Driving in America This Week – September 11, 2022

Parker Road, Four Oaks, NC–Photo by DanDT (cc by 4.0)

1.    National Focus

2.   Top Regional and Local Headlines

3.   Motorist Corner

4.   Best from Auto Press

5.   Opinion

~

National Focus

CBS News reported this past week that gas prices fall under $3 for the first time since winter. Transport Topics, though, reported that diesel Surges 20.6¢ to $5.115 a Gallon. Reuters reported that oil is up nearly three percent because OPEC+ agrees to a small oil output cut.

Another frightening reality was reported in California: More pain at the pump? Man caught on camera switching gas pump nozzles in Roseville. Here’s the rest of the national and international Driving News this week:

Data Privacy and Surveillance Headlines                                                         

• Moving Forward On Federal Data Privacy Legislation: Why Society Should Be Full Steam Ahead (Forbes)
• Privacy bill triggers lobbying surge by data brokers (Politico)
• Fifth Circuit Opinion in United States v. Morton Threatens Cell Phone Users’ Privacy (EPIC)
• Tech Tool, Fog Reveal, offers ‘mass surveillance’ on a budget (AP News)

Traffic Safety Driving News Headlines                                                             

• ‘Beautiful and Deadly’: Rural roads have disproportionate share of traffic deaths (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Surging city traffic deaths now exceed fatalities on rural roads, study finds (Fox Weather)
• With seatbelt use down, car crash fatalities have risen 20 Percent (MyNorthwest)
• Changing Patterns of Violence in the US Pose New Challenges to Surface Transportation (Homeland Security Today)
• Study: Some drivers don’t know what basic road signs mean (WNCT)

Police Action News This Week                                                                        

• Police Across US Bypass Warrants With Mass Location-Tracking Tool (Wired)
• “Sobriety checks” of motorists as pretext for ID checks (Papers, Please)
• Why Do Some Police Cars Have Cameras on Their Trunks? (Likely ALPRs) (MotorBiscuit)

Auto Tech Watch This Week                                                                            

• Self-Driving Car Tech (V2X) Forgotten by Automakers Is Still Kept Alive by Federal Agency (Jalopnik)
• Lotta Auto Recalls This Week (The Truth About Cars)
• Energy Department Seeks Input on $10B Electric Grid Overhaul (Route-Fifty)
• Is Biden’s goal to build charging stations for electric cars leaving low-income areas behind? (The Guardian)
• States Play a Central Role in the EV Charger Buildout (Route-Fifty)
• EVs are merely a life hack that won’t save us from climate change (Toronto Star)
• When Driving, Tires Emit Pollution. And Electric Vehicles Make the Problem Worse (Online EVs)
• Dealership Quotes $30,000 to Replace Battery in a $10,000 Chevrolet Volt (The Drive)
• Couple Learns the Hard Way How the Future of Motoring is Paved With Discontinued Batteries (The Truth About Cars)
• The Self-Driving Car Will Change More Than You Think (National Review)
• Self-Driving Cars? Pass (National Review)
• Over-the-Horizon Drones Line Up But Privacy Is Not In Sight (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
• Insurance firm stages Tesla crash test, fakes ‘battery’ fire (Autoblog)

National Driving News Headlines This Week                                                    

• DOT to Give States $512.2 Million for Road, Bridge Repairs (Transport Topics)
• USDOT to provide over $513m to repair natural disaster damage (Traffic Technology Today)
• Coming Soon to a Road Near You: Brighter Lane Markings (Bloomberg CityLab)
• Study: US Highway Pavement Conditions Worse in Underserved Communities (Planetizen)
• US Auto Access Improves over a Decade (New Geography)
• US sales up 1st time in a year, reports say (Auto News)
• Will Drivers Pay Extra For Software Upgrades, New Features? Sure, If Automakers Choose Wisely (Forbes)
• Appeals Court Tells Government It Needs Actual Evidence if it Wants to Keep the $70,000 it seized during a Traffic Accident Investigation (TechDirt)
• Police in cities across US dealing with rise in carjackings (KATV)
• Research: Efforts to stop right to repair futile (Auto News)
• The USPS Underestimated the Benefit of Going Electric, Study Shows (VICE)

International Driving News Headlines This Week                                             

• Port Phillip and St Kilda flip-flop on bike lanes in Melbourne, Australia (TDPel Media)
• How China is pushing for autonomous driving (CGTN)
• China says automakers must have licences for mapping data in smart cars (Reuters)
• Berlin’s New Fleet of Electric Buses Can’t Come Fast Enough (Bloomberg CityLab)
• World’s Deadliest Roads in Focus After Indian Billionaire’s Fatal Crash (Bloomberg)
• Electric Scooter Revolution Faces a Reckoning in Stockholm (Bloomberg CityLab)
• London congestion: Capital becomes world’s most congested city (BBC)
• UK Prime Minister Candidate Is Considering Getting Rid of Speed Limits (Jalopnik)
• UK: Surrey police accused of using ‘phantom’ traffic units on Waze app (The Guardian)

For a daily dose of motorist rights news, check out the NMA Driving News Feed today! 

~

 Top Regional and Local Headlines

California      

• California Wants Everybody To Buy an Electric Car, but Its Own Energy Grid Can’t Support It (Reason)
• Californians told not to charge their electric cars at times on Labor Day weekend (Autoblog)
• Gas War: Pro-EV California Declares State of Emergency, Ask Residents to Use Less Electricity (The Truth About Cars)
• Lower court formally lifts injunction against AB5 in California trucking       (FreightWaves)
• Tesla May Face Class Action in California Due to Phantom Braking (Auto Evolution)
• Op-Ed: Will California’s second zero-emissions car mandate avoid the failures of the first? (Los Angeles)
• Equity is goal, not mandate, in California electric car rule (AP News)
• EV Sales Crack 15 percent of Vehicle Market in California (Green Car Reports)
• Metro Looks To Widen the 14 Freeway In North Los Angeles County         (Streetsblog Los Angeles)
• Reimagine Los Angeles’ Ventura Blvd is About Expanding Car Parking. Why Tout it as Bike Safety Project? (Streetsblog Los Angeles)
• San Francisco, Birthplace of Ride-Hailing, Becomes the Center of Its Decline (San Francisco Standard)
• California: Semi carrying 150,000 tomatoes crashes, turns I-80 into slippery mess (Autoblog)

Illinois      

• Chicago area sees 767 percent increase in Hyundai, Kia thefts; authorities blame TikTok challenge (Fox Chicago)
• Chaotic drag races and ‘street takeovers’ prompt Chicago police crackdown: ‘We are going to be relentless’ (Chicago Tribune)
• Traffic-Calming Infrastructure Is Needed To Make Garfield Boulevard Safer, Neighbors Say As City of Chicago Prepares South Side ‘Vision Zero’ Plan (Block Club Chicago)

New York City Congestion Pricing

• New Jersey bashes NYC congestion pricing, encourages residents to speak out (Staten Island Live)
• NYC: No lack of opinions on congestion tolls (Queens Chronicle)
• Uber Puts Its Thumb On The Congestion Pricing Scales (Streetsblog NYC)
• The most common NYC congestion pricing misconceptions from marathon public hearings (The Gothamist)
• Streetsblog NYC Analysis: $50 Million Is Just The Tip of the MTA’s Toll Evasion Iceberg (Streetsblog NYC)

New York

• Hudson rail tunnel project delayed until 2038, cost rises by $2 billion (amNY)
• Buffalo Advances Gunfire Detection System Test (ShotSpotter) (GovTech)
• Tonawanda: License plate cameras to be used by TTPD (Kenton Bee)
• NYC Speed Cameras Are Now Running 24/7 (Community)
• Can camera enforcement speed up New York’s sluggish buses? (Politico)

Rhode Island 

• RIDOT begins renumbering I-95 exits (WPRI)
• More Rhode Island cities to turn on speed cameras (Turnto10)
• Providence, RI to activate license plate reading cameras (Turnto10)

Texas   

• Texas Senator John Cornyn raises privacy concerns over drunken driving prevention tech (The Dallas Morning News)
• Governor Greg Abbott, TxDOT announce $85B transportation plan (Transportation Today News)
• State agency approves funding for I-35 expansion project in North Austin (Community Impact)
• Austin Council postpones vote on controversial license plate reader resolution (Austin Monitor)
• Proposed Austin to San Antonio public bus route would stop in New Braunfels, San Marcos (San Antonio Express-News)
• Self-driving Lyft rides to start soon in Austin, TX (KVUE)

Washington State     

• Washington State Moving Ahead With Complete Streets (Planetizen)
• Striking Seattle Workers Win Against Surveillance Cameras in Vehicles (VICE)
• Spokane, WA council president, police chief, spar over civil asset forfeiture spending (The Center Square)

Other Regional and Local Driving News Headlines

• Arizona traffic fatalities fell sharply, as deaths nationally spiked (KGUN)
• CT’s top prosecutor opens criminal probe into troopers’ fake ticket schemes (CT Insider)
• How DC’s Vision Zero—And Much Of The DC Government’s Agenda—Gets Trumped By On-Street Parking (Forbes)
• City of Tallahasse, FL to Consider Funding for Real Time Crime Center (Tallahassee Reports)
• Self-Driving Pods Being Tested at Atlanta International (GovTech)
• Honolulu Rail’s ‘Full-Blown’ Trial Running Phase Is Finally Underway (Civil Beat)
• Vandalism delays system launch of Oahu red-light cameras (Star Advertiser
• Kansas Turnpike Authority continues drainage study with cashless tolling process ongoing (KVOE)
• More than 30,000 Kansans with suspended licenses could have kept driving legally last year (KCUR)
• Governors of Ohio, Kentucky Apply for More Brent Spence Bridge Funding (Transport Topics)
• Tesla seeks to overturn Louisiana ban on direct car sales (Autoblog)
• Cashless tolling to resume on LA 1 on September 6 (LaFourche Gazette)
• Massachusetts Infrastructure Watch: It’s Not Just the T–Analysis Finds Unusually Large Backlog in Commonwealth’s Bridge Repair Needs  (Streetsblog Massachusetts)
• Feds Order Troubled Boston Subway System to Make Immediate Safety improvements (Route-Fifty)
• Maryland DOT to invest $88M in north-south highway improvements (Cumberland Times-News)
• Data-Driven Parking in Baltimore Saves Money, Boosts Equity (GovTech)
• Maine Doesn’t Agree With California’s Gas-Only Car Ban (Governing)
• Michigan State Police locked up more than 3,000 people because of faulty marijuana tests, according to internal memo (Detroit Metro Times)
• Detroit coalition receives $52.2M federal grant to support auto investment, jobs in SE Michigan (CBS News)
• The Police Are Defunding Minneapolis (Mother Jones)
• In Praise of the J-Turn: Mississippi Goes All in on Alternative Intersection (Equipment World)
• The lawsuits that could torpedo red-light cameras in North Carolina (The News & Observer)
• GM venture starts making batteries at Ohio plant for Hummer EV (Detroit Free Press)
• Ohio Turnpike revamps toll plazas as part of $232 million project (Record-Courier)
• Oklahoma company becomes 4th in US to adopt Pittsburgh-developed autonomous trucks (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Oklahoma’s Cimarron Turnpike between Stillwater and Tulsa begins transition to PlatePay/cashless tolling (FOX Oklahoma City)
• Lake Oswego, OR: Tolling and diversion is coming – we need to prepare (Pamplin Media)
• The City of Philadelphia has no plan to accommodate the inevitable transition to electric cars (The Grid)
• Virginia AG says state bound by California rule phasing out new gas-powered cars (The Hill)
• Henrico County (Richmond, VA) slowing down limits for one hundred roads (NBC12)
• WV: Turnpike ready for increased traffic this weekend (Yahoo News)

Motorist-Related Legislative News

• California Takes on the High Cost of Mandated Parking (Reason)
• CA Bill AB2264 requiring signals to give pedestrians a head start passes Legislature  (Santa Monica Daily Press)
• California Targets Tesla ‘Full Self-Driving’ With Newly Passed Bill (The Drive)
• Drag racers, drifters and unruly spectators would face prison time under new proposal in Springfield, IL (Chicago Sun-Times)
• Lawmakers, drivers say NJ should ditch front license plates on cars (New Jersey Online)
• State lawmaker proposes clarifying law to avoid criminalizing ‘hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania drivers’ (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

Check out the NMA State Pages today! 

~

Motorist Corner

Driver Courtesy Month 2022 begins and the NMA featured our 15 animations produced this year in this week’s E-Newsletter.

We will also feature Driver Courtesy Month in each of the five Friday Driving in America Blogs this month.  The first one: Driver Courtesy Month 2022 Begins! This post features three of the 15 driver courtesy animations. In our other Driving in America blog this week, a question asked and answered: What Should Drivers Know About Upgrading Their Suspension?

In The Car Coach vlog, Lauren Fix, discusses in-depth which other states might be considering to follow California in banning gas-powered cars. 

NMA Blogger Eric Peters reviews the 2022 VW Atlas Cross Sport.

If you have written and had posted a motorist rights advocacy letter-to-the-editor or find a news story where the NMA is mentioned, please send us the link via email nma@motorists.org. Here are some links of interest: the NMA website, NMA Issues Pages, and the NMA Blog. Check them out today! 

~

Best from Auto Press

• 5 of the Strangest Car Recalls Ever (Motor Biscuit)
• Here’s What Happens When You Ignore Flood Warnings (Road and Track)
• You Can Lose Hours Looking at These Old Photos of Car Dealerships From Decades Past (The Drive)
• Total Car Score Podcast: Executive Chairman Bill Ford is convinced EVs are the future, including the Mustang Mach-e (The Car Coach)
• The Economist Podcast: Will the electric vehicle boom go bust? (The Economist)
• How much gas money it takes to drive across America (Washington Post)
• Prepare yourself for a very different Detroit auto show (Auto News)
• The Lada: The little car that couldn’t (Quartz)

~

Opinion

Two Lanes of Driving Behavior–Are you a safe driver? Are you a compliant driver?

The first question is, are you a safe driver? This gets at acting in the safety and interests of other drivers (signals or no signals, signs or no signs). The second question is, are you a compliant driver? This gets at to what degree you obey all of the “rules of the road.” Does being a compliant driver make you inherently a safe driver? If we conducted random interviews, I bet 99 percent would say yes.

But is there a difference?

(click on title for full op-ed)