In this week’s TheNewspaper.com Roundup!
–NTSB examines school bus fatalities–
–Traffic school has no safety benefit–
–TX AG says no more public money for toll roads–
Friday, May 18, 2018
NTSB Investigation Examines Preventable School Bus Fatalities
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will meet Tuesday to discuss a pair of tragic school bus accidents that took a dozen lives in 2016. While some school administrators have cited school bus fatality numbers as a reason to install stop arm cameras, these two preventable incidents in Baltimore, Maryland, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, accounted for ten percent of the national school bus-related death toll, and nearly half of the students killed while riding a bus that year.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
UK Study: Traffic School Has No Safety Benefit
Sending motorists to traffic school to avoid expensive points against their licenses does nothing for traffic safety, according to a report released on Monday by the UK Department for Transport. The National Speed Awareness Course (NSAC) in Great Britain has become a major source of revenue for local police and the former police officers who split the £100 (US $135) fees paid by those seeking to save their licenses by sitting through a four hour lecture. The new study asked how the course had impacted those who did so.
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Texas Attorney General Says No More Public Money For Toll Roads
Texans overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure four years ago raising $1 billion for transportation with a clear directive that none of the funds could be diverted for use by non-road projects such as bicycle paths or for toll roads. Attorney General Ken Paxton last week clarified that this state constitutional amendment, enacted with the support of 80 percent of voters, applies to projects the state until recently has been supporting.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
US Supreme Court Upholds Ride Sharing Privacy
Drivers of borrowed vehicles cannot be pulled over and searched without probable cause, the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday. Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered the opinion of the court that police may not randomly search rental cars simply because the drivers do not own the vehicle.
Monday, May 14, 2018
Australia, Finland, France, Germany, UK: Speed Cameras Thwarted
Vigilantes used a burning tire to eliminate the speed camera on Dosthill Road in Tamworth, England on Thursday. According to the Birmingham Mail, Staffordshire Police have no idea who might be responsible. Officials in Queensland, Australia, are upset that the speed camera van that had been issuing tickets at Alexandra Parade on Thursday was smashed around 9:30pm, the Gympie Times reported. On Friday, six speed cameras across Tuusula, Finland, were taken out of service with orange spraypaint, according to YLE.
