Fox News reports a tractor-trailer accident that injured 32 people on Tuesday, January 17 around 7:30am in Temple, Texas. According to a trooper from the Texas Department of Public Safety, a school bus fell onto its side after a tractor-trailer ran through a stop sign and struck the bus. One child was ejected from the bus upon impact. The collision took place on Farm-to-Market Road 93 outside the city of Austin. 29 children were transported to the Scott & White Memorial Hospital. Both the bus driver and one child were listed in critical condition. Some children and adults onboard the bus were treated and released.
Professional truck drivers miss stop signs usually either because they are tired or distracted by a cell phone, gps, radio or a variety of other distractions. I have helped families who have been involved in Texas truck accidents. My heart goes out to the families of those listed in critical condition in what I believe was a needless collision.
On January 24, 2012, a DistTech tractor trailer driven by truck driver Edward Mills crashed into turnpike workers near Fremont, Ohio, injuring Mills and a construction worker and killing Assistant Foreman John Fletcher. DistTech is a tanker truck company with over 400 trucks. It brags on its website about its safety performance 
A proposed 800 mile high speed rail corridor in California has recently been projected at $98.5 billion, more than twice the previous estimate. This could result in passenger trains traveling 220 miles per hour and could reduce congestion on clogged California highways. The cost of the project has caused Republicans, who once supported the initiative, to now raise questions and propose a freeze and audit, according to Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The Obama administration and House Democrats continue to push the project. Rep. Jim Costa (D-Cal.) believes that now is the time to move forward, given low interest rates and inflation.
The Atlanta suburb of Smyrna is beginning to fuel some city trucks with a biodiesel mixture that includes re-used cooking oil collected from local restaurants that fry foods. Smyrna modeled this after a repurposed-cooking-oil-as-fuel program in Hoover, Alaska, according to Ann Kirk of Keep Smyrna beautiful. The hope is to eventually be able to run the city’s entire fleet on cooking oil.
New in the State of Oregon in 2012 is a law that commercial vehicles may not idle more than 5 minute during any one hour period. There are exceptions for maintenance and for heating and cooling in extreme weather. At the same time, Oregon eliminated the “necessary for a person’s job” exception to the state’s ban on handheld cellphone. Police officers complained that the exception was difficult to enforce. What’s an officer to do, take the cell phone from somebody’s hand and confirm that it’s somebody’s boss on the other end? Hands-free cell phone use is still permitted.
In September 2010, a double decker Megabus crashed into a low CSX railroad bridge in suburban Syracuse, which killed four passengers. Commercial traffic has now been banned from the highway. The ban took effect after state crews finished installing the last of the signs in Salina, New York on Route 370 (Onandaga Lake Parkway) and has been in effect since December 9, 2011. In addition, warning lights have been installed along with a laser system that is designed to warn drivers of vehicles taller than the railroad bridge. I consider the major cause of the Megabus crash as distracted driving, since the driver was preoccupied with his GPS system and didn’t notice warning signs about the bridge’s height.
The Lake Champlain bridge from New York to Vermont is running over budget, as reported by the Burlington Free Press. The bridge is nearly 10% over budget. It was originally bid as a $69.6 million project, but not will likely run as high as $76 million. The new bridge replaces a structurally-unsound 82 year old bridge that was closed in 2009. The new bridge opened in November of 2011. Around 3,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily.
I-95 may get reversible lanes–lanes that can be converted from northbound to southbound and vice versa through the use of moveable barriers. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has proposed the Georgia Department of Transportation look at adding these lanes that could be tolled or converted into carpool lanes. One hope-for benefit would be relieving the congestion of morning southbound traffic and evening northbound traffic.