U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today released distraction guidelines that encourage automobile manufacturers to limit the distraction risk connected to electronic devices built into their vehicles, such as communications, entertainment and navigation devices.

Issued by the Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the voluntary guidelines establish specific recommended criteria for electronic devices installed in vehicles at the time they are manufactured that require drivers to take their hands off the wheel or eyes of the road to use them. Read the press release.

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The National Transportation Safety Board released a bold set of targeted interventions to put the country on a course to eliminate alcohol-impaired driving crashes. The 19 recommendations call for stronger laws, swifter enforcement and expanded use of technology.

Each year in the United States, nearly 10,000 people are killed in crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers and more than 173,000 are injured, with 27,000 suffer incapacitating injuries. Since the mid-1990s, even as total highway fatalities have fallen, the proportion of deaths from accidents involving an alcohol-impaired driver has remained constant at around 30 percent. In the last 30 years, nearly 440,000 people have died in alcohol related crashes. Read the article

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Click to view the 2013 Training Schedule.

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U.S. Government license plates are to be scanned by Federal Protective Service (FPS) and drivers with missing or unregistered plates will be detained until it can be determined if the situation is administrative or criminal.  For administrative cases the driver will receive a notice.  Criminal cases will be handled appropriately. Read the rest of this entry »

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Through this initiative, GSA would expand the number of hybrid vehicles in the federal fleet by up to 10,000 vehicles, resulting in the reduction of approximately 1,000,000 gallons of fuel per year for the life of these vehicles. This is a significant opportunity to more efficiently manage fleet operations, create significant savings through fuel efficiency, and make government more sustainable.

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FedForum 2013 Suspended
The GSA FedForum training and exposition event has provided a valuable forum for our federal, state, and local partners to receive training on federal asset management, including fleet, aviation, boats, transportation, and real and personal property. FedForum has also provided an important venue for interaction between government and industry on best practices, policies, and industry products and offerings. 

However, amid sequestration and government-wide budget cuts, agencies have been forced to make tough decisions. After carefully reviewing the projected attendance for this year’s conference, GSA is suspending FedForum for 2013 in an effort to use our resources responsibly and to deliver better value and savings for our government partners, our vendors, and the American people.

Even with reduced budgets, GSA remains committed to your agency’s recognized need for training and to be kept abreast of the latest developments in asset management as well as offerings from our industry partners.  Below are some of the training opportunities available to you.

GSA Training on GSA.gov
Free  on-demand webinar and classroom training on a wide array of topics and offerings

GSA Desktop Workshop
GSA.gov offers free desktop workshops on a variety of fleet topics. 

Those who have registered and paid for the FedForum conference should receive notification from A-S-K Associates, the contractor, who is responsible for the return of registration fees. A-S-K Associates can be contacted at: registration@thefedforum.org 

If you have any questions, please email fedforum@gsa.gov.

New NHTSA SaferCar App for IOS
By U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park.  (“Fast Lane” DoT Blog)

What is Distracted Driving?
Distraction.gov, a U.S. Official Website for Distracted Driving from U.S. DoT

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