already banned by the fed from texting while driving. “Every time a commercial truck [...]
