FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ITS America Statement on the Nomination of Tom Wheeler to serve as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. (May 1, 2013) – Scott F. Belcher, President and CEO of The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America), welcomed today’s nomination of Tom Wheeler to serve as the next Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
“Tom Wheeler has been instrumental in shaping the telecommunications technology and policy landscape for more than 30 years. He has both the knowledge and the experience to be independent and considerate of regulatory policies that will provide Americans the platforms and tools they need to compete in the 21st Century economy.
“As the transportation community continues to work alongside the high-tech industry to evaluate the feasibility of spectrum sharing in the 5.9 GHz band, we remain vigilant that efforts by the FCC to open up additional spectrum do not come at the expense of life-saving vehicle crash avoidance systems that depend on secure, reliable, real-time communications capability.
“As stated in our coalition letter to FCC Chairman Genachowski, connected vehicle technology based on Dedicated Short-Range Communications in the 5.9 GHz band is on the cusp of becoming reality. With over 30,000 deaths on our nation's roads each year and hundreds of millions of taxpayer and industry dollars spent developing this crash avoidance system, we owe it to the American people to protect their investment and see this life-saving innovation through to implementation.
“We look forward to working with Chairman–designate Wheeler and the Commission on this critical issue in the coming months.”
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The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to advancing the research, development and deployment of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) to improve the nation’s surface transportation system. To learn more about ITS America visit www.itsa.org or www.twitter.com/ITS_AMERICA.