The National Transportation Scolding Board

January 17, 2012

Demanding that drivers lock their cell phones in the trunk is unrealistic, unreasonable and unnecessary. The FAA has a better approach.

Political Science

April 27, 2011

When politics collide with science, science usually gets most of the bruises. Such is the case in the recent flap over air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood could hardly restrain himself after sleeping-controller incidents were reported in Tennessee, Washington D.C., Texas, Nevada and, most recently, Florida. Pronouncing himself “outraged” and declaring that “safety is our number one priority,” LaHood promised on April 13 — …

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More Of A Good Thing

April 22, 2011

There were two types of airline passengers during the worst of the recent winter’s brutal weather: the ones who faced almost no risk of being stranded on the tarmac, and the less-fortunate who had to take their chances. The group leading a charmed life traveled on domestic flights, while the others flew internationally. Things should be different next year. This week, the Transportation Department announced an expanded set of passenger-rights …

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Big Boys, Big Toys

February 14, 2011

President Obama and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood may have been disappointed by Santa Claus one long-ago Christmas. I’m guessing they each hoped for an electric train set and got something else, like the Kenner Easy-Bake Oven. Not that there’s anything wrong with toy kitchen equipment, especially when it makes real miniature cakes. Maybe Obama’s and LaHood’s presents got mixed up with mine. I wanted the oven but ended up with …

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Burying A Big-Ticket Tunnel

October 18, 2010

Big civil engineering projects, like big military weapons systems, are notoriously hard to kill, even when their costs spiral to levels that eclipse their expected benefits. But you can’t blame a guy for trying, right? The Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) tunnel would have stretched under the Hudson River, carrying rail commuters from New Jersey to midtown Manhattan. It would have doubled the number of peak trains that could …

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A Government Regulation That Works, So Far

August 19, 2010

Federal regulators cannot solve every problem of modern life, but that does not mean that well-targeted rules cannot solve any problems. Case in point: airline passengers who become airline hostages during extended ground delays. Last June, passengers on 268 commercial flights in the United States were stranded on the tarmac for more than three hours. This June, only three flights were similarly delayed. In May, there were only five flights …

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Liberation On The Tarmac

December 29, 2009

Airlines can continue to herd their customers like cattle, pack us like sardines and nickel-and-dime us like the suckers we must be, since we keep coming back for more. But they can no longer hold us hostage. With pro-passenger legislation bottled up on Capitol Hill, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has issued a Department of Transportation rule addressing many of the concerns of travelers’ advocates. LaHood is calling the new regulations, …

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