The Orwellian Era of Transportation Planning: NMA E-Newsletter #629
By Christopher M. DiPrima, NMA Board Member George Orwell’s seminal 1984 has defined political discourse for over 70 years. Among the book’s most prescient concepts is doublethink, the practice of using contradictory terminology to obscure the government’s actions. In 1984, the Ministry of Peace propagates war; the Ministry of Plenty rations goods; the Ministry of […]
8 Tips to Prevent Connected Autonomous Vehicle Cyber Breach Liability
Today, the world is advancing towards unknown limits of tech at a breakneck pace. We started with limited capacity vehicles featuring bulky engines and delivering restricted functionality. Eventually, we reached a stage where minimalistic and easily manageable vehicles became common. And now, we strive towards AV and CAV vehicles that require minimal input from our […]
Checking in with Columbus, Ohio, Winner of the 2016 Smart City Challenge
In 2016, Columbus, OH, beat out 77 other US large and small cities to win the coveted $40 million US Department of Transportation Smart City Challenge. As the state capital and the largest city in Ohio, Columbus has the distinction of being the largest US metropolis (2018 population 892,533) not to have a subway or […]
Omni Directional Law Enforcement Confirmation Lights (Blue Traffic Lights) – Sound Ominous to You?
By Gary Biller, NMA President Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared as an NMA Weekly E-Newsletter #457 emailed to members in October 2017. If you would like to receive the newsletter, join today the thousands of other active motorists who have made that choice! Blue lights continue to increase since this post appeared. Here are […]
6 Key Connectivity Requirements of Autonomous Vehicles
Creating a safe and reliable autonomous vehicle or AV would indeed be an immensely achievable landmark for humankind. The AV race is on with Ford, Tesla, Apple, Renault, Uber, and many other automakers competing for technical expertise and becoming the “first” to launch. That last five to ten percent of the journey, though, appears to […]
Tracking Legislative Activity the NMA Way: NMA –E-Newsletter #533
Today we complete the first full calendar quarter of reporting motorist-related activity that is passing through state and federal legislatures. The NMA Bill/Regulation Tracker (Bill Tracker) was introduced in the Winter 2019 issue of Driving Freedoms and went live on Motorists.org in early January when most states began new legislative sessions. Only three months in […]
The Most Important Road Safety Rules Your Children Should Know
As a parent, your biggest concern is your child’s safety. This is especially important when you have to let your child walk on their own to certain places. It’s good to let them be independent but first you need to teach them important road safety rules. The better you are at setting an example for […]
The Consequences of the Intolerance of Vision Zero
Editor’s Note: This piece first appeared in March 2016 and continues to resonate today about the ecosystem of transportation. The Consequences of Intolerance: NMA E-Newsletter #373 Ecosystem: A system, or a group of interconnected elements, formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment What is our transportation network of streets […]
Problem Solving Ain’t What It Used To Be: NMA E-Newsletter #496
by Gary Biller, NMA President One valuable piece of analytical advice that has stuck with me in the many ─ too many ─ years since attending engineering school and participating in the requisite lab experiments is “let the data lead you to a proper solution.” With that thought in mind, let’s look at the following […]
If They Can’t Even Sync Traffic Lights
They can’t even get automated traffic lights to work — to sync the green/red cycles in order to smooth the flow of traffic — but we’re supposed to believe that millions of automated cars are going to sync perfectly, whizz along at 100 MPH in tight formation, without a hitch — just like the Blue […]