Secretary of Transportation- Ray LaHood

We had another great week of speakers! This week we had the honor of meeting the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood. He was a great speaker that dedicated a significant amount of time out of his schedule to talk to us. He spent forty-five minutes answering our questions. Yes, I know forty five minutes does not seem like a lot of time, but for a person of his importance, it is rare to have this amount of time to spare.

Ray LaHood walked in with a group of people, introduced himself, and then asked what questions we had. He was concerned with our interests rather than lecturing us on issues that we may not be as concerned with. This was a great opportunity for everyone to ask a question. Our whole class was able to ask him questions, and some asked more than one!

Many of the questions asked were about the Department of Transportation’s mission and what projects they were working on. He spoke about the distracted drivers project, that is working to eliminate accidents due to distractions while driving. The use of cell phones is a big concern of the Department of Transportation. Recently, they have been conducting experiments in certain cities where police officers sit on corners and catch drivers on their phones. They heavily ticketed people for about a week, and as a result people stopped using their phones while driving. They believe laws that limit phone use can be successful if they are heavily enforced. This was also proven with the Click-it-or-Ticket program that was implements years ago. As a result of heavy enforcement, most people use their seat belts.

Another topic he spoke about was building high speed rails in the United States. This was very interesting because the plan is to have high speed rail available to eighty percent of the population. This project will cost billions of dollars and will take many years. I am curious how this will be funded considering many projects are losing funding because of budget cuts and the country’s debt. It will be interesting to see if the Department of Transportation’s plans are successful.