[Colorado-Talk] Need to contact U.S. Senate Leaders ASAP

[Dan Burke]

Fellow Colorado Federationists –

People are always telling blind people how self-driving cars will be
great for us. Well, there is a bill now in the U.S. Senate that will
deal in part with autonomous vehicles. It’s called the Endless
Frontier Act. The NFB Legislative wunderkind have been working with
Senator John Thune to include amendments to the bill so that blind
people can actually benefit from using autonomous vehicles.

There are two amendments. One will put provisions for accessibility
into the law, and that means, in part, nonvisual access and control.
The other would prohibit discrimination in terms of licensing
self-driving vehicles, meaning blind people could not be discriminated
against when it comes to licensing and operating an autonomous
vehicle.

As you can see, having self-driving cars really won’t benefit us if
the right measures aren’t in place, and these amendments are taking us
in the direction we want to go. Thanks to our NFB legislative team!

But these amendments are stalling out for lack of support on the
Senate floor. So right now we need to contact Senators Schumer and
Peters to pull these amendments out of the mud, to give them a
jump-start, or any other car metaphor you like. We need to email their
staffers and say we support the Thune amendments because they will
benefit blind people. Give your name, and your city and state. Here
are the contacts:

The contact in Senator Schumer’s office is Meghan Taira,
meghan_taira at schumer.senate.gov.

The contact in Senator Peters’s office is Catherine Barrett,
catherine_barrett at peters.senate.gov.

Please contact them ASAP if you want to be in the driver’s seat!

Below is the more detailed info from John Pare for your consideration:
# # #

The National Federation of the Blind has been working with Senator
John Thune on an amendment to the Endless Frontier Act. This amendment
relates to fully automated vehicles and contains two provisions that
would benefit blind people.
The first provision would create an exemption classification for
manufacturers who “provide transportation access for individuals with
disabilities (as defined in section 3 of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102)), including non-visual
access for individuals who are blind or visually impaired,” as long as
the vehicle was equivalently safe to a non-exempt vehicle. The second
would prohibit a state from issuing a “motor vehicle operator’s
license for the operation or use of a highly automated vehicle in a
manner that discriminates on the basis of disability.”

Despite support from both automobile manufacturers and disability
advocates, Senator Thune reluctantly withdrew his amendment on May 12
due to a lack of support from other senators on the Commerce, Science,
and Transportation Committee over safety and liability concerns.
President Riccobono wrote a letter to Chair Cantwell and Ranking
Member Wicker regarding this topic expressing our support and
endorsement of the Thune amendment on May 11.


# # #

Vroom! Vroom!

Dan


-- 
Dan Burke

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Legislative Co-chair

President, NFB of Denver

"Blindness is not what holds you back.  You can live the life you want!"

My Cell:  406.546.8546
Twitter:  @DallDonal