2/13/2019· Transportation
The Folly of Fake Facts - Part. 2
By: Ned Einstein
In Part One of this short series, we explored the rudiments of reaction time and braking distance. The arithmetic for understanding both concepts was learned in the third grade (multiplication), fourth grade (long division), seventh grade (fractions) and eleventh grade (drivers' education).
2/27/2019· Transportation
Tight Schedules, Part 1: The Other Achilles Heel
By: Ned Einstein
Early in my 42 years working in the public transportation field, I learned that the industry's Achilles Heel is negligent monitoring. Almost no one knows how to do this effectively. Few agencies or companies do this at all. Most of their officials do not care. So the industry is rife with crossing accidents, negligent retention, wheelchair tipovers and passenger molestation, among other common accident and incident scenarios.
9/12/2017· Automotive - Vehicular
Autonomous and Inevitable, Part 9: Conclusion -- The Best of Both Worlds
By: Ned Einstein
The past eight installments of this series covered a lot of ground -- some technical, but mostly socio-economic and conceptual. But in the debate over the pros and cons of human versus robotic drivers, is it not possible to have the wisdom to take the best of both worlds? In early articles I acknowledged some of the advantages of Highly-Automated Vehicles (HAVs), including:
1/9/2021· Transportation
Wheelchair Tipovers – A Tort Lawyer’s Paradise
By: Ned Einstein
As an expert witness (see transalt.com), I have found it surprising that the vast majority of incidents and accidents occur when the vehicle is not even moving. One fourth of the more than 600 cases I’ve done involved simply getting on and off the vehicle.
7/18/2021· Transportation
Defending Public Transportation Contractors: The History Of Contracting And Brokerage
By: Ned Einstein
In many cases, the negligence of lead agencies and brokers are the principal proximate causes of an incident; in some cases, it comprises the sole proximate causes. For this reason, understanding the dynamics among these three entities – private operating companies, lead agencies and brokers - is the key to
3/21/2022· Transportation
The Post-COVID Era Motorcoach Industry
By: Ned Einstein
In this article, I am merely explaining the consequences of cabinet and administrator choices being made in the passenger and freight transportation fields, and commenting on the overall challenges of running the labyrinth of variation and complexity which USDOT is.
12/20/2023· Transportation
Danger Signs Ahead For U.S. Transit And Motorcoach Sectors, Part 1
By: Ned Einstein
America’s worst transportation problems may be recent. But they had their roots in a century of serious mistakes, even if, in fairness, many were not foreseeable nearly that long ago. Compared to many countries with a fraction of our resources, America made no efforts to decrease traffic levels by creating new major cities – like Brasilia and Tel Aviv (the latter of which had recently been its nation’s capital; the former still is).
2/13/2017· Transportation
Autonomous and Inevitable, Part 2: Invasion by Mode, Small Vehicles
By: Ned Einstein
In Part 1 of this series, I identified the enormous range of benefits that would likely accompany even the first wave of autonomous buses, coaches, trucks and delivery vehicles. And I identified a handful of dysfunctional consequences, the most serious of which is a Tsunami of driver unemployment. Lest anyone doubt these inevitabilities, he or she might consider consulting the seven-installment series in National Bus Trader titled "Bad Regulations and Worse Responses" (June 2014 through January 2015).
1/26/2015· Transportation
Buses and Bikes - Mass, Visibility and Unfair Fights
By: Ned Einstein
In those rare instances where the safety of transportation modes can be compared statistically, bus riders fare several decimal points better than bicycle riders. The risks associated with motorcycles are "off the charts." The Figure below illustrates these comparisons for "home-to-school" trips - trips that comprise 15 percent of all transit trips and 96 percent of all schoolbus trips.
9/16/2020· Education & Schools
Getting Students Back To School During COVID-19
By: Ned Einstein
Because of social distancing, classrooms and schoolbuses can only be filled to one-fourth of their capacities. This constraint alone requires that a broad range of dramatic changes be made in order for our children to return to physical school without placing out entire population at greater risk than we already are.
