Tag: DOT

You're looking forward to returning because you have plans to meet with family and friends, some you whom you haven't seen in a long time, when you get back early in the evening. You've made arrangements to meet everyone at a very popular local restaurant at several weeks ago and don't want to miss your reservation you put a lot of work into getting.

This trip you've made several times before and are familiar with the route. It is a clear and sunny day. You're not speeding, driving erratically, or doing anything that would, in any way, draw any attention whatsoever to your vehicle.

While you are still several hours away from your home, you see a sign on the side of the road:

Checkpoint ahead. All vehicles MUST stop.

You think to yourself; I must have just recently missed something very serious on the news for them to be stopping everyone.

After waiting for what seems like hours in a long line of vehicles leading up to the checkpoint, you finally approach an officer. You ask them what happened. They simply respond by saying, "License, registration and proof of insurance, please." You pull it out of your wallet, hand it to them. The officer asks how long you were driving, where you are coming from, where you are going. After this, they take your papers with them and walk away. While this is happening, you notice a number of other officers are walking around your vehicle, looking in your windows at the contents on the back seat, scrutinizing your license plate, VIN plate and examining other areas around your vehicle.

The officer returns and asks you to exit your vehicle.

Anxiety begins to set in when you get out and they direct you away from your vehicle.

When you are walking away, you notice the same officers around your vehicle begin to open the hood, doors and trunk and begin to do a more thorough search for something.

What it is, you do not know.

The officer you are with asks you several questions until they see the other officers around your vehicle motioning to come back to your vehicle. You are asked to remain where you are while they walk away. Not very far from where you are standing, you see them begin to converse among themselves, and flipping through clipboards while feverously writing things down.

"While we were working to improve the efficiency of cars and light-duty trucks, something interesting happened," said President Obama.  "We started getting letters asking that we do the same for medium and heavy-duty trucks.  They were from the people who build, buy, and drive these trucks.  And today, I'm proud to have the support of these companies as we announce the first-ever national policy to increase fuel efficiency and decrease greenhouse gas pollution from medium-and heavy-duty trucks."

"Thanks to the Obama Administration, for the first time in our history we have a common goal for increasing the fuel efficiency of the trucks that deliver our products, the vehicles we use at work, and the buses our children ride to school," said Secretary LaHood.   "These new standards will reduce fuel costs for businesses, encourage innovation in the manufacturing sector, and promote energy independence for America."

"This Administration is committed to protecting the air we breathe and cutting carbon pollution - and programs like these ensure that we can serve those priorities while also reducing our dependence on imported oil and saving money for drivers," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "More efficient trucks on our highways and less pollution from the buses in our neighborhoods will allow us to breathe cleaner air and use less oil, providing a wide range of benefits to our health, our environment and our economy."

Under the comprehensive new national program, trucks and buses built in 2014 through 2018 will reduce oil consumption by a projected 530 million barrels and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution by approximately 270 million metric tons. Like the Administration's historic car standards, this program - which relies heavily on off-the-shelf technologies - was developed in coordination with truck and engine manufacturers, fleet owners, the State of California, environmental groups and other stakeholders.