In this installment of the regular Transportation TV series On Time with Tymon we learn about a critical issue facing the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials: the potential reallocation of the 5.9 GHz “safety spectrum” for non-transportation use. Safety is the highest priority for all state departments of transportation and reducing the number of highway fatalities to zero is a shared goal.
That’s why state DOTs and their public sector partners invested millions of dollars’ worth of research and develop over the last several years in technologies designed to allow vehicles to communicate with each other and with sensors in the highway environment. The goal: prevent crashes and share real-time weather information from vehicle to vehicle.
In 1999, the Federal Communications Commission set aside the 5.9 GHz wireless spectrum for just such transportation safety purposes. But in December 2019, the FCC voted unanimously to move forward with an effort to divide up the spectrum for non-transportation use. In this video, AASHTO Executive Director Jim Tymon explains why that’s a bad idea. Learn more about this critical issue from this article in the AASHTO Journal.
TTV Special Report
On Time with Tymon
