Driving in America—Are We There Yet?

By Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director

Motorist advocates have many choices to make when it comes to fighting for rights. Trends change and either becomes complicated or simplified just because an elected official says “Enough!”

Case in point: Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed when he was running for governor in 2018 that he would like to see a ban on red-light cameras. He was reelected and at the next session, the push was on to ban these devices…generally they were banned but some cities got their contracts grandfathered in unfortunately.

Now, there is an opportunity to do the same in Illinois. Once again, the state has been rocked with scandal over red-light camera bribery. Prominent legislator Martin Sandoval resigned his seat late last year and this week pled guilty to federal bribery charges. Governor J.B. Pritzker has said there should be a serious discussion on these devices. Lawmakers say the same. But do these guys and gals have the courage to do what’s right and ban RLCs? Motorist rights advocates need to put the pressure on these elected officials and soon! The NMA dares the Governor to say “Enough!” 

Many stories were trending the last couple of weeks. Let’s get started.

Many of our supporters contacted us with links from a story out of Germany. The ADAC (similar to AAA) has said that it will no longer support unlimited speed limits on the Autobahn. Here is the story from Jalopnik: We’re One Big Step Closer to Losing No-Speed-Limit Highways in Germany

Even though the NMA usually never covers crime stories—this one caught our eye because it was a year-long case that hurt many motorists in the Monterey County, California area: Man accused of shooting marbles at cars on highway pleads not guilty to 79 charges

Here is another California story that scared us a bit: Nearly two-thirds of fatal crashes in Southern California caused by factors linked to road rage, CHP data shows

Local Motorist Rights Advocates are Fighting Back against the System:

Shenanigans abound in two states over motorist ballot votes that were passed:

Speed Limits are always in the News

Some Traffic Safety and Congestion Stories dominated the National News

Is anyone else confused about the Vehicle Emissions Debate? These stories don’t help.

Court Cases that might affect all of us Drive:

US Supreme Court

District Court

State Court

Police Enforcement Stories Of All Kinds Were In The News:

Accuracy of DUI Breathalyzers Created a Stir in Michigan 

Police Corruption/Transparency Stories That Are New:

Racial Profiling still dominates motorist news in some cities:

Civil Asset Forfeiture in the News:

Several US Attorneys released their takes on civil asset forfeiture:

Two states are trying to do something about civil asset forfeiture (hopefully more states will join them):

The Most Basic Of ID—The Driver’s License Was In The News Quite A Bit For Various Reason:

Other Story Gems about Driving in America

And last but not least, some good news about the future of driving!

Thank you for reading the National Motorists Association’s Driving in America Blog. If you find an online article of interest concerning motorists’ rights, please drop us the link via email to nma@motorists.org. Interested in discussing this blog, please write your comments below or join the discussion on Facebook.

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One Response to “Driving in America—Are We There Yet?”

  1. Tom McCarey says:

    “Road Rage” was invented during the time when air bags were beginning to be installed in cars. The air bags were killing people, and the powers-that-be wanted to distract attention away from that , so “Road Rage” was invented.

    Bad highway engineering leads to bad driver behavior. The reasons for “Road Rage” include too-low speed limits: some people think they can enforce the speed limits and that leads to “Road Rage.”