Highway lobby
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]
History
[edit]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]
References
[edit]- ^ "Motordom Defined". Vancouver Sun. July 27, 2009. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
- ^ Cortright, Joe (November 17, 2015). "House Republicans' Asphalt Socialism". The American Conservative. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
- ^ Tabuchi, Hiroko (June 19, 2018). "How the Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around the Country". The New York Times. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
- ^ Dunn, James A. Jr. (April 1995). "The French Highway Lobby: A Case Study in State–Society Relations and Policymaking". Comparative Politics. Vol. 27, no. 3. pp. 275–295. JSTOR 422059.
- ^ Ladd, Brian (2008). Autophobia: Love and Hate in the Automotive Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 120–120. ISBN 9780226467412.
- ^ Mei Lin, Mayuri (January 12, 2016). "Anti-Highway Lobby Says Selangor Denies Gave Nod for DASH". Malay Mail.
- ^ Davenport, Coral (June 28, 2023). "Auto-Industry Group Assails Biden's Plan to Electrify America's Cars". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 22, 2024. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
Further reading
[edit]- Cornely, Paul B. (January 1971). "The Hidden Enemies of Health and the American Public Health Association". American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 61, no. 1. pp. 7–18. PMC 1530621.
- Denison, George & Tomlinson, Kenneth Y. (May 1969). "Let's Put the Brakes on the Highway Lobby". The Reader's Digest. Vol. 48. p. 97.
- Fried, Ben (August 21, 2018). "Who Loves Traffic? Dan and the Highway Lobby". StreetsBlogNYC.
- Gillies, Andrew (August 4, 2004). "Highway Lobby: Smooth Operators". Forbes.
- Ihnen, Alex (October 15, 2014). "Will We Be Held Hostage by the Highway Lobby?". Smart Cities Dive.
- Nader, Ralph (August 29, 2002). "The Highway Lobby". The Official Site of Ralph Nader.[full citation needed]
- Replogle, Michael (Winter 1997). "ISTEA Reauthorization: Will the Highway Lobby steer US Transport Reform off the Road?" (PDF). Sustainable Transport. No. 7. Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. p. 6.[full citation needed]
- Rosenbaum, David E. (April 2, 1972). "For the Highway Lobby, a Rocky Road Ahead". The New York Times. p. 13.
- Ross, Benjamin (2006). "Stuck in Traffic: Free-Market Theory Meets the Highway Lobby". Dissent. Vol. 53, no. 3. pp. 60–64.