Political Quotes

“I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have put enormous work into that, all the members of the committee, and especially Mr. Latta for his great leadership. Today marks a really important milestone in the pursuit to make our roadways safer and support American leadership in self-driving innovation. So the SELF DRIVE Act, H.R. 3388, is something we can all support. Simply put, the rapidly advancing technology behind highly autonomous vehicles is stunning. I speak from some experience because a few months ago I got the opportunity to ride in a self-driving car with engineers and experienced a vehicle perform without any need for human intervention. Though we can look to a future that fulfills the promise of these innovations, we cannot ignore the current troubling trend in the number of lives that are lost on our roadways in America. Given the latest roadway fatality numbers, this technology is especially needed today. Almost 40,000 people lost their lives on our roads last year. That represents another yearly increase in traffic-related fatalities. In my own State of Oregon, traffic fatalities were the highest they have seen in 14 years--up 20 percent from the prior year. Statistics tell us 94 percent of accidents relate to human behavior. During our morning commute into work, just look around. We see folks on their phones in the cars next to us doing other things.…”