The US Federal Government Should Increase its Investment in ITS

NOTE: THIS DEBATE IS OVER A HIGH SCHOOL POLICY PLAN, BUT IT SHOULD NOT BE DEBATED OR JUDGED IN A POLICY FORMAT. THIS IS A REVISION TO MY EARLIER STATEMENT.I thank my opponent for accepting this debate. However, I'd like to make some revisions to the rules he made.I suggest that the voters be able to vote on Sources, if there are serious problems with one sides sources that are being used misleadingly, and to vote on S&G if it seriously becomes a problem.What is ITS? ITS, or intelligent transportation systems "are advanced applications which, without embodying intelligence as such, aim to provide innovative services relating to different modes of transport and traffic management and enable various users to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and 'smarter' use of transport networks." [1] To put it shortly, ITS is the development, deployment, and management of innovative computers to more efficiently manage government run transportation infrastructure. To begin with, here is a problem with the status quo.The domestic economy is in death throes - collapsing labor force and dwindling stimulus are bleeding the economy dry.[2]The economy has created just 1.8 million jobs, not nearly enough to give a job to everyone who wants to work. Even though the unemployment rate fell to 8.1% from 8.3%, the decline was due to a smaller labor force, nobody can be satisfied with an economy like this.Here are the reasons we should pass ITS:C1: The Plan creates 600 thousand jobs and returns on costs at a 25:1 ration, this stimulus is critical to reinvigorating the economy, the industrial base, and competitiveness. [3]By improving the operational performance of the transportation network, ITS enhance driver mobility and convenience, deliver environmental benefits, and even boost productivity and economic growth. For Japan, ITS have been crucial as the country strives to meet its goal to reduce CO2 emissions. For many countries, ITS represents a rapidly expanding, export-led growth sector which contributes directly to national economic competitiveness and employment growth. The US Department of Transportation has estimated the field of ITS could create almost 600,000 new jobs. If the US were to implement a national real-time traffic information program, the GAO estimates the present value cost of establishing and operating the program would be $1.2 billion, but would deliver present value benefits of $30.2 billion, a 25 to 1 benefit-cost ratio.C2: ITS reduces congestion drastically - saved the US billions. [4]ITS are contributing to a fundamental reassessment of vehicle safety. Whereas most developments in transportation safety over the past 50 years were designed to protect passengers in the event of a crash, VII and V2V systems such as Japan's smartway or the United States' IntelliDrive are being designed to help motorists avoid the accident altogether. For example, the Intellidrive system could potentially address 82% of vehicle crash scenarios involving unimpaired drivers. ITS maximize the capacity of infrastructure, reducing the need to build additional highway capacity.For example, applying great-time traffic data to US traffic signal lights can improve traffic flow significantly, reducing stops by as much as 40%, reducing travel ttime by 25%, cutting gas coonsumption by 10%, and cutting emissions by 22%. ITS can contribute significantly to reducing congestion, whicbh costs US commuters 4.2 billion hours and and 2.8 billion gallons of fuel each year, cositng the US economy up to $200 billion per year. Overall, ITS can reduce congestion by as much as 20% or more. C3: Unchecked congestion leads international manufacturers to secede from US markets.[5]Traffic congestion can effectively constrain both labor markets and freight delivery markets, it can also be a factor affecting the location or relocation of both: (A) distribution center sites and (B) production sites. Relocation of distribution centers - increased travel times that result from congestion can effectively shrink the distribution radius of existing distribution operations, making both existing service and expansion into regional markets more difficult. This means that for manufacturers, levels of traffic congestion and the ability of transportation infrastructure to support efficient production processes is an important factor in their decisions about where to locate new product lines, how and where to position various aspects of intermediate and final production, and where they may best server growing or emerging markets for their products.C4: The US is locked in a war for talent; the plan creates the conditions for the retention and attraction of skilled labor [6]Transport services can become a differentiator for cities to attract and retain the talent necessary to drive growth. Talent is becoming more important in driving economic grrowth in cities and regions. Cities will face intensifying competition to attract and retain this talent. Transport services have a critical influence on the attractiveness and liveability of a location. For cities and regions that can attract this mobiele talent, the resulting wealth can be spread out across the economy. More growth means more jobs - not only for higher skilled but also for lowerskilled individuals.To summarize my starting arguments, ITS is an extremely effective stimulus that has worked in many other countries, and is critical for reinvigorating our economy.[1] http://en.wikipedia.org...[2] Nutting 9/7[3] Ezell 2010[4] Ezell 2010[5] Weisbrod and Fitzroy 2011[6] Keeling and Mooney 2011