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LaHood details new tour bus safety measures

Filed under: Truck, Government/Legal, Safety, Work

Tour bus boarding in NY

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced new tour bus safety measures that could make it a lot more difficult for companies to operate their fleets in an unsafe manner. Among the sweeping changes are a requirement for tour bus companies to pass a safety audit before receiving permission to operate. The audit will include a safety exam of both the drivers and vehicles, in addition to an interview with the owners of the company. Current laws permit companies to operate for up to 18 months without a safety evaluation.

The federal agency also finalized a proposal to tighten requirements for offering a commercial driver’s license. The new license can be obtained only after obtaining a learner’s permit, and all states issuing the test will need to use a federal testing system.

While the new operating and testing procedures will help ensure the safety of the estimated 700 million passengers who utilize tour buses every year, several bus safety standards have still not been announced. The Transportation Department is hoping to add requirements that new buses have seat belts and stronger roofs and windows to prevent passengers from being ejected in a roll-over accident.

The renewed interest in tour bus safety came after a string of accidents, including a March 12 crash in New York that lead to the death of 15 passengers. The bus, which was traveling at the maximum speed of 78 miles per hour, fell off an elevated highway and hit a utility pole.

LaHood details new tour bus safety measures originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 09 May 2011 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: Five Questions For Ray LaHood

Filed under: Safety, Autoline on Autoblog

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood

It took ten months. It involved the best brains in the nation. They conducted exhaustive tests. And Lord knows what it all cost. But when it was over, the results were totally predictable. The U.S. Department of Transportation could find nothing wrong with Toyota vehicles that would cause them to suddenly accelerate out of control.

The results were predictable because the country went through the same thing nearly a quarter of a century ago. Only then, it involved Audi. And in both of these cases, each car company was accused of having some sort of mysterious gremlin that would cause its cars to suddenly accelerate out of control.

But there is a significant difference between both investigations. Back then the Department of Transportation blamed it on driver error. Officially, they called it “pedal misapplication.” But this time around, the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, wouldn’t do that. He said it was caused by mechanical problems, i.e., sticky pedals and piled up floormats.

Too bad the Secretary didn’t have the courage to call it like it is. By failing to identify the root cause of the problem, more people are going to lose their lives.

[Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty]

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Opinion: Five Questions For Ray LaHood originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: LaHood pushes for total phone ban among truck and bus drivers

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

The U.S. Department of Transportation is looking into a full-on mobile phone ban for commercial drivers while behind the wheel as part of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s initiative to curb distracted driving. According to Reuters, the move would further impact the four million drivers who are already forbidden from texting while driving.

Last year, driver inattention was cited as the prevailing factor for around nine percent of all large truck crashes in 2009. That number was down from 2008, but not low enough for LaHood or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. While the number of distracted big-rig crashes may have declined slightly last year, the number of fatal bus accidents actually increased from 20 in 2008 to 38 in 2009.

The National Transportation Safety Board reports that of all bus crashes, somewhere between six and thirteen percent can be attributed to a distracted driver. LaHood’s proposal will have to endure a 60-day comment period before being finalized.

[Source: Reuters via MSNBC]

Report: LaHood pushes for total phone ban among truck and bus drivers originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: LaHood mulling nationwide ban on all in-car mobile phone use?

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Technology

Ray LaHood at Distraction.gov lectern

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wants to make our roads a safer place. Distracted driving is arguably his number one issue, and LaHood is waging a concerted campaign to try and curb it. Is he taking things a step too far, though? According to Automotive News, LaHood has now stated that he believes motorists are distracted by any use of a mobile device while driving. This includes making hands-free calls through the use of in-car or in-ear Bluetooth devices. LaHood’s department is going to begin researching all types of mobile device usage to see how they affect drivers. He also plans to meet with automakers to try and gain support for his campaign to eliminate distracting driving.

According to the report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration feels that Ray LaHood is focusing too closely on one area of motoring safety, rather than the bigger picture. NHTSA officials are quoted as saying that current distracted driving crash statistics may be inflated because not all law enforcement agencies are properly trained to recognize a distracted driving accident. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety even went so far as to release a study showing that new texting laws have not influenced accident rates in a positive manner.

Ray Lahood has quite an uphill battle on his hands. Even if he and his team can prove that hands-free usage of mobile devices increase accident rates, the practice is so deeply ingrained in the brains of the overall driving public – not to mention the businesses associated with it – that it will be difficult to convince motorists to not use their phones while driving at all. LaHood is optimistic, however,

“The bottom line for me is to get where we’re at with seat belts and with drunk driving. When those programs were started, people were very skeptical that you could get people to buckle up.”

So don’t adopt the “You can pry my iPhone from my cold dead hands” attitude just yet. Secretary LaHood is merely investigating the matter at this point. There are no plans to call for a ban just yet, but at least one NHTSA official admits it’s a possibility.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.| Image: Mark Wilson/Getty]

Report: LaHood mulling nationwide ban on all in-car mobile phone use? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LaHood suggests mobile phones should come with warning labels

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Technology

Texting Kills

Judging from the statistics that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration recently released, distracted driving is a big problem here in the States. Researchers have found that one of the largest sources of distraction behind the wheel comes from hand-held devices – cell phones, smart phones, media players and the like. According to The Detroit News, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has mentioned that he would like to see some sort of visual warning on cell phones alerting users to the dangers of using the devices while behind the wheel.

However, the suggestion isn’t likely to evolve into a full-fledged motion by NHTSA. LaHood simply made the comment off-hand during an interview, but that doesn’t mean that mobile phone makers weren’t paying attention. The handheld phone industry has said that it will meet with LaHood to discuss the possibility, though its products come with a warning about being careful while operating them.

Would it help? We seriously doubt it. Mobile phones have evolved into too great a temptation for most drivers to ignore while behind the wheel, and another visual warning isn’t going to do too much to change that.

[Source: The Detroit News]

LaHood suggests mobile phones should come with warning labels originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LaHood releases 2009 distracted driving crash figures ahead of summit

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

Transportation Seceratary Ray La Hood

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has released his department’s findings on the impact of distracted driving on highway safety in 2009, and according to research conducted by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, 5,474 people died due to distracted driving last year, with another 448,000 people injured. Those are big numbers, and NHTSA says the number of people killed due to distracted driving marks a total of 16 percent of all traffic fatalities last year. In 2005, the deaths were just 10 percent of the total figure. Even as high as those numbers are, La Hood warns that they may misrepresent the severity of the problem.

NHTSA says that not all law enforcement agencies are trained to recognize when an accident is caused by distracted driving, and as a result, the actual figures may be much higher than what’s been reported.

LaHood is hosting a distracted driving summit in Washington, D.C. aimed at increasing awareness about the problem nationally. Hit the jump for a look at the press release.

[Source: NHTSA]

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LaHood releases 2009 distracted driving crash figures ahead of summit originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, has something he’d like to say…

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

Together, we can end distracted driving, and Tuesday’s national summit is a good place to start.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood

Editor’s Note: Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood wanted to speak directly to the people ahead of the Department of Transportation’s Distracted Driving Summit this Tuesday, September 21st, so he came to Autoblog and asked to use our soapbox. We’re not about to deny court with the Secretary, particularly on a topic for which we care so much about. So Mr. Secretary, the floor is yours…

I know the readers of Autoblog understand the dangers of distracted driving because you’ve been sounding the alarm on this deadly epidemic for years, long before I became Secretary of Transportation. Most Autoblog readers know by now that real drivers just drive.

Many of today’s drivers are too busy texting or talking on their mobile phones while driving.

And, because I appreciate the heavy lifting Autoblog and its readers have been doing on this issue, I’m making my appeal to America’s automotive fans right here.

We all know that Americans love their cars. In Peoria, Ill., where I grew up, the weather isn’t as kind to our vehicles as it is in other places, but we do have miles of scenic roads between towns where drivers can really enjoy the hum of their car as they take it for a long drive.

Unfortunately, many of today’s drivers are too busy texting or talking on their mobile phones while they’re driving. And that’s exactly the practice car lovers everywhere should join me in fighting against.

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Continue reading Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, has something he’d like to say…

Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, has something he’d like to say… originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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