Department of Transportation

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Obama Ups Fines to Bump Passengers Off Flights

Airlines bumping more passengers as they cut back on flights

(Newser) - The Obama administration has more good news for frustrated travelers. The Department of Transportation intends to increase the amount airlines have to pay you if they bump you involuntarily to a later flight. The regulation, one of several passenger-friendly moves from the White House, comes amid soaring bump rates, ABC...

Toyota to Pay $16.4M US Fine
 Toyota to Pay $16.4M US Fine 

Apr 19, 2010 1:19 AM CDT

Toyota to Pay $16.4M US Fine

But automaker won't admit hiding defects from feds

(Newser) - Toyota is expected to agree today to pay a record $16.4 million US fine after a 4-month delay in reporting the "sticky pedal" defect that led to a massive recall. Toyota has decided not to challenge the government penalty, but will not admit it knowingly hid evidence of...

Feds Fine Toyota $16.4M

 Feds Fine Toyota $16.4M 
Apr 5, 2010 4:18 PM CDT

Feds Fine Toyota $16.4M

Automaker has the right to appeal penalty

(Newser) - Toyota is still paying for its decision to wait 4 months before announcing a recall and notifying federal regulators of the "sticky pedal" defect—and the automaker will pay even more: a $16.4 million fine imposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this afternoon. Toyota has 2...

Obama Boosts Fuel Efficiency Standards

Transportation Department, EPA make new targets official

(Newser) - The Obama administration is setting tough gas mileage standards for new cars and trucks, spurring the next generation of fuel-sipping gas-electric hybrids, efficient engines, and electric cars. The heads of the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency will today sign final rules requiring 2016 model-year vehicles to meet fuel...

Airlines Beg for Break on 3-Hour Tarmac Rule

American joins JetBlue, Delta in petitioning DOT

(Newser) - Add American Airlines to the list of carriers that want out of the government's new rule that limits the time passengers can be held on the tarmac. American has joined JetBlue and Delta in filing for a temporary exemption with the Department of Transportation, saying delays caused by the closure...

US May Require Brake Override Systems

Obama administration 'looking at it,' LaHood says

(Newser) - The Obama administration is considering ordering automakers to install brake override systems in their new cars, Ray LaHood told the Senate Commerce Committee today. “We’re looking at it,” the transportation secretary said, in a hearing on the runaway Toyota problem. “We think it is a good...

Toyota Snowed Regulators to Save $100M

Congress to grill Toyoda over internal document

(Newser) - For Toyota's president the timing couldn't be worse. The day before Akio Toyoda prepares to testify before congress on his safety-riddled products, an internal memo has surfaced in which the firm touts its savings by getting regulators to agree to a cheap but ineffective recall. The 2009 document claims Toyota...

Feds Ban Texting by Truck, Bus Drivers

Under rules, effective immediately, fines run as high as $2,750

(Newser) - Drivers of trucks and buses who text behind the wheel will be subject to thousands of dollars in fines, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced today. The federal prohibition, which takes effect immediately, applies only to commercial vehicles. But distracted driving is one of LaHood's top issues, CNN reports. "This...

White House Sets 3-Hour Limit on Tarmac Waits

Passengers must be allowed to deplane under new regulation

(Newser) - The Transportation Department is ordering airlines to let passengers stuck in stranded airplanes to deplane after three hours. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the new three-hour limit today, along with other new passenger protections long sought by consumer advocates. From January to June this year, 613 planes were delayed on...

Only Fines Will Get Drivers Off the Phone: Experts

Conference tells Transportation Department to get tough

(Newser) - If the Department of Transportation wants to curb distracted driving, it’ll have to do more than ask nicely, concluded experts at last week’s conference on the issue. Previous efforts to curb drunk driving and promote seat belt safety have proven that drivers don’t respond without the threat...

Distracted Drivers Killed 5,800 in '08

(Newser) - Accidents caused by distracted drivers killed at least 5,800 and injured another 515,000 last year, according to data pulled from police reports and presented today to Transportation Department conference on the issue. The actual figures may be significantly higher, say Transportation officials, since distraction is often hard to...

DUI Arrests of Women Up 30% in Decade

(Newser) - The number of women charged with driving under the influence has increased nearly 30% during the past decade, Transportation Department officials said today, while the number of men fell 7.5% in the same period. The department says the number of impaired women involved in a fatal crash increased in...

US Squelched Data on Car Phone Danger

(Newser) - In 2003 a federal agency compiled hundreds of pages of research on the dangers of using cell phones while driving, but suppressed the findings because of pressure from Congress. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a part of the Transportation Department, also planned a long-term study of the risks of...

Va. Repairman Swiped $170K From Meters

William Fell made off with a sixth of city's total meter revenue

(Newser) - A repairman stole $170,000 in coins from parking meters in Alexandria, Va., during the past 12 months, the Washington Post reports. William Fell, 61, looted meters in the early hours of the morning before his maintenance shifts, police say. Wary of depositing his ill-gotten gains, Fell kept the coins...

Obama Gets Rail Rolling With $8B Stimulus

Prez plots $8b high-speed train network

(Newser) - America's railways are about to get a huge handout: At today's signing of the stimulus package, $8 billion will be allocated to high-speed rail. Though the money will be divvied up according to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's master plan, the expansion is truly President Obama's pet project, reports Politico. "...

How Cheap Gas Hurts Green Initiatives, Feds' Bottom Line

Driving less not great for gov't coffers

(Newser) - Americans are driving less and burning less fuel, but it could be too soon for conservation fans to celebrate. That dip, and global economic gloom, has sent oil and gas prices spiraling down, Joseph White writes in the Wall Street Journal, depriving the government of taxes it needs for transportation...

States Consider Leasing Roads as Upkeep Takes Toll

$12.8B deal could make Penn. Turnpike largest such public-private partnership

(Newser) - With Pennsylvania legislators set to vote next month on a $12.8 billion deal that would put the 537-mile Pennsylvania Turnpike under private operation, such public-private partnerships are accelerating across the US, the Wall Street Journal reports. Often bankrolled by infrastructure funds—which have $160 billion under management—the projects...

Gas Prices Drive Americans Off the Road

Motoring takes record drop: 11B fewer miles in March

(Newser) - The summer driving season that kicked off over Memorial Day weekend will see significantly fewer Americans hitting the road, reports CNN: Figures from March released yesterday show the biggest decline in driving since the federal government began keeping records in 1942—down 4.3% or 11 billion miles from last...

Key Inspector Says FAA Crackdown Long Overdue

Agency's renewed inspection efforts long overdue, sweeping changes needed

(Newser) - The Federal Aviation Administration is too lax, and its recent toughening-up long overdue, the Transportation Department’s inspector general Calvin Scovel told senators today. The agency should not rely, as it has until recently, on airlines to voluntarily disclose safety oversights, and shouldn’t provide loopholes for the appropriate penalties...

Southwest Faces Record Fines
Southwest Faces Record Fines
Mar 6, 2008 4:18 AM CST

Southwest Faces Record Fines

Airline found several cracks after skipping required safety checks

(Newser) - Southwest Airlines faces at least $3 million in fines sought by the FAA for failing to inspect 46 older Boeing 737-300 jets for structural flaws identified in a 2004 safety directive, reports the Wall Street Journal. The expected penalty would be the largest imposed on an airline in 20 years....

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