InfoHive – Transportation

What’s happening? Ohio is warning that it has a shortage of plow driving that threatens to leave roads full of snow.

Why is this important? On an average winter Ohio employee 3300 plow truck operators that work 12 hour shifts. The state currently needs more than 500 more drivers.

How will this be important? Whether Ohioans can move about their roads, and get to and from school, work, the grocer, that has electoral impacts. A happy person translates into the voter booth.

Advance Local Media LLC via Governing | Ohio Warns Plow Driver Shortage May Slow Snow Clearing

What’s happening? Ev sales increased 41% during the pandemic as car sales overall dropped 16%

Why is this important? The future of EV sales includes:

• Germany extending incentives for EVs through 2025 + doubling consumer incentives
•  116 million electric vehicles will be on the road by 2030 by Bloomberg estimates
• 145 million EVs in use 10 years from now according to International Energy Agency estimates

How will this be important? 230 million EVs on the road by 2030 according to the International Energy Agency if more aggressive climate standards are enacted

NASDAQ | Investors tap into new opportunities as EV sales surge

What’s happening? Norwegian chemical company Yara International has developed the world’s first zero-emission, autonomous cargo ship.The Ship’s name is Yara Birkeland.

Why is this important?m Its more cost effective with zero carbon emissions. The ship has no crews. It has crew on the ground in 3 locations monitoring the ship’s movement.

How will this be important? The ship will also be loaded and unloaded with autonomous vehicles.

@globalpositivenews

What’s happening? This spring the Colorado Legislature passed SB21-260 (21 | CO) that required the Department of Transportation to account for climate consequences in their transportation plans. Now those plans are out in the wild.

Why is this important? The plan looks to Electric Vehicles and Zero Emission vehicles to make the greatest impact , specially as trucking industry moves to zero emission choices.

How will this be important? Colorado looked to the experiences of California, Massachusetts and other coastal states by:

•  restricting some state and federal transportation money for use only on climate-friendly projects 
• provide for offsets for major projects
• public input to direct greenhouse gas limits

Denver Post via Governing | Colorado Proposes Climate-Conscious Transportation Rules

What’s happening? Orlando and NASA are partnering to prepare the city for flying vehicles.

Why is this important? The partnership will help the city plan for vertiports, landing pads for the oversized drones. The planning will include economic development and infrastructure.

How will this be important? The vertiports will include charging infrastructure. The partnership to build out the port’s infrastructure includes Lillium, City of Orlando, Tavistock Group, & Lake Nona’s developer.

Orlando Sentinel via Governing | Orlando Partners With NASA to Prepare for Flying Vehicles

What is happening?  M.J. Bradley & Associates, the Georgetown Climate Center, and nonprofit Ceres, the Evaluation and Development of Regional Infrastructure for Vehicle Electrification have developed an online mapping tool.

Why is this important? Using federal data it allows policymakers to consider demographic, economic, and environmental factors when choosing new charging stations

How will this be important? Can be customized to region, state, metropolitan area, county, or transportation corridor, by fast-charging plug type, or overlay information on commercial locations, potential access to home charging, and population density

GreenCar Reports | Where should future EV Chargers be?

What is happening? The City of Cleveland is partnering with a non-profit Bike Cleveland, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, the Ohio Department of Transportation, LAND Studio, and the Cleveland Foundation to support the city’s Vision Zero Action Plan with the goal of reducing traffic accidents.

Why is this important? This is a data driven partnership that takes into account:

• collection and dissemination of data on crashes
• establishment of lower speed limits
• designing safer streets that naturally “calm” traffic

How will this be important? 51 cities across the country have adopted Vision Zero Action plans. There’s a partnership nearby for you.

Governing | Cleveland Launches Project to Reduce Traffic Deaths to Zero

What’s happening? The Governor’s of MI, MN, IL, IN & WI have formed REV Midwest — the Regional Electric Vehicle Midwest Coalition.

Why is this important? The Governors say that they want to improve the region’s economy while also reducing toxic emissions.

How will this be important? REV Midwest is being touted as the leader on electric vehicle adoption, reducing carbon emissions, spurring innovation, and creating good-paying jobs

REV Midwest Memorandum of Understanding

NPR | 5 Midwestern governors agree to create a network to charge electric vehicles

What’s happening? Texas Governor signed HB 19 (2021 | TX) that attorneys for injured drivers, not at fault, say that the insurance coverage of the trucker, delivery driver or ride share won’t cover all their medical costs.

Why is this important? The number of  motor vehicle lawsuits have increased by 118% while the number of crashes has increased by only single digits.

How will this be important? The bill’s author said,  “If there’s any part of the bill that would hinder a Texans’ ability to seek those damages, then the bill won’t move. I promise you that.” 

KXAN | New Texas law could shield trucking, rideshare and delivery companies from some lawsuits after crashes

What is happening? Toronto is introducing mandatory in-person road training for rideshare.

Why is this important? Uber and Lyft both say that they fully support mandatory road training for public safety.

How will this be important? Whether this trend repeats.

BlogTO | Toronto Could Soon Force Uber and Lyft Drivers to Complete Special Training