Transportation Law Commons^™

Nhtsa Up In The Clouds: The Formal Recall Process & Over-The-Air Software Updates, Emma Himes

Michigan Technology Law Review

Software updates are pushed to vehicles “over-the-air” (OTA) with increasing frequency as they reduce costs of visiting dealerships and auto shops to receive maintenance. These updates, pushed from the cloud, have been used to remedy safety defects in vehicles and improve software controlling all aspects of vehicles from steering to rearview mirrors. Remedies of vehicle safety defects are overseen by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); however, because many OTA software updates do not remedy issues officially deemed safety defects, they are pushed straight from the manufacturer to drivers with little government oversight or transparency. NHTSA’s recall process was …

Commercial Transportation, Madeline E. Mcneeley, Sarah L. Adle, Elizabeth M. Brooks, Joshua H. Dorminy, Stephen G. Lowry

Mercer Law Review

Commercial transportation involves all the significant forms of passenger and freight transportation across the United States. This Article surveys significant judicial, regulatory, and legislative developments in Georgia commercial transportation law from June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021.

Parámetros Para Orientar Procesos Informales De Concertación En Movilidad Urbana Sostenible En Colombia, Erika Castro-Buitrago, Jorge E. Vásquez Santamaría

The Qualitative Report

El artículo propone desde un punto de vista jurídico los parámetros de actuación que pueden orientar los procesos de concertación informal sobre movilidad urbana sostenible entre autoridades y ciudadanos en Colombia, acudiendo a las experiencias de concertación informal de actores ciudadanos. Se empleó una metodología cualitativa, con enfoque sociojurídico y hermenéutica dialógica. La información empírica se recopiló a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas a informantes clave y el análisis de documentos. Los hallazgos mostraron que una buena parte de estos procesos tiene lugar de manera informal y los participantes no poseen directrices que dirijan su éxito. Además, la concertación de proyectos …

Frankson Musukwa (Suing On His Own Behalf And As Executive Director Of Zambia Deaf Youth And Women) & Others V. Road Transport And Safety Agency, Natasha Kapuka

SAIPAR Case Review

The facts giving rise to the Musukwa case emanate from the revolving debate on whether deaf people should be allowed to drive in the same way that able-bodied individuals have the liberty to. The Petitioners (all deaf) approached the Court seeking a ruling to the effect that S.62 of the Road Traffic Act, No. 11 of 2002 violate Articles 11(b), 22(1)(a) & 23(2) of the Constitution of Zambia. The Petitioners contended that the Respondent’s refusal to grant the 2nd Petitioner a driver’s license, and its decision to revoke the 3rd Petitioner’s license was a violation of their freedom of movement …

Rewriting Our Nation's Deadly Traffic Manual, Sara C. Bronin, Gregory H. Shill

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Every day, Americans entrust their lives to a road system that is governed by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (the Manual). On its face, this Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) publication is a straightforward technical document. It contains over eight hundred pages of engineering guidance on everything from traffic-light placement to the font of highway signs. It also establishes acceptable methods for officials to modify speed limits.

While such provisions may sound inconsequential, some of the Manual’s provisions have far-reaching, even deadly, consequences. They prioritize vehicular speed over public safety, mobility over other uses of …

Reviving Antitrust Enforcement In The Airline Industry, Jonathan Edelman

Michigan Law Review

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has broad but oft overlooked power to address antitrust issues among airlines through section 411 of the Federal Aviation Act. However, the DOT’s unwillingness to enforce antitrust more aggressively may be translating into higher fares and fees for airline travelers.

More aggressive antitrust enforcement is urgently needed. Recent research has revealed a widespread practice of common ownership in the airline industry, whereby investment firms own large portions of rival airline companies. Although this practice leads to higher prices and reduced competition, antitrust regulators, from the DOT to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade …

When Fast-Tracking Slows You Down: Reconsidering Nationwide Permit 12 Use For Large-Scale Oil Pipelines, Megan Rulli

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The consumption of oil pervades everyday life in America. The network of pipelines transporting oil from field to consumer is largely invisible. Until a major news event bursts pipelines onto headlines, this indispensable and invisible system fuels the country without fanfare. At the same time, concern over global climate change has made new large-scale projects for fossil fuel extraction and consumption highly controversial. The Keystone XL (“KXL”) pipeline was originally designed to transport crude oil extracted from oil sands in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico for international export. After more than a decade of false starts, the project currently …

Bill Ab5 And The Gig Economy, Peter Buckley

University of Miami Business Law Review

This paper explores California Assembly Bill No. 5 and its effect on the “gig economy.” Notably, this paper takes an in-depth look at companies providing cheap services to California residents and the detrimental effects on California business models by labeling independent contractors as employees. I will contrast the Bill with previous California court decisions on independent contracts and the joint ballot initiatives being jointly proposed by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other gig companies. Within this paper I will refer to workers as “drivers” for the sake of simplicity; however, it should be noted that these companies refer to them as …

In The Context Of Unmanned Vessels : Obstacles To The Application Of Colregs And Suggestions For Its Amendments, Baochuan Sun

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Commercial Transportation, Madeline E. Mcneeley, Sarah L. Adle, Joshua H. Dorminy, Elizabeth M. Brooks, Stephen G. Lowry

Mercer Law Review

Commercial transportation involves all the significant forms of passenger and freight transportation across the United States. This Article surveys significant judicial, regulatory, and legislative developments in commercial-transportation law affecting the federal judicial circuit including Georgia, Alabama, and Florida during the period from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. The first three areas discussed here are subject to heavy federal regulation due to their far-reaching effects on interstate commerce: trucking and other commercial motor vehicles, aviation, and railroads. The other two areas discussed in this Article—autonomous-vehicle technology and shareable electric bicycles and scooters—are regulated primarily at the state and local …

Evolution Of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (Mpos) Into Multi-Functional Regional Roles, Janice C. Griffith

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

In the United States, all three levels of government, federal, state, and local, are engaged in coordinating the movement of goods and people. Recognizing the importance of an inter-connected transportation system, Congress enacted legislation in the mid-twentieth century that conditioned federal transportation funding upon continuing, comprehensive, and coordinated (“3-C”) transportation planning linking cities and suburbs. Thereafter, Congress mandated that the states create Metropolitan Planning Organizations (“MPOs”) to undertake 3-C planning on a metropolitan scale. Congress has now expanded the scope of transportation planning criteria to include environmental protections, energy conservation, local planned growth, economic development patterns, mitigation of storm water …

Reclaiming The Streets, Vanessa Casado-Pérez

Faculty Scholarship

Pedestrians have been getting the short end of the stick in street policies and regulations. Drivers and cars dominate our streets even though automobiles’ externalities kill thousands of people every year. Given the environmental, health, safety, and community effects of cars, municipalities should embrace a policy that puts pedestrians at the center and produces more miles of wider, well-maintained sidewalks. Sidewalks make communities greener, healthier, safer, more socially connected, and even, wealthier. COVID-19 lockdowns have shown both the relevance of sidewalks, as well as the possibility of pedestrians regaining space currently allocated to cars by widening sidewalks.

This Essay identifies, …

Mobile-Based Transportation Companies, Mandatory Arbitration, And The Americans With Disabilities Act, Tamar Meshel

Journal of Law and Mobility

Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and similar mobile-based transportation network companies (TNCs) have been involved in numerous legal battles in multiple jurisdictions. One contested issue concerns whether TNC drivers are employees or independent contractors. Uber recently lost this battle to some extent in the UK, but won it in California. Another issue concerns the TNCs’ use of mandatory (pre-dispute) arbitration clauses in their standard form service agreements with both drivers and passengers. These arbitration clauses purport to obligate such future plaintiffs to resolve any dispute with the defendant TNC outside of court and, typically, on an individual rather than a class basis. …

منظومة النقل الجماعي بأكادير الكبير بين الوضعية القانونية -التنظيمية وواقع الممارسة: نحو استشراف مخطط جديد للنقل نموذج سيارات الأجرة الكبيرة والتدبير المفوض, Mohamed Ben Attou

Dirassat

The belief in the importance of the mass transport system within Agadir is one of the most important things that we should be concerned with and be keen on. If we can look into making this environment, whether in the medium or long term, with the help of a number of investments that move its administrative and industrial tributaries, then we are at the core of development that attain the conditions of stability. The articlesought to acquaint the reader with a set of vivid documented information, including the development of licenses granted to taxis which were supposed to have a …

International Transportation Law, Andrew M. Danas, Philip Peng

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Regulation And The Geography Of Inequality, Ganesh Sitaraman, Christopher Serkin, Morgan Ricks

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

We live in an era of widening geographic inequality. Around the country, the spread between economically and culturally thriving places and those that are struggling has been increasing. "Superstar" cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Atlanta continue to attract talent and grow, while the economies of other cities and rural areas are left behind. Troublingly, escalating geographic inequality in the United States has arrived hand in hand with serious economic, social, and political problems. Areas that are left behind have not only failed to keep up with their thriving peers; in many ways, they have stagnated and seen …

Tune Up: Fixing Market Failures To Cut Fuel Costs And Pollution From Cars And Trucks, Rachel Rothschild, Jason Schwartz

Other Publications

The Biden administration is currently seeking to bolster the federal government’s role in addressing climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, which is currently the largest source of these pollutants in the country. Federal fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards will thus be crucial tools in addressing climate change as well as improving the health of millions of Americans who are exposed to toxic tailpipe pollutants.

In addition to reducing pollution, these efforts can also save consumers money at the pump. Economists have long observed that consumers do not always select vehicles that will save them …

New Technology And The Right To Privacy: Do E-Scooters Implicate The Fourth Amendment?, Alexander P. Carroll

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The Fourth Amendment protects individual’s right to privacy from unwarranted searches and seizures, but the analysis for when the Fourth Amendment applies has become more complicated as new technology is developed. E-scooters are a new piece of technology which may implicate the Fourth Amendment. Cities across the country are beginning to require the mobility companies which provide e-scooter services to turn over location data in order to receive an operating permit. This article first provides a background of the Fourth Amendment, then provides details regarding the new city regulations. The article includes a discussion of the privacy concerns as well …

Pedestrians Under Attack, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

A review of Right Of Way by Angie Schmitt

A Fare Share: A Proposed Solution To Address The Racial Disparity In Access To Public Transportation Funding In America, Michael Swistara

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Black American households are up to six times less likely to own a car than white families and are four times more likely to rely on public transportation to meet their daily needs. Despite this, communities of color have seen consistent disinvestment in their transit infrastructure. Four hundred years of continued housing segregation combined with post-recession austerity policies and ongoing pro-automobile bias has exacerbated this disparity. This Note proposes a straightforward legislative tool to begin to combat this inequity. The proposed legislation would require that urbanized areas spend their public transit dollars according to the population density of the communities …

Why Illinois Should Reevaluate Its Video Tolling (V-Toll) Subsidy, Randall K. Johnson

Faculty Works

Tolls are levies with a limited base. This base is made up of drivers that pay user fees, in cash or via electronic transponder, in exchange for access to state-administered roads. In Illinois, every single toll is a function of three factors: vehicle characteristics, tollway entry point, and how far a driver goes on state-administered roads.

It is commonly assumed that any toll violation, i.e., any failure to pay, results in a traffic ticket, administrative fees and state-imposed sanctions. Such an assumption, however, is only partly true due to overly forgiving Illinois state policies. Examples include the Traffic Ticket Exemption, …

Accountability For Employers Or Independence For Contractors? Accomplishing Ab5’S Labor Classification Goals In The Gig Economy, Chelsea Rauch

Seattle University Law Review

U.S. employment law traditionally classifies workers as either employees or independent contractors; each worker under this traditional legal rubric can only be classified as one or the other—there can be no ambiguity or overlap. An employee is generally defined as “a person hired for a regular, continuous period to perform work for an employer who maintains control over both the service details and the final product.” In contrast, an independent contractor is generally defined as “a worker who performs services for others, usually under contract, while at the same time retaining economic independence and complete control over both the method …

Bursting The Auto Loan Bubble In The Wake Of Covid-19, Pamela Foohey

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, auto loans outstanding in the United States had soared to record highs. The boom in lending spanned new and used cars and traditional and subprime loans. With loan delinquencies also hitting new highs almost every quarter, predictions that the auto lending market could burst soon abounded. When the economy came to a grinding halt and unemployment skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic, auto lenders knew they were facing a crisis. Throughout 2020, auto lenders granted more payment forbearances to consumers, while slashing interest rates on new loans. Auto manufacturers similarly made promises to buyers, such …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Seamen, Railroad Employees, And Uber Drivers: Applying The Section 1 Exemption In The Federal Arbitration Ace To Rideshare Drivers, Conor Bradley

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA or the Act) exempts “seamen, railroad employees, [and] any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce” from arbitration. In 2019, the Supreme Court held in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira that this provision exempted independent contractors as well as employees. This decision expanded the reach of the section 1 exemption and may affect the relationship between ridesharing companies, such as Uber, and their drivers. Previously, ridesharing companies argued that courts must enforce the arbitration clauses in their employment contracts because their workers were independent contractors and, therefore, section 1 …

Important Not To Let Hsr Termination Hobble Further Cooperation, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Strong people-to-people ties can help temper political histrionics, moderate negative impact on political ties. The tantalising prospect of being able to leave Singapore and arrive in Kuala Lumpur in just 90 minutes remains a pipe dream after the High Speed Rail (HSR) agreement was terminated last Friday, along with what could have been an important confidence booster to bilateral ties between Singapore and Malaysia.

Towards A Control-Centric Account Of Tort Liability For Automated Vehicles, Jerrold Tsin Howe Soh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Existing motor vehicle accident laws are generally described as ‘driver-centric’, since regulatory, liability, and insurance obligations revolve around drivers. This is sometimes taken to imply that they cannot apply to automated vehicles. This article seeks to re-centre the liability discussion around the tortious doctrine of control. It argues centrally that properly understanding legal control as influence over metaphysical risks, rather than physical objects, clarifies that automated vehicles are both legally controllable in theory, despite having no human drivers, and legally controlled in practice, despite their reliance on machine learning. Examining today’s automated driving technology and businesses, this article demonstrates how …