Safety
Senior Dems Release New Distracted Driving Bill as LaHood Testifies
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) today unveiled his plan to take an incentive-based approach to distracted driving as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood testified on the Obama administration's campaign to end the use of electronic devices behind the wheel.
October 28, 2009
Senior Dem Senator to Offer Competing Plan to Limit Distracted Driving
Few if any policy-makers are prepared to defend the dangerous practice of using cell phones and texting behind the wheel. But even as reining in distracted driving gets a higher profile, there is some difference of opinion over whether to use carrots or sticks.
October 15, 2009
House GOPer Goes ‘All Aboard for Gun Rights on Amtrak’
Rep. Peter King (NY), the senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, has strongly criticized a Senate-approved provision that would force Amtrak to allow guns on board -- but some of King's colleagues fired back yesterday by introducing a counterpart to the Senate's proposal.
October 15, 2009
Senior House GOPer: We Shouldn’t Force Amtrak to Allow Guns on Board
Rep. Peter King (NY), the House Homeland Security Committee's senior Republican, has joined panel chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) in urging congressional leaders to abandon a pending provision that would threaten Amtrak with loss of federal funds if it did not allow guns in checked baggage.
October 13, 2009
Bloomberg and Dems Blast Congressional Plan to Let Guns on Amtrak
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg teamed up with two Democratic members of Congress yesterday to blast the Senate for its vote in favor of forcing Amtrak to allow guns and ammunition in passengers' checked baggage.
September 21, 2009
Boxer Reminds Metrolink: Train Crew Members Shouldn’t Ride Solo
The transportation spending bill passed by the Senate this week includes $50 million in rail safety grants sought in June by environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) -- but the bill may not become law for months, and today Boxer told California's Metrolink commuter rail that interim safety protections would have to stay in place.
September 18, 2009
GOP Guv Hopeful Hit Motorcyclist With His BMW But Wasn’t Ticketed
New Jersey GOP gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie, who holds a solid lead over incumbent Jon Corzine (D) despite a less-than-stellar political climate for his part, today was forced to explain away his poor driving record for the second time in two weeks.
September 4, 2009
Distracted Driving Laws Lack Teeth in Some States
For a story today on the political challenge of outlawing texting behind the wheel, the Washington Post sent its reporter to a downtown intersection to track whether drivers were obeying the city's ban on hand-held cell phones.
August 13, 2009
The Peculiar Federalism of Transit Safety: No National Standards Exist
The recent crash of two D.C. Metro trains has laid bare a glaring lack of authority at the obscure local committee that is supposed to ensure transit riders' safety, as the Washington Post reported today. But the problem is bigger than the nation's capital: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has not issued broad safety rules for rail transit, leaving the issue in the hands of state oversight agencies.
August 10, 2009
LaHood to Convene Texting-While-Driving Summit
Ray LaHood will announce today that his Department of Transportation plans to convene a summit next month for safety officials, lawmakers, academics, and law enforcement representatives to examine the risks of texting while driving.
August 4, 2009