The Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) is looking for a Community Planner.  RITA coordinates the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) research programs and is charged with advancing rigorous analysis and the deployment of cross-cutting technologies to improve our Nation’s transportation system.  This position is located within the Transportation Policy, Planning, and Organizational Excellence Division at the Volpe Center in Cambridge, MA.

The Professional Capacity Building Program Manager will manage Professional Capacity Building (PCB) programs in three key areas which include Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Innovative Program Delivery, and Transportation Planning.   They will provide technical leadership for these programs as well as oversight and program management of projects and staffing needs in all phases of the capacity building program cycle.

The position will plan and conduct outreach events and other efforts, such as implementing websites, webinars, workshops, peer exchanges, databases, brochures, scans and other capacity building tools and techniques.   The incumbent will design curricula and plan innovative methods of delivery; monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of PCB activities; scope out new projects and design new program activities.

If you know someone interested in this Cambridge, MA based position that has the experience and proven results, please encourage them to apply under the attached vacancy announcement.  USDOT is looking for a diverse pool of qualified candidates.

The vacancy announcement can be found on http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?JobID=87796834&JobTitle=CommunityPlanner

Please direct any questions to Susan Faldasz, Volpe Human Resources, at 617-494-2339.

Responsibilities:

Individual will provide support to the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) contract with the US Department of Transportation. Typical activities will include technical oversight of standards development and deployment activities, reviewing literature to identify promising ITS technologies, reviewing new standards to determine their completeness, evaluating standards deployment outreach tools, reviewing project specifications and design documents to determine their conformance to ITS standards, reviewing standards based test documentation, and reviewing project documentation for vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communications projects for conformance to ITS Standards.

Requirements:

BS in a related technical area (Systems Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Information Systems, etc.) MS preferred. 5+ years experience with developing concept of operations, system requirements specifications, or business processes; strong analytical ability required; excellent oral and written communication skills required; and experience with transportation systems desirable. An understanding of, and familiarity with, the following is desirable:

• Standards development process and the use of standards
• Wireless networks for vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communication
• International standards
• Information/communications system design and development
• Vehicle-based electronics systems

Employer Profile: Noblis is a nonprofit science, technology and strategy organization that helps clients solve complex systems, process and infrastructure problems in ways that benefit the public.  We bring the best of scientific thought and engineering know-how to find solutions that are practical, efficient and effective.  You will find Noblis at work in many fields, including national and homeland security; transportation; healthcare; criminal justice; energy and the environment; oceans, atmosphere and space; and public safety.

Noblis is consistently recognized as a “Great Place to Work” and “One of the Best Mid-Sized Companies to Work For”by Washingtonian Magazine, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the Great Places to Work Institute, and AARP.  Noblis was also named to the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” list by the Ethisphere Institute at the Forbes, Ethisphere Joint Conference

Click here to apply for the above position and/or to view other  job opportunities at Noblis.  Good luck!

“Connecting Communities through Smart Transportation Solutions”

ITS America cordially invites you to actively participate in the national conference that will bring you a fresh look at emerging projects, products, technologies and services that are making America strong by helping to solve the Nation’s transportation challenges.

The annual meeting of America’s leading intelligent transportation systems (ITS) industry association brings you speakers, sessions, demonstrations and technical tours that will show you how technology innovations are connecting communities and transforming transportation, while fostering job creation and economic growth.

Tour Houston’s innovative ITS-enabled Houston TranStar, a national leader in freeway incident management, and the Security System of the Port of Houston, ranked second in the US in total tonnage.

Begin the ITS America Annual Meeting on Monday morning, May 3, with a Texas State Senate hearing focusing on transportation and security.  Immediately following, the Opening Plenary addresses the Texas transportation experience, featuring leading Texas state and local officials.

Tuesday’s US Department of Transportation (USDOT) Plenary brings together Presidential appointees and executives to focus on how ITS can help improve job creation and economic growth, create a more integrated, performance-based transportation system and provide Americans with safe, affordable and environmentally sustainable transportation choices.

Monday and Tuesday afternoons you’ll want to witness the striking demonstration of the emergency response to an overturned 18-wheeler.  And headlining the Closing Plenary on Wednesday are IBM Chairman, President and CEO Sam Palmisano and USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood.  From their unique perspectives, both confirmed speakers will share their vision for a smarter 21st Century transportation network founded on technological innovation.

Topic-specific briefings in the exhibition hall followed by guided tours to those topic-specific exhibits, opportunities to build your business development network at our exposition and networking events,

earning “professional development hours” and taking advantage of co-located meetings and workshops of organizations such as NASCO, AASHTO and USDOT make the ITS America Annual Meeting this year’s must-attend conference!  Be sure to register and make your hotel reservations now.

See you in May!

Date: Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Time: 4:00 – 5:30 PM

Venue : 2167 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Event Host: The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America)

From highways and transit systems to passenger vehicles and freight transportation, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are beginning to transform our nation’s transportation network and provide significant benefits to our communities, businesses and other transportation users.  ITS technologies are already being used in many parts of the U.S. to reduce traffic crashes, congestion, operating costs, and carbon emissions while helping to improve transportation efficiency and spur job growth.  But as a recent report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation highlights, the U.S. is falling behind leading Asian and European nations in deploying ITS technologies (see recent Wired News coverage here and here).

As Congress and the Administration work to spur economic growth and address critical transportation and environmental challenges, this is an opportunity to engage with leading transportation, transit, automotive, and economic policy experts in a discussion about how information and communications technologies are modernizing our nation’s infrastructure, and what steps can be taken to advance the deployment of current and next generation ITS technologies to create a smarter, safer, cleaner, and more efficient transportation system.  Please join ITS Caucus co-chair Russ Carnahan (D-MO) and our distinguished panelists for a discussion about the future of ITS in America, including how smart technologies can benefit your community and how policymakers can help the U.S. reclaim its role as an innovation leader.  Please RSVP to Charlie Tennyson at ITS America at ctennyson@itsa.org or 202-721-4207.

Note:  ITS America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit association that represents several hundred member organizations including public sector agencies, private industry leaders, and academic institutions working to advance the research, development, and deployment of technologies that improve transportation safety, mobility, economic competitiveness, and the environment.  Register here to attend ITS America’s 2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition, which will be held in Houston, Texas from May 3 – 5.  Featured speakers include U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, IBM Chairman, President and CEO Sam Palmisano, and other public sector, private industry, and academic leaders from across the country.

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• Intelligent Transportation Society of America Announces Call for Entries for “2010 Best of ITS Awards” (prweb.com)

ITS America’s 20th Annual Meeting & Exposition, scheduled forMay 3-5, 2010, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas will provide transportation professionals and policymakers the necessary tools and strategies they need to create communities that are safer, cleaner, more livable and less congested.

This year’s theme is “Connecting Communities through Smart Transportation Solutions.” We will also provide you with important policy insight from government officials and planning insights from leading transportation practitioners.

The competition, held in conjunction with the 2010 ITS America Annual Meeting & Exposition and sponsored by Southwest Research Institute, provides an opportunity for today’s transportation and engineering students to apply their knowledge in a thought-provoking and enjoyable competition and to build awareness of a career path with unlimited potential in the ITS industry.  Contest guidelines are attached.

2010 Student Essay Competition Guidelines

The Student Essay Competition is designed to encourage student interest and future participation in the development of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and solutions. The objective of the essay competition is to provide an opportunity for today’s transportation and engineering students to apply their knowledge in a thought-provoking and enjoyable competition and to build awareness of ITS as a career path with unlimited potential.  Essays will be judged on their creativity, quality of exposition, originality, depth of knowledge, and awareness of ITS issues and challenges.

Eligibility Requirements

• Authors must be graduate or undergraduate full-time students enrolled in an accredited institution of learning in the U.S.
• Entries are limited to one paper per student and should be original, unpublished work of an individual student.

Essay Topics

Essays must be based on one of the following topics.  You may also focus the paper on the sub-topics listed:

Topic 1:  Cooperative Systems

• How cooperative systems will quantitatively improve the performance of standalone active vehicle safety systems?
• One of the challenges of implementing cooperative systems is the penetration rate required.  What are the barriers to achieving the necessary penetration rates in order to realize system level benefits of a specific cooperative system/application?
• Describe relevant research into the application of multi-agent/intelligent agent theory on current transportation challenges.

Topic 2: How will Traffic Management evolve, possible subtopics:

• What new technologies/approaches will be used for collecting traffic status data?
• How will regions integrate their data to provide consolidated views for the traveling public?
• How can the information dissemination to travelers be improved?

Essay Format Requirements

• The cover page must include the title of the essay, author’s name, name of school, mailing address, phone number, and the student’s e-mail address and phone number.  The author’s name and essay title should appear at the top of all other pages.
• Essays should be typed, double spaced, and appear on 8 ½”x11” white paper.
• A complete bibliography should be included, if appropriate.
• Essays are not to exceed 2,000 words in length, must be written by only one person, and should not have appeared in any publications other than in school publications.
• Essays will be evaluated considering: writing quality and clarity; interest of the topic and content to the broad Intelligent Transportation Systems industry; analysis and reasoning; timeliness, originality, and creativity; quality and use of research; and compliance with these rules.

AWARDS

The 1st, 2^nd , and 3rd place winners will :

• receive $1,500, $1,000, or $500 respectively to cover expenses of their trip to the conference.
• receive a complimentary full registration to attend the conference.
• have the opportunity to present their winning essay at the dedicated Interactive Session area in the exhibit hall on Tuesday, May 4, 2010,
• have their winning essay displayed on the Student Essay Competition Web page of ITS America’s
• be featured in nationally-distributed press releases.

Application Procedure

Entries must be submitted in electronic formats.  Essays must be accompanied by a cover letter from a faculty advisor or department chair.  E-mail essays to Edgar Martinez at emartinez@itsa.org by 5 p.m. (EST) on March 15, 2010.

Selection

Entries will be reviewed and the final selections made by a selection committee comprised of ITS America members and Southwest Research Institute representatives.  The winners will be notified on March 29, 2010.

ITS America and Southwest Research Institute strongly encourage the winners to be present for the awards ceremony on Monday, May 3, 2010, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

Questions should be directed to Edgar Martinez at 800-374-8472 ext. 4223 or emartinez@itsa.org.   For more information, please visit the 2010 ITS America Annual Meeting website.

New Report: U.S. Falling Off Pace of World Leadership In Intelligent Transportation Systems

Why the U.S. is Missing the Intelligent Transportation Systems Revolution

WASHINGTON, D.C.— A new report by a leading Washington, D.C. think tank will be released on Wednesday, January 27^th, highlighting the increasing disparity between foreign industrialized nations and the United States regarding the current use of new technologies to address major transportation congestion, safety, and environmental problems.

At Wednesday’s forum, researchers from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will issue the report and discuss its findings with domestic and international transportation experts.  The report, Explaining International IT Application Leadership: Intelligent Transportation Systems, discusses why the United States has fallen behind in developing intelligent transportation technology while nations such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and others have made significant progress and advances.

Date:   Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Time:  9 AM – 10:30 AM

Place:  Information Technology and Innovations Foundation,  1101 K Street, NW, Suite 610A , Washington, DC 20005

(News media inquiries, please call ITIF at 202-449-1351)

Participants

• Robert Atkinson (moderator),  President, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
• Stephen Ezell (presenter), Senior Analyst, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

Respondents:

• Scott Belcher, President and CEO, ITS America
• Riz Khaliq, Global Business Executive, Intelligent Transportation Systems and Growth Markets, IBM Global Government
• Masahiro Nishikawa, Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLIT)

Report Should Be “A Serious Wake Up Call” For the U.S.

“The report should be a serious wake-up call to our nation’s transportation leaders and policy makers as to why the U.S. is not staying competitive in the international market,” said Scott Belcher, President and CEO of ITS America. “Other industrialized nations have learned that a major key to transportation efficiency and economic growth is by deploying intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to allow for the safe and easy movement of goods and people.

“We have the opportunity to reverse this disparity if we don’t continue to ignore 21^st Century technology in addressing our transportation problems,” Belcher said.

According to the report: “Many think improving a country’s transportation system solely means building new roads or repairing aging infrastructure.  But the future of transportation lies not in concrete and steel, but in a network of sensors, microchips, and communication devices that collect and disseminate information about the functioning of the transportation system.”

The report also introduces specific recommendations on how the U.S. government can accelerate the deployment of ITS to remain economically competitive with other industrialized nations.

“Information Technology Is Revolutionizing Transportation”

ITS technology includes real-time, in-vehicle traffic and transit information; new types of automated road pricing; adaptive traffic signal timing; safety warning systems; and many other applications which leverage IT to enhance the safety, efficiency and convenience of transportation, including for cars, trucks and mass transit.

“What ITS do is empower actors in the transportation system—from commuters, to highway and transit authorities, even down to the actual traffic lights themselves—with actionable information, that is, intelligence, to make better-informed decisions, whether it’s choosing which route to take, when to travel, or whether to mode-shift; how to optimize traffic signals; where to build new roadways; or how to hold providers of transportation services accountable for results,” said Stephen Ezell, ITIF lead report author.

“As we have seen technology revolutionize how we work and live, information technology is revolutionizing transportation. Other nations are already using intelligent transportation technology to reduce traffic collisions, congestion and carbon emissions,” Belcher said.

“Imagine being able to receive real-time information about traffic congestion or incidents on freeways, updates of when the next bus or train will arrive when using mass transit, or collision avoidance warnings from autonomous vehicle sensors when crashes appear imminent,” Belcher said. “In many other industrialized parts of the world, this is already happening.”

NOTE: This event will be live webcast here on the day of the event. News media inquiries, please call ITIF at 202-449-1351.

Transportgooru is a proud supporter of the International Benefits, Evaluation and Costs (IBEC) Working Group, which is a cooperative working group set up to coordinate and expand international efforts, to exchange information and techniques, and evaluate benefits and costs of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).  IBEC brings together the best knowledge and experience and is the focal point for discussion and debate of interest to the international ITS evaluation community. IBEC encourages more effective use of ITS evaluation information so that decision-makers can make more informed ITS investments.

IBEC’s newsletters are very informative and offers interesting perspectives on a wide-spectrum of issues pertaining to three important areas of ITS – Benefits, Evaluation and Costs.    Here is the latest newsletter ( September 2009), which can also be accessed/downloaded directly from IBEC’s website.

Click here to learn more about the organization and how to become a member. FYI – Membership is free and open to any interested individual. IBEC currently has over 400 members from over 40 countries.

(Source: Wired)

The senate, the Department of Transportation and the FCC want you to stop texting while driving, and on Wednesday, they all but declared a war on texting, promising education campaigns and laws to convince you to put your phone down — at least while you are piloting a two-ton SUV going 70 mph.

In a Senate hearing Wednesday, using a mobile phone while driving was said to be more dangerous than drunk driving, the cause of 16 percent of fatal accidents in the United States and a “perfect storm” of distraction.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood concluded his testimony by calling texting while driving a “menace to society,” saying the department’s research showed that 6,000 people a year died because it distracted drivers of all kinds. Here are some excerpts from the Secretary’s blog on this topic:

Here’s a start: Experts agree that there are three types of distraction–

Visual – taking your eyes off the road;

Manual – taking your hands off the wheel; and

Cognitive – taking your mind off the road.

While all distractions can adversely impact safety, texting is particularly troubling because it involves all three types of distraction. In the words of Dr. John Lee of the University of Wisconsin, this produces a “perfect storm.”

Not convinced? Our latest research shows that nearly 6,000 people died last year in crashes involving a distracted driver, and more than half a million people were injured.

At issue is the Distracted Driving Prevention Act of 2009 (.pdf) that Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) and Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) introduced Wednesday that seeks to ban texting while driving, a category that includes using a PDA, checking e-mail on a BlackBerry or manipulating a GPS unit with your hand. The bill (S. 1938) also targets drivers who make calls without using a headset. Texting or calling while pulled over on the side of the road is fine, but not while at a red light.  

Rockefeller noted  “Nowadays, you have to text or you are not with it — you are not educated. But it’s lethal behavior when you get in a car.”   He wants some sort of phone-blocking device installed in cars, presumably one that knows the difference between a driver’s phone and passengers’ phones.

Rockefeller seemed to recognize that perhaps the only thing more dangerous than texting while driving is trying to take the media spotlight from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York), and so let him testify at the hearing on the Rockefeller-Lautenberg bill because Schumer had introduced the Alert Drivers Act earlier this year.

By contrast Schumer’s bill would withhold 25 percent of federal transportation funding from states that don’t implement strong anti-texting while driving rules, a tactic Congress has used in the past to force states to lower their speed limits and raise the drinking age to 21.

Glenn N. Havinoviski is Associate Vice President for Transportation Systems with Iteris, Inc. in Sterling.  He was President of ITS Virginia from 2006 to 2007 and has been a columnist for the ITSVA Journal since 2002.

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Imagine, if you can…

Intelligent transportation systems are on their last legs in Virginia.  There is no political support for congestion reduction measures that require any kind of budgetary investment.  There is no popular desire for new measures to provide more travel choices, like express buses, rapid rail, or HOT lanes.  No one really cares to see travel time information along the road or any information about accidents or closures.  We’d rather spend more time in traffic so we can talk and text and Tweet on our cellphones, thus causing more accidents.

And hey, now they’ve got iPhone apps for traffic information, which give you nice green, orange and red lines over Google Maps!  COOL!  Who needs those electronic signs and cameras and service patrols and control centers that are run by the Marxists anyway?

Hey!  Let’s get rid of VDOT!   And how about that big Federal bureaucracy which doesn’t do anything!  We Virginians are resourceful.  The roads might crumble but we can all buy big American SUV’s again and go off-roading and impress each other at church on Sundays!  And they can tow boats too, for when all the bridges fall down. Look at all the American jobs this creates! We can take our kids to our private schools in the woods that don’t require state funding, which is fine since we also want to get rid of those so-called public schools anyway!  All kids need to learn is the Bible and the Constitution, except for those last 15 amendments!

And who needs to worry about oil?  We’ll just drill here, drill now, on the shores of the Potomac!  Heck, let’s drill off Virginia Beach!  We all go to the Outer Banks and Hilton Head anyway!  We can deport all the immigrants, and suddenly it won’t  be so crowded on the roads!  No more smelly buses either! Let the French have their trains! We won’t need any more Statist engineers and planners to tell us what to do! Problems solved!  “Carry me back to old Virgininny….”

Scary, huh? What about this scenario instead?

(Approved Press Release) The USDOT Office of Public Benefit, as directed by the President upon his signature of the Omnibus Reauthorization Welcoming Enhanced Life and Liberty in 2010 (ORWELL 2010),  has suspended all transportation projects funded in part or entirely by private sector entities, except for those providing rail-based transit services to corridors of population density less than 50 persons per square mile. In all cases, maximum fares and rate of return for shall be unilaterally set by the President’s Private Sector Compensation Czar.

Under the provisions of ORWELL 2010, all road tolling in the United States shall be ceased as of March 12, 2011, at which time all state departments of transportation and public, semi-public and private transportation authorities and their assets will become subject to USDOT jurisdiction.

All traffic signals, cameras, sensors and other electronic infrastructure commonly associated with so-called “Intelligent Transportation Systems” that are not powered by recyclable farm organisms shall be removed from public right-of-way by January 1, 2011.

ORWELL 2010 has decreed that all limited-access highways which have not otherwise bio-degraded or collapsed onto themselves shall be redesignated as Advanced Non-Individual Managed Access Lanes (ANIMAL) facilities.  An ANIMAL shall not permit access to individually-driven vehicles, via tolls or otherwise,  but will permit properly-licensed buses, bicycles, solar powered vehicles, Harley-Davidsons, and Toyota Priuses.

Henceforth, on all non-ANIMAL facilities, all travel containing less than four passengers in (or on) a motorized vehicle will be permitted between the hours of 10 pm and 5 am Monday through Friday, and for six non-contiguous hours on Saturday and Sunday to be individually approved by someone in USDOT.

ORWELL 2010 has mandated that all residents of a State, US territory, or possession, shall reside in an urban center of 50,000 population or more unless they can demonstrate they are excluded or protected entities including organic dairy farmers, custodians of wind farms, Native Americans, Members of Congress, or mammals.

All fuel taxes will be increased to a nominal rate of $25 per gallon also effective January 1, 2011, the proceeds of which will be used to build passenger rail lines on urban streets and also to demolish any housing more than 10 miles from an urban center of more than 50,000.  All families will be given 6 months to acquire dwellings within government-designated smart-growth areas,  with dwelling sizes not to exceed 150 square feet per human, or 250 square feet per dog, up to a maximum of 826 square feet.

All cats shall be permitted to roam freely within the smart growth zone (please refer to ORWELL 2010’s companion legislation, “Pelosi-McCain Feline Freedom Act”).

All broadcast, satellite and cable television and radio stations along with electronic and material mailings which present viewpoints which are contrary to the regulations and mandates stipulated in ORWELL 2010 shall be reported within 4 hours to the Office of Public Benefit, under penalty of prosecution.

“Kumbaya….”

How far are we from either of these?  Really!

After all, we are in a battle for hearts and minds,  not to mention money.  ITS and congestion management seems to be lost in the shuffle here.  Take a look at what is really happening.

For example, Arlington County has recently sued the Feds and the Commonwealth over the proposed project on I-95/395 to expanding and convert the existing HOV lanes to High-Occupancy Toll lanes, demanding the overturning of the project’s environmental Categorical Exclusion and suspending the project until their objections (notably not enough emphasis on transit, potential harm to air quality, concern about congested interchanges and local roads as a result of the project) were satisfied.

And, although years ago families saw that Arlington had run out of room and housing stock and had no choice but to move farther out, the County said “the project actually encourages additional sprawl, further exacerbating traffic congestion and harmful air emissions.”  Chickens or eggs first?

(I can’t help but think back to that California Air Resources Board study in the 1990’s which effectively said that congestion was good because fewer cars can use the road and people travel slower.  Guess we can’t win now.)

On the other hand, several freedom fighters from the “additional sprawl” in Prince William County have complained that HOT Lanes would endanger their sluglines, as people who picked up riders for their trips to the Pentagon would now selfishly pay tolls and drive by themselves, while the jilted slugs had to make do with taking the lowly bus instead.

Never mind all this counterpunching flies in the face of the HOT lane successes (from both a revenue and a congestion reduction perspective) in California, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Washington and Minnesota,  a coalition of red and blue states if I’ve ever seen one.  And the I-495 HOT lanes construction, which has a much larger impact on the surrounding communities than 95/395 would, is surging forward.

But then again, we shouldn’t worry.  After all, we all know that ITS and congestion management are a significant means of reducing greenhouse gases and improving our environment, right?  It must be true, because we’ve been saying so for years.

Well, witness the big brouhaha over the “Moving Cooler” study for Urban Land Institute with support from USDOT, the Environmental Defense Fund, EPA, ITS America, and others, which was to provide some ammunition on projected benefits of various transportation and land use strategies in curbing greenhouse gases.  The study,  to many, has left more questions than answers.

The estimates for ITS, and operations benefits were said to be a cumulative 0.3 to 0.6% reduction over 50 years for all such systems deployed together, which angered many experts, including AASHTO.  But the other individual benefits for road pricing,  transit  and land use changes did not exceed 4.4% each, and for the most part averaged 1 to 2%.

So how, when the four areas are combined, was there a cumulative 18% to 24% reduction in GHG?  And how much will individual activities cost, especially when cumulative investment would be $50 to $80 billion per year for 40 years?!  The benefits, including “reduced travel and reduced fuel consumption” did not get contrasted with any opportunity costs (e.g., relocations, additional percentage of income devoted to taxes, job shifts or losses, etc) associated with redefining our life styles. So the actual personal costs may add to the already substantial investment, either by or mandated from government.

Considering Virginia legislators haven’t been willing to make the investment in even a rudimentary transportation improvement program in the state,  this would mean we’re headed toward a giant Federal involvement in our society with all the attendant issues that brings, like constitutionality.

I attended the “Moving Cooler” media and political event in Washington in late July, presided over by several legislators (notably Rep. Oberstar-MN, Rep. Blumenauer-OR, and Sen. Menendez-NJ).  I was also surrounded by many people in small bow ties and luminescent plastic bicycle medallions on their lapels, so we do know that land use, bicycles and transit were a big deal, and we were repeatedly told that the Dutch and the Danes do over 30% of travel by bicycle, and that the Spanish and Chinese had exemplary national rail investment programs.  And we all need to be just like Portland, Oregon,  OK.

So do we only have a choice between “spend no money, everyone on their own, God Bless America”  and  “shame on you, greedy and slothful suburbanite, come live in our dense community, ride your bikes and take the trolley powered by electricity produced by some coal plant far enough away it doesn’t impact us”?    In reality,  we are faced with both situations happening, depending on what state or community you live in.  There may be a choice between these two.  But if we are not careful, there may not be any choices in between.

This combination of willful abandonment of a public sector role in our infrastructure (right wing) and direct control of our private lives and wealth (left wing) are a scary combination, and one we have to address with reasonableness, pragmatism, and the best that technology can offer.  As always, we need to push some simple facts about ITS and clear-headed transportation management strategies, which I think more than other can provide tools that keep us from descending into an abyss we cannot control.  In other words, Virginia (and other states) must step up, or get stepped on.

The key words we must use are CHOICES,  QUALITY, SAFETY and MOBILITY.   ITS enables all of these things.

ITS provides the information so travelers can make choices on when, where and how to travel, and can achieve them through alternatives that are priced based on relative convenience and utility.

ITS improves the quality of transportation services by providing timely information about their operational status, as well as actively managing the operation of the freeway, the arterial (including the bike lane or bike path) or transit service through messaging, signals, vehicle monitoring, dynamic road pricing, etc. to reduce delays.

ITS improves safety by improving information by advising of the otherwise unexpected (incidents, delays,  speed reductions needed because of weather/pavement/operational conditions, and if IntelliDrive becomes reality, various warnings of conflicts at intersections).

And finally,  all of this facilitates the ability for individuals to travel when and where they want or need to, enhancing personal mobility. It also enhances interstate commerce, which is an integral purpose of our Federal government.  It says so in our Constitution.

To me, mobility is an essential part of freedom, whether you are red or blue.

Some places may choose to barely maintain their overworked, underfed transportation networks and not invest. Some others may be willing to make enormous investments which may impact the public significantly, and force them to make lifestyle changes which may or may not be in their own self-interest.  Either way, we have to balance self-interest and the common good.  And ITS should be a part of the overall solution.

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Disclaimer: All opinions expressed are those of the author.  TransportGooru is proud to invite anyone and everyone who wishes to use this platform to engage the community in a social dialogue, there by creating a healthy debate on some of the pressing transportation issues that affect our quality of life.   Please register your comments below for the author so that he can hear the community’s voice on the issues he has addressed in the above paragraphs.

Thanks to Rod McKenzie, the Chief Technology Officer of Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America), for sharing his summary of observations from the Distracted Driving Summit (See below for Rod’s bio).  Rod was also among of the distinguished panelists that participated in the Summit, which makes this article even more compelling.  Also, don’t forget to check last week’s article by Adam Hoops, a Transportgooru supporter & ITS industry whiz, who shared with us his views and notes from the Summit (he participated virtually, watching and listening to the proceedings online).

Note: Please register your comments/kudos below for Rod in the comments box below.

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Last week I had the honor of participating in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Distracted Driving Summit. Our panel was focused on technology’s role in both preventing and contributing to distracted driving. I was accompanied by my other panelists in highlighting how technology can help address distracted driving, and must not be demonized in our efforts to end what Secretary LaHood described as an epidemic of driver distraction.

Over the course of the Summit one of the prominent topics was legislation, with discussion on how we as a nation can legislate and enforce against dangerous practices such as texting while driving. While these bans are clearly an essential part of the campaign to reduce the fatalities that distracted driving causes, the American Automobile Association (AAA) amongst others presented data that demonstrated we must do more than just legislate. A survey of AAA membership demonstrated that even though a large majority of people acknowledged the extreme danger of texting or dialing on a cell phone while driving, many of these same people surveyed admitted they themselves had recently done these very actions while driving.

New technologies such as cell phones, PDA’s, after-market GPS systems, and MP3 players have become such a strong part of our lives that we are apparently not willing to stop using them even behind the wheel. Legislation, enforcement and education are extremely important in changing dangerous behaviors and making our roads safer, but we can also integrate many of these technologies into our cars to minimize distraction. Technologies such as hands-free phone and GPS navigation systems must be integrated carefully and seamlessly into the vehicle driving environment. Displays must be easily visible without having to take your eyes off the road and controls must be simple and intuitive, avoiding the need for hands off the wheel. Conversational voice technology is developing rapidly creating new systems that allow text messages to be read to the driver, who can then dictate and send a response using voice command.

Additionally, preventative technologies are already keeping drivers focused on the driving task, helping to prevent accidents caused by distracted driving. Lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, fatigue detection and other technologies ensure driver mistakes don’t turn into accidents. Of course, these technologies must be carefully developed and integrated into the vehicle so that the communication of the additional information they can provide does not itself become a distraction.

Distracted Driving is one of the oldest new problems we have, and while the misuse of new technologies has contributed to the problem, technology and innovation are also a key part of the solution. The multi-pronged approach of legislating behavior, public education and making our technology smarter and safer is the key to ending distracted driving. Just as anti-lock brakes and stability control have been proven to help drivers avoid accidents, technology will continue to adapt to the modern driver’s needs to provide a safe driving experience.

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Author’s Bio:  Rod MacKenzie provides oversight for ITS America’s technical and business development programs. As vice president for programs, he is responsible for leading the program staff and providing day-to-day guidance on program management, project execution, and resource allocation. In his role as chief technical officer, Rod monitors new technologies and assesses their potential to become new products or services within the ITS marketplace, overseeing the selection of technical projects to ensure that they have the potential to add value to the organization and its members.

Rod has more than 20 years of experience in the automotive, telematics, navigation, and mobile infotainment industries. Prior to joining ITS America’s staff in April 2009, Rod was the vice president of advanced applications and services at XM Satellite Radio where he led the development of new telematics capabilities and infotainment services, including real-time traffic and weather, with particular focus on the company’s core automotive business and OEM partners.

Rod holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Brunel University in Uxbridge, England.

About ITS America: ITS America is a non-profit organization engaged in promoting & fostering the  use of advanced technologies in surface transportation systems.  ITSA is the leading advocate for technologies that improve the safety, security and efficiency of the nation’s surface transportation system.