Regulation can do more harm than good, especially regarding safety. This reality is behind an overdue update this week of a federal rule on truck-driver hours. The current regime is a relic of the 1930s when unions wanted limits on trucker hours so employers hired more drivers. Those rules have grown onerous in a...
About two months ago, in the middle of the night, a small, specially designed unmanned aircraft system — a drone — carried a precious cargo at 300 feet altitude and 22 miles per hour from West Baltimore to the University of Maryland Medical Center downtown, a trip of about 5 minutes. They called it, “One...
It’s rare that life hands us the opportunity to add a positive narrative to the history books. But there was just such an opportunity recently, when I was given a platform at the 150th Anniversary of the Golden Spike to honor the 12,000 or more workers of Chinese ancestry who played a key role in...
On May 10, 1869, a few short years after the Civil War, two railroad trains met nose-to-nose at Promontory Summit before a cheering crowd. The occasion marked the completion of America’s first transcontinental railroad – a monumental feat of innovation, engineering and manpower that connected east and west and forever transformed a young nation. Nearly...
As thousands gather in Austin this week for South By Southwest (SXSW), the city will play host to some of the world’s leading innovators and thought leaders. Since SXSW’s inception 33 years ago, there has been an ongoing technological revolution that has impacted all aspects of our society, including transportation. Today, technologies on the horizon...
Research has shown that more than 90 percent of fatal traffic crashes involve human error. Motor vehicle crashes in 2017 killed 37,133 people, including 5,977 pedestrians and 783 bicyclists, and injured nearly 3 million adults and children. The annual economic cost of motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. is over $240 billion. It is impossible...
Throughout history, innovation has resulted in new industries and new jobs and has changed and benefited societies in ways previously unimagined. A century ago, the Wright Brothers and others were still perfecting the biplane. Today, satellites enable global navigation, communication and weather forecasting systems and so much more. U.S. commercial air carriers transported about 880...
Today, our country is on the verge of the most significant new development in aviation since the jet age — the introduction of unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, into our national airspace. As of May 4, there were nearly 1.1 million registered drones in the United States, and more than 90,000 registered drone pilots —...
Today, our country is on the verge of the most significant new development in aviation since the jet age—the introduction of unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, into our national airspace. As of May 4, 2018, there were nearly 1.1 million registered drones in the United States, and more than 90,000 registered drone pilots—a job category...
Cutting-edge advances, such as automated vehicles and drones, have the potential to significantly improve safety, increase access for our elderly and people with disabilities, and change how we transport goods. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) We are at a pivotal moment in our transportation history. What was once considered science fiction is now promising to revolutionize our...
