NMA E-Newsletter #734: National Roadway Safety Strategy: Is it a better mouse trap?
By Stewart W. Price, President of the National Motorists Association In January of 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation, led by Secretary Pete Buttigieg, published the “National Roadway Safety Strategy,” (NRSS) which serves as the playbook for revamping our current roadway system. It spells out the following goals and corresponding implementation strategies for: Safer People […]
Taking the Politics Out of Speed Limit Setting—a Member Responds: NMA Newsletter #729
By Don Bain, NMA Oregon Member Editor’s Note: Don submitted these comments to the NMA National Office in response to Newsletter #724 Taking the Politics Out of Speed Limit Setting. While sound from an engineering perspective, there’s an inherent challenge with speed surveys and the 85% percentile speed point: establishing and documenting what “free-flowing conditions” are, […]
The Changing Landscape of Speed Limits
By Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared as the cover story in the Winter 2022 Edition of the National Motorists Association’s quarterly magazine Driving Freedoms. If you would like to receive our magazine, please become a member of the NMA today! Advocating for speed limits based on sound traffic-engineering […]
And So It Begins—Vision Zero from the Top Down: NMA E-Newsletter #682
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently announced that his department wants to drastically reduce deadly traffic accidents through vehicle and street design changes. The USDOT also plans to use $14 billion in funding from the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill to encourage the states to make extensive use of speed cameras to enforce lowered […]
More Speed Cameras, Lower Speed Limits, More Surveillance
By Lauren Fix, Car Coach Reports Does the infrastructure bill have another hidden surveillance initiative? Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg uses the infrastructure spending plan to promote speed cameras nationwide! The DOT has received $6 billion to issue grants to help cities and towns with road safety due to the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that Congress passed. […]
Equity and Sustainability
Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared in March 2021 as NMA E-Newsletter #637. If you would like to receive the NMA’s weekly one-topic newsletter, subscribe HERE. Those are the buzzwords used frequently by city transportation officials as they seek to achieve “complete streets” nirvana. Before we attempt to define the overused terms, it is essential […]
A Shot Across the Bow: NMA E-Newsletter #645
A number of recent NMA e-newsletters and national email alerts to members have focused on the seismic event brewing with the national standard for traffic control devices: The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) proposed federal rule to massively overhaul the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Among the myriad recommendations are changes to speed zoning […]
Equity and the MUTCD: NMA E-Newsletter #644
As we have noted prominently in recent newsletters and email action alerts, the Federal Highway Administration has recommended sweeping changes to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). In Equity and Sustainability (NMA E-Newsletter #637), we criticized the appropriation of those terms, particularly ‘equity,’ to demand broad restrictions on drivers and driving. NMA Director […]
The Push to Curtail Driving
The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) is the government’s massive document that controls the application of regulatory devices like stop signs, crosswalk markings, and traffic lights. The MUTCD, last updated in 2009, is the current subject of a proposed federal rule by the FHWA. The sweeping revisions suggested by […]
More Hands on Deck: NMA E-Newsletter #641
Member response to the NMA’s April 13th email alert and last week’s newsletter, All Hands on Deck, #640, has been tremendous. This grassroots campaign is focused on convincing the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) that key components of its planned update to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) will make the roads less, not […]