PHIA News Digest – Vol. 5, No. 6
Feds break from policy, allow self-driving vehicle to bypass human-driver safety rule
For the first time, the U.S. government’s highway safety agency has approved a company’s request to deploy a self-driving vehicle that doesn’t need to meet the same federal safety standards for cars and trucks driven by humans.
Pennsylvania State Police sees decline in seatbelt use
According to state police, there were two fatal single-vehicle crashes last week, both of which involved people not wearing their seat belts.
Report: Sign advised lower speed in snowy turnpike bus crash
Light snow was falling during a bus crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike that killed five people last month, and the bus had just passed a sign warning to keep below 55 mph (89 kph) on a curve, according to a preliminary investigative report released Thursday.
PennDOT to shift $3.15 billion from local roads to interstate improvements
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will shift $3.15 billion from local road projects to improvements on the interstate highways over the next nine years, a decision that has district officials scrambling to adjust their local maintenance plans to eliminate needed projects they can’t pay for.
Senate committee gives green light to sheltered bike lanes
The Senate Transportation Committee unanimously approved a bill sponsored by Sen. Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia, that changes state parking laws to permit protected bike and pedestrian lanes — lanes on public streets with barriers sheltering them from traffic.
PA officials conduct study on statewide littering, forming action plan to reduce it
Officials with the Department of Environmental Protection and PennDOT and the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful organization announced the results of a statewide litter research study on Wednesday.
