Daydreaming Can Be Startling, DOT’s LaHood Found Out in Vehicle Safety Study

Former DOT Secretary Ray LaHood test drove a study car – vibrating seats, alarms, and flashing lights kept him in line through blind spots and lane changes. “It’s startling if you’re daydreaming,” LaHood said. In DOT’s safety pilot program, “Model Deployment,” cars, trucks, and transit buses were set up with dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) for the study in Ann Arbor, Mich. The vehicles send basic safety messages (BSM) that inform other vehicles about safety-related information such as speed and location; BSM data packets are broadcast 10 times per second to surrounding vehicles……

Latest on Climate Change Debate and What it Means for Transportation

I’ve recently heard persuasive arguments made that climate change is certainly occurring, but there’s very little humans can do about it. While reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions is the clear path to reducing CO2 levels, it will only address one end of the scale; there are environmental forces – including what’s happening deep within our oceans – that are outside human-caused climate change and there’s very little we can do about it. Whether these arguments have weight or not, it’s very important to stay current on what’s happening out there. So here’s the latest on the climate change debate….

Residuals Down from Year Ago, Up from July/August

Eric Lyman Director of Residual Value Solutions ALG ALG anticipates macro-economic factors will drop residual values 1.7 percentage points during September/October 2013 edition period. Relative to July/August 2013 edition, real durable goods spending forecast is up with corresponding increase to residuals across all segments. Gasoline prices are down and are having minor effect on market […]

August Sees Strongest Wholesale Pricing Since February

Tom Webb Chief Economist Manheim Consulting Wholesale prices are continuing to see an uptick; Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index now stands at 122.3, which represents an increase of 1.3% from its year-ago level and shows wholesale used vehicle prices rising for the third consecutive month in August. It was a significant increase – largest monthly […]