Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-02-06/transportation-secretary-ray-lahood
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is currently the only Republican in President Barack Obama’s cabinet. In the past four years, he has overseen the most significant public works program since the New Deal, including more than 15,000 transportation projects. He has championed bike and walking paths, high-speed and intercity passenger rail and streetcars. He helped set new automobile fuel efficiency standards and instituted tough new rules to protect airline passengers. He also launched an aggressive campaign against distracted driving. Recently, he announced his retirement as soon as a successor is confirmed. As he leaves, an investigation into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s battery failures remains. Diane interviews Secretary LaHood.
Guests
Ray LaHood
U.S. Secretary of Transportation and former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives.
Video: Inside The Studio
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the U.S. infrastructure system is falling way behind other countries. He called for a bold plan to fund repair and renovation projects for the nation's roads and bridges. In particular, LaHood says small construction businesses would benefit from a robust transportation bill. "I don't think you'd be turning off people in America because they know America is one big pothole right now," LaHood said about funding infrastructure.
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Mr. LaHood,
What are the real killers of children in our society?
More than 6,000 kids a year are killed in vehicle crashes, about 2,000 by drunk or stoned drivers. They are killed one or two at a time, so national outrage does not occur. But that’s almost 20 times more that are killed by drunks than are killed with guns. Where is the outrage about that? With stiffer laws and greater penalties, we certainly could do more.
However, we have been flooded with proposals for gun control from the president, congressmen and local politicians, with editorials and letters from all around the country, in the aftermath of the horrific killings in Connecticut. It’s only human for us to be extremely upset when such events occur; we want to stop such massacres from ever happening again. Guns are not the biggest killers. Certainly not guns in the hands of sane law-abiding people.
(The above from a letter to the editor)
Mr.Jones,auto users are required to have insurance.A bar or host who serves someone beyond reason,is held liable. There is uninsured coverage available. As a community driving is not on the government teat. The NRA has every American in danger. Maybe not direct danger,but WE taxpayers pick up the bill from the ER gun shootings. Driving has requirements and testing. Gun ownership only requires cash. Driving always has become safer as technology advances. Guns have become more deadly,with armor piercing bullets,as well and easier access.
I don`t want anybody`s gun. I want responsibility and liability.
You sell a gun to a felon who kills with that gun.YOU ARE EQUALLY LIABLE ! I`m tired of the NRA constantly on the government teat !!!
Appalled by needless death anywhere for anyone most people are truly saddened by any preventable deaths. Shouldn't we be trying and working toward stopping them. The senseless gun violence comparison with vehicular tragedies is an apples to oranges comparison. But both are bad, both demand action and neither requires an abdication of constitutional rights. Guns are weapons and traffic a result of transportation. When either is out of control people are harmed.
We should work for control of guns in much the same manner as traffic in civil society. Vehicles require liability insurance for one to operate legally. The same should be required for weapons. This is a simple suggestion that would require thoughtful consideration to implement, but it could and should be done.
The most dangerous threats to our society are not guns or traffic, but those hazards that arise from ignorance of a clearly defined incremental solution to the problems with a cold indifference enforced by a divisive adherence to propaganda.
Ms Rheem
You mention the mess the buses create.
Would you rather have 20-30 cars instead of one bus?
Mary Meyer
Grand Rapids MI
Please ask Secretary LaHood -- What first flight/last landing times apply to regional airports? My parents’ house is close to a regional airport in SW Pennsylvania. Planes land and take off all hours of the day and night. They don’t abide by the same first/last flight times we have here in Washington. Imagine being awakened at 2:00 AM to the vibration and noise of a jet flying overhead to land a mile away. That’s a nightly occurrence. Are they allowed to do that?
I too grew up in Washington D.C. and was in junior high school when the street cars were taken out. It was not an argument between cars and streetcars but between street cars and buses. There is fascinating history of this switch in the country in a book by Barry Commoner who traces the push back to General Motors. No one in D.C. thought it was a good idea that I every talked to but rather than it was corruption, which it was. Thanks. Susan Sechler
I too grew up in Washington D.C. and was in junior high school when the street cars were taken out. It was not an argument between cars and streetcars but between street cars and buses. There is fascinating history of this switch in the country in a book by Barry Commoner who traces the push back to General Motors. No one in D.C. thought it was a good idea that I every talked to but rather than it was corruption, which it was. Thanks. Susan Sechler
Thank you for this show.
Thank you for service Mr. LaHood.
My question is: What can be done to stabilize the future of Amtrak (and other rail projects) and protect it from whatever the prevailing political wind might be?
Thanks,
David
Pittsburgh
Can you please address how the coming sequester will affect air traffic services. Controllers will not be exempt from furloughs as in the past and are being told to expect 21 day furloughs.
Ms. Rehm --
Please ask Secretary LaHood to comment on what he considers the future of high-speed rail in the United States.
Our nation is significantly behind many industrialized nations in this vital area of transportation development.
Great show, as alwauys.
Thank you.
Fred Bruning
Huntington, N.Y.
I've heard that part of the problem w/the US Postal Service is that they're set up to not be allowed to be run as a real business & this is why they're losing so much money. Please comment -- maybe they need to be restructured & we can keep Saturday mail delivery. The German postal service was held up as being well run. Thank you.
Hi Diane,
Thanks for the show, could you please ask the secretary what is being done to train Amtrak staff. In a recent trip in the NE corridor (the most profitable for Amtrak) the service at Union Station and in the train was abysmal. Staff training should be a priority.
Could you ask Mr. LaHood to be more speciic about the challanges that Amtrak faces in dealing with an advisarial congress and the freight railroads. The East Coast Corridor is very successful and growing primarily due to the fact that Amtrak owns the Corridor. Thank you.
I just wanted to comment concerning the post office and to get a view out there i think a lot of my peers share. I am a graduate student in college and i never use the postal service except for magazines. Daily I receive, junk mail, credit card offer's and other things i don't want. I do my bills, taxes and all my communications online. I would like to see the post office dismantled and save the taxpayer billions. I would like to see that money spent to increase internet access, fee public wi-fi and increased internet access at libraries.
As a merchant mariner in a dwindling U.S. maritime industry, it is disappointing that there is so much focus on rebuilding bridges, and highways and so little attention paid to maritime initiatiatives such as the Short Sea shipping program. The U.S. Maritime Industry supports thousands of American jobs, however the U.S. Merchant Marine and American marine shipping appears to be nearing extinction. I would like to hear Mr. LaHoods remarks on what he is doing with regard to support of the U.S. Merchant Marine, and specifically the Short Sea Shipping initiative.
Care to comment on why Dick Cheney ordered the stand down of the air defense missiles around the Pentagon and the Washington DC area during the 911 attack??
Bo has it exactly right that we must equate gun toters (armed bullies who poison civil discourse) with drunk or intoxicated drivers. They should lose their guns just as the convicted drunk loses his/her car (driving privileges). Maybe Bo's gun will have a breathalyzer he can blow in before the safety is released, and an alarm that goes off when he fails.
Ray LaHood trusts the claims and aims of Google and I do not.
How easy would it be to make a rolling drone or explosive suicide wagon out of a driverless car? Pretty easy for hackers I think. (DARPA)
So often we are wowed by proposed technologies without sufficient examination of the downside which reflects the economic needs of the seller without protecting the commons.
It seems contradictory to advocate for pilots and air traffic controllers (human judgment) , and for mass transportation (energy conservation) and at the same time promote gosh-golly driverless cars. Who says we'll need or be able to afford cars in 20 years? Mr. LaHood did his best but it was not good enough. He was burdened with the mindset of a former auto executive. No muleskinners worked on the manned space program I bet. So he pins the tail on the donkey as he exits at his pitiful pinnacle. Good luck at Google, Ray. DeLorean may replace you.
You asked for Bold Ideas. I am a 42 year experienced Transportation Engineer. My idea is this, add green energy producers (wind and solar energy) along major highways. Use the energy to power street lights and other highway hardware and sell the rest back to the utilities. In addition, start the construction of electric cables under highways to charge vehicles are they are moving down the highway. All this technology is available (cable charging vehicle batteries in S Korea. From my back of the envelope calculations, if this were applied to our current interstate system, it would generate $250-400B per year, create 21M jobs, and allow reconstruction of our total system every 3-5 yrs. Obviously, we don't need to do that, so it would create more revenue than needed (deficit reduction). Our freeways consume 30% of our gasoline, and this amount alone would be enough to bring our balance of payments to near "0". This is something that needs to be further evaluated and a test sight or two set up, but this is something we can do. The Dutch are also looking at electrifying highways to charge as you go. So, it is likely only a matter of time. My idea is to fix our current transportation system, put a lot of folks to work, reduce pollution considerably, and to help our economy. Everyone should win.
Why is the first high speed rail system in california not being built between la and Vegas?
You asked for Bold Ideas. I am a 42 year experienced Transportation Engineer. My idea is this, add green energy producers (wind and solar energy) along major highways. Use the energy to power street lights and other highway hardware and sell the rest back to the utilities. In addition, start the construction of electric cables under highways to charge vehicles are they are moving down the highway. All this technology is available (cable charging vehicle batteries in S Korea. From my back of the envelope calculations, if this were applied to our current interstate system, it would generate $250-400B per year, create 21M jobs, and allow reconstruction of our total system every 3-5 yrs. Obviously, we don't need to do that, so it would create more revenue than needed (deficit reduction). Our freeways consume 30% of our gasoline, and this amount alone would be enough to bring our balance of payments to near "0". This is something that needs to be further evaluated and a test sight or two set up, but this is something we can do. The Dutch are also looking at electrifying highways to charge as you go. So, it is likely only a matter of time. My idea is to fix our current transportation system, put a lot of folks to work, reduce pollution considerably, and to help our economy. Everyone should win.
You asked for Bold Ideas. I am a 42 year experienced Transportation Engineer. My idea is this, add green energy producers (wind and solar energy) along major highways. Use the energy to power street lights and other highway hardware and sell the rest back to the utilities. In addition, start the construction of electric cables under highways to charge vehicles are they are moving down the highway. All this technology is available (cable charging vehicle batteries in S Korea. From my back of the envelope calculations, if this were applied to our current interstate system, it would generate $250-400B per year, create 21M jobs, and allow reconstruction of our total system every 3-5 yrs. Obviously, we don't need to do that, so it would create more revenue than needed (deficit reduction). Our freeways consume 30% of our gasoline, and this amount alone would be enough to bring our balance of payments to near "0". This is something that needs to be further evaluated and a test sight or two set up, but this is something we can do. The Dutch are also looking at electrifying highways to charge as you go. So, it is likely only a matter of time. My idea is to fix our current transportation system, put a lot of folks to work, reduce pollution considerably, and to help our economy. Everyone should win.
An interesting intervew. But Mr. LaHood is just one more "expert" whose opinions aren't reality-based.
I don't doubt that technology will achieve great advances, such as the driverless car. But still no one considers a constantly-rising world population, the continued loss of jobs, and the questionable idea that technology will create more jobs to replace those lost. And those are just part of the roadblocks facing humanity in the future. I won't even get into education, which seems to have the dubious idea that people can be made, or are getting, smarter.
Having once been involved in a deadly (for the other fellow) head-on collision, there's no way I would have a driverless car. I've seen more than enough technology to realized that it isn't foolproof. I'm using one of those technological advances right now. I know that sometimes it won't follow my commands. And sometimes I think that it even confuses itself. LOL
While growing up in Pasadena, CA I saw first hand the light rail lines being torn up by the Red Line company which was wholly owned by GM, Firestone, and Standard Oil. After World War II there was a light rail transit operating on one level of the Oakland Bay Bridge. Unlike Europe where the govenments funded light rail and fast trains, the US government funded roads which are more profitable for private industry. In Californian 9 of the 11 transportation board members work in the real estate industry. It explains why the route of the new high speed train will go down the least populated section of the state where there will be an explosion of property values thanks to the taxpayer funded train. In Europe most families have one or no cars and use mass tranist or bicycles while in the US families are forced to own and maintain cars to be able to shop, go to school, go to work, go to recreation areas. It is unsafe for bicyclists in all US cities and the injury and fatality statistics and reliance on school buses for even sub-mile distances to school shows how bad the situation has become.
Mr. LaHood and Mrs. Rehm,
Thank you Mr. LaHood for your service. True bipartisan service to the nation isn't just respected but in today's climate is revered so thank you.
My question is this: Governor Brown in California is proposing 'high-speed rail.' However, the man behind Space X, Tesla Motors, Paypal, and chairman of Solar City says that it won't be high speed but rather extremely low speed. It'll be extremely expensive and basically a boon to contractors at the expense of taxpayers.
Could you please address the point of the effectiveness of 'high-speed rail' in the light of Mr. Musk's comments?
And second, have you heard of his proposed mass transit system, the Hyperloop?
And finally, would you consider going to work for Mr. Musk in government relations?
With regards,
Curtis Sumpter
I had to chuckle a little at the caller who mentioned the high cost of hybrid vehicles, to which Secretary LaHood enthused about how he and his wife purchased a Ford Escape hybrid. He explained that they've had it "since 2009 and it's still running!" He also said that he manages to go home to drive the car only about once every three months, but that it has really been saving him money on gas. Well, who knew that a Secretary of the cabinet, on his meager salary, could afford a car like that, and who knew that an American car driven only once every three months would last as long as three years? :-)
I was confused about the idea behind paying for infrastructure out of the defense budget. If we give road construction and maintenance over to the DOD, it'll be companies like Halliburton doing the work at ten times the cost. :-)
Gary, I understand your concerns, but once we make the jump to driverless cars we will have the biggest reduction in auto accidents since the invention of cars. Accident fatalities will become rare rather than common as they are now.
I wish I had a great response to your concern about jobs. :-)
Ewarkentine, everything I've read and heard from experts about high speed rail is that, as nifty and exciting as it is, the benefits are not really justified by the costs, at least not yet. In other words, it would have to be subsidized. Of course, the citizens of a state can vote to pay for it if they want it enough, but if what you're after are the most effective solutions to transportation needs, it doesn't give you the most bang for the buck.
Pancake, you could express the same concern about ANY technological advance that has the potential to be used by "bad guys." Paleolithic terrorists used clubs, stones, and slings. Read any of the four Lonesome Dove novels by Larry McMurtry and you'll learn how Native Americans "terrorized" the Texas Rangers. :-)