Category: transportation law

DOT issues notice of proposed rulemaking on improved rear impact protection for trailers and semitrailers

DOT issues notice of proposed rulemaking on improved rear impact protection for trailers and semitrailers
12/7/2015

This is needed and will save lives –

[…] “Robust trailer rear impact guards can significantly reduce the risk of death or injury to vehicle occupants in the event of a crash into the rear of a trailer or semitrailer,” said NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind. “We’re always looking at ways to safeguard the motoring public, and today’s announcement moves us forward in our mission.”

Rear underride crashes are those in which the front end of a vehicle impacts the rear of a generally larger vehicle, and slides under the rear-impacted vehicle. For example, underride may occur in collisions in which a small passenger vehicle crashes into the rear end of a large trailer and the bed and chassis of the impacted vehicle is higher than the hood of the impacting passenger vehicle.

In excessive underride crashes, there is passenger compartment intrusion (PCI) as the passenger vehicle underrides so far that the rear end of the struck vehicle enters the passenger compartment of the striking passenger vehicle. PCI can result in severe injuries and fatalities to occupants contacting the rear end of the struck vehicle. A rear impact guard prevents PCI when it engages the smaller striking vehicle and stops the vehicle from sliding too far under the struck vehicle’s bed and chassis.

The occupant crash protection features built into today’s passenger vehicles are able to provide high levels of occupant protection in 35 mph frontal crashes. This NPRM would require trailer and semitrailer guards to remain in place and prevent PCI in crashes of severities of up to 35 mph versus the current requirement of up to 30 mph. […]

San Francisco May Let Bicyclists Yield at Stop Signs

San Francisco May Let Bicyclists Yield at Stop Signs
NY Times
10/20/15

[…] Hundreds of defiant bicyclists lined up single file here in July to protest, halting car traffic in a one-mile zigzag of streets known as the Wiggle that is popular among riders. Motorists honked and heckled during their stalled evening commute, as cyclists crept along to make their point: that they want the common practice of treating stop signs as yield signs — rolling through them slowly and coming to a stop only if necessary — to be legalized, for practical reasons. […]

D.C. church says a bike lane would infringe upon its constitutional ‘rights of religious freedom’

D.C. church says a bike lane would infringe upon its constitutional ‘rights of religious freedom’
Washington Post
10/14/15

[…] The parking loss would place an unconstitutionally undue burden on people who want to pray, the church argues, noting that other churches already have fled to the suburbs because of onerous parking restrictions. The church says that DDOT lets cars park diagonally on the street during busy times, which would be seemingly impossible if a protected bike lane were on the street. […]

Don't Door Me

Dooring accidents are far too common and serious, or even deadly.

Yet, in much of the USA we don’t count this specific type of injury accident in a way that can best yield data to improve safety infrastructure and awareness. In most states opening a door into a cyclist, pedestrian or even another car is a traffic code violation, yet enforcement is rare and fines are often very low amounts.

In 2011 Chicago Bicycle Advocacy won a huge victory and got the state of Illinois DOT to officially start tracking and recording dooring incidents.
In 2012, after 7 bicycle dooring fatalities in 5 years, NYC DOT started a media dooring awareness campaign as well as safety improvements to the sidewalks and taxi cab windows to try and raise awareness.

Bikers call for state to count ‘dooring’ accidentsAdvocacy group says untracked collisions are most common
Chicago Tribune
March 20, 2011

[…] A Tribune request for violations data showed that since 2008, Chicago police issued no tickets for opening a vehicle door into the path of a bicyclist or turning in front of a bicyclist. […] Excluding dooring accidents from crash counts likely decreases reported vehicle-bike accident numbers by at least 15 percent statewide, said Dan Persky, director of education at the Active Transportation Alliance. […]

1 In 5 Bicycle Crashes In Chicago Is A Dooring
Chicago-ist
May 16, 2014

[…] The city passed an ordinance in 2008 that addressed doorings. […] That was followed in 2011 when IDOT, after lobbying by Active Trans, began counting doorings and crashes and tracking them. […]

Is L.A.'s traffic the worst in the U.S.? Depends on how you measure it

Is L.A.’s traffic the worst in the U.S.? Depends on how you measure it
LA Times
8/26/15

[…] Other top-ranked freeway bottlenecks include: the northbound 101 from downtown to Sherman Oaks; the eastbound 10 Freeway from Santa Monica to downtown; and three sections of the 5 between Irvine and downtown Los Angeles.

The severity of L.A.-area rush-hour delays remained greater than in any other city. […]

L.A. opens the door for full Uber and Lyft service at LAX

L.A. opens the door for full Uber and Lyft service at LAX
LA Times
8/26/15

[…] But in the end, those misgivings about ride-hailing could not match the public appeal of a new and potentially easier way to get to and from Los Angeles International Airport, where traffic jams are legendary and rail service is still years away.

Los Angeles on Tuesday became the largest city in the nation to open the door for companies such as Uber and Lyft to fully operate alongside taxis at the airport. […]