Friday, March 30, 2007

Transportation Communications Newsletter

Friday, March 30, 2007 -- ISSN 1529-1057

Preliminary Agenda Available for U.S. DOT Public Meeting on Integrated Vehicle Based Safety Systems Initiative

The U.S. Department of Transportation will host a public meeting in Ypsilanti, Michigan from April 25-26, 2007 to present results from a vehicle safety research initiative, the Integrated Vehicle Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) program. The IVBSS program is one of the nine first-tier ITS research initiatives being sponsored by the FHWA’s Joint Program Office. The preliminary agenda, meeting notice and registration information is available at http://www.itsa.org/ivbss.html. Pre-registration for this meeting is mandatory. Registration will be open through April 13, but may close early if attendance limits are met.


1) US House Homeland Security Panel May Hold Hearings on Emergency Wireless Project
Link to story on GovExec:
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36482&dcn=todaysnews

2) “Driving While Texting”
As the practice grows, more accidents are attributed to motorists typing messages while behind the wheel.
Link to story in The Baltimore Sun:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.texting30mar30,0,1865054.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

3) Traffic Sign Too Confusing
Belgian sign designed to tell truck drivers not to pass vehicles during wet weather.
Link to story on Expatica:
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=48&story_id=38218
Link to photo of sign: http://www.standaard.be/Assets/Images_Upload/nb290307inhaalverbod.jpg

4) Wisconsin Public Service Commission Designates 511 for Traffic Information
Link to story in the Green Bay Press-Gazette:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/GPG0101/70330050/1207/GPGnews

5) OnStar Wars: Pennsylvania Couple Sues Over Shutdown
Link to story in The Morning Call:
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-text3mar30,0,2581155.story

6) New Programs Take Aim at Gridlock in Nevada
Link to story in In Business Las Vegas:
http://www.inbusinesslasvegas.com/2007/03/30/healthcare.html

7) TrafficLand Keeps DOT Cams Viewable
Link to story in TechJournal South:
http://www.techjournalsouth.com/news/article.html?item_id=2868

8) Emergency Preparedness: Current Emergency Alert System has Limitations, and Development of a New Integrated System Will be Challenging
Link to GAO report:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07411.pdf

9) Articles from the Spring Edition of the I-95 Corridor Coalition’s Corridor News
- Airports, Transit and Mapping… (page 6)
- Tying It All Together: The CIM Track, Quick Clearance Toolkit and Implementation, and the National Unified Goal for Traffic Incident Management (page 7)
- Multi-State Vehicle-Probe Based Traffic Monitoring Update (page 13)
- Video Sharing – A Model for ITS Regionalization (page 16)
http://www.i95coalition.org/PDF/News_Clipboard/Corridor%20News%20Spring%202007.pdf


News Releases

1) NOAA Joins with Carolinas’ Universities to Test New Marine Web Portal for Carolinas’ Coastline
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications-add/message/36
Link to Carolinas Coast: http://www.weather.gov/carolinascoast/

2) ITIS Holdings Sells NavTrak
http://www.itisholdings.com/pdf/Disposal-of-NavTrak-27th-March-2007.pdf

3) ITS Malta Launched
http://www.itsa.org/industry_member_news_content/c219_d1243/News/Industry_amp_Member_News.html


Job Posting
- Operations and Security Division Director (Position number 21340) – Virginia Department of Transportation – Richmond, Virginia
http://www.vdot.jobs


Upcoming Events
Canadian Society for Civil Engineering 2007 Annual General Meeting & Conference – June 6-9 – Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
http://www.csce2007.ca/


Friday Bonus
While story #3 may have problems communicating its message, this sign may be taking bilingualism too far.
http://www.signslanguage.com/Bow-Wow.gif


Today in Transportation History
1967 **60th anniversary** - Preston Tucker announces a concept car called “The Tucker.”
http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/showroom/1948/tucker.html

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Questions, comments about the TCN? Please write the editor, Bernie Wagenblast at i95berniew@aol.com.
© 2007 Bernie Wagenblast