The highway lobby, also known as the "road gang", "motordom", [1] or the "highwaymen", is a collective of industry interests that advocate for an automobile-centric society. It is made up of corporate interests representing the automobile, oil, construction, rubber, asphalt, trucking, and limestone industries.
The term is often used as a pejorative by those who accuse this broad interest group of "Asphalt Socialism", [2] or those who accuse the lobby of nefarious actions. [3] The highway revolts, the Highway Action Coalition, pedestrian movements, and many other modern civil society organizations, are a response to this lobby. One example of the highway lobby is the American Highway Users Alliance that represents its interests. The highway lobby exists in many countries, for example the US, France, [4] Italy through the group "Friends of the Automobile" [5] or Malaysia. [6]
In an effort to combat climate change, in 2023, US President Joe Biden's administration proposed a law for the EPA requiring that two-thirds of all new passenger cars in the US are all-electric by 2032. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a Washington, DC based trade association and lobby group representing 42 car companies, such as General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen and Toyota, that in total produce about 97% of the new vehicles sold in the United States, wrote in the public comments of the proposition, claiming it was "neither reasonable nor achievable in the time frame covered in this proposal." [7]
Ralph Nader is an American political activist involved in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He is a perennial presidential candidate. His 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed, which criticized the automotive industry for its safety record, helped lead to the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966.
American Automobile Association is a federation of motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a privately held not-for-profit national member association and service organization with over 60 million members in the United States and Canada. AAA provides services to its members, including roadside assistance and others. Its national headquarters are in Heathrow, Florida.
Since the start of the twentieth century, the role of cars has become highly important, though controversial. They are used throughout the world and have become the most popular mode of transport in many of the more developed countries. In developing countries cars are fewer and the effects of the car on society are less visible, however they are nonetheless significant. The spread of cars built upon earlier changes in transport brought by railways and bicycles. They introduced sweeping changes in employment patterns, social interactions, infrastructure and the distribution of goods.
Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile is a non-fiction book by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, first published in 1965. Its central theme is that car manufacturers resisted the introduction of safety features, and that they were generally reluctant to spend money on improving safety. The work contains substantial references and material from industry insiders. It was a best seller in non-fiction in 1966.
Automotive safety is the study and practice of automotive design, construction, equipment and regulation to minimize the occurrence and consequences of traffic collisions involving motor vehicles. Road traffic safety more broadly includes roadway design.
The General Motors streetcar conspiracy refers to the convictions of General Motors (GM) and related companies that were involved in the monopolizing of the sale of buses and supplies to National City Lines (NCL) and subsidiaries, as well as to the allegations that the defendants conspired to own or control transit systems, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This suit created lingering suspicions that the defendants had in fact plotted to dismantle streetcar systems in many cities in the United States as an attempt to monopolize surface transportation.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation, focused on transportation safety in the United States.
Joan Buckler Claybrook is an American lawyer and lobbyist who was president of Public Citizen from 1982 to 2009. She also served in the Carter administration as head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) from 1977 to 1981.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program. Its role had previously been performed by the Office of Road Inquiry, Office of Public Roads and the Bureau of Public Roads.
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was enacted in the United States in 1966 to empower the federal government to set and administer new safety standards for motor vehicles and road traffic safety. The Act was the first mandatory federal safety standards for motor vehicles. The Act created the National Highway Safety Bureau. The Act was one of a number of initiatives by the government in response to increasing number of cars and associated fatalities and injuries on the road following a period when the number of people killed on the road had increased 6-fold and the number of vehicles was up 11-fold since 1925. The reduction of the rate of death attributable to motor-vehicle crashes in the United States represents the successful public health response to a great technologic advance of the 20th century—the motorization of the United States.
The Center for Auto Safety is a Washington, D.C.–based 501(c)(3) consumer advocacy non-profit group focused on the United States automotive industry. Founded in 1970 by Consumers Union and Ralph Nader, the group focuses its efforts on enacting reform though public advocacy and pressuring the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and automakers through litigation. For decades, it was led by Executive Director Clarence Ditlow, who died in late 2016 from cancer. Ditlow was widely admired in the auto safety community, although he also had detractors among auto manufacturers. The Center for Auto Safety is currently led by Executive Director Jason Levine.
The American Highway Users Alliance, is a non-profit advocacy group representing many businesses in the automotive and road construction sector. The organization, which was founded by General Motors and others in 1932, merged with the Automotive Safety Foundation and Auto Industries Highway Safety Committee in 1970.
Car dependency is a phenomenon in urban planning wherein existing and planned infrastructure prioritizes the use of automobiles over other modes of transportation, such as public transport, bicycles, and walking. Car dependency has been attributed with leading to a more polluting transport system compared to systems where all transportation modes are treated more equally.
The Auto Alliance (AAM) is a defunct trade group of automobile manufacturers that operated in the United States. It was the leading advocacy group for the auto industry, representing 77% of all car and light truck sales in the United States. The Auto Alliance was active in the areas of environment, energy and motor vehicle safety. In 2019, the Alliance was merged with the Association of Global Automakers to form the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. John Bozzella of Global Automakers became the new CEO.
In the United States, the automotive industry began in the 1890s and, as a result of the size of the domestic market and the use of mass production, rapidly evolved into the largest in the world. The United States was the first country in the world to have a mass market for vehicle production and sales and is a pioneer of the automotive industry and mass market production process. During the 20th century, global competitors emerged, especially in the second half of the century primarily across European and Asian markets, such as Germany, France, Italy, Japan and South Korea. The U.S. is currently second among the largest manufacturers in the world by volume.
The Automobile Manufacturers Association was a trade group of automobile manufacturers that operated under various names in the United States from 1911 to 1999. It was replaced by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
An automotive city or auto city is a city that facilitates and encourages the movement of people via private transportation, through 'physical planning', e.g., built environment innovations and 'soft programming' e.g., social policy surrounding city street usage.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI) is a Washington, D.C.–based trade association and lobby group whose members include international car and light duty truck manufacturers that build and sell products in the United States.
Clarence Mintzer Ditlow III was an American consumer advocate, primarily focusing on automotive safety. He was closely associated with Ralph Nader's organizations, and has been given credit for helping to instigate several critical safety changes within the auto industry.
Small—On Safety: The Designed-In Dangers of the Volkswagen is a nonfiction book written by the Center for Auto Safety, with an introduction by Ralph Nader. The book looks at the deficiencies in the safety aspects of the vehicles sold by Volkswagen. It was published on September 11, 1972, by Grossman Publishers. The book is based on a study released in September 1971 by the Center entitled The Volkswagen: An Assessment of Distinctive Hazards. The book concluded that "the Volkswagen Beetle is the most hazardous car currently in use in significant numbers in the United States" and that "the VW microbus or van is so unsafe that it should be removed from the roads entirely."