The Ferguson Group Blog

Wednesday News Roundup

Every Wednesday, The Ferguson Group blog will be posting a series of articles published over the previous week that discuss topics of interest to local governments. Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!

Skilled-Worker Visas Eyed in Immigration Debate

With immigration reform as a top priority in Congress, there is a strong push from tech industries to raise the H-1B visa limit from 65,000 to 300,000.  Some in the industry argue the U.S. does not turn out enough math and science graduates to fill their positions, yet others believe the shortage of skilled American workers is exaggerated. Read More…

Some Small Businesses Opt for the Health-Care Penalty

When the new health-care law begins next year, some small-business owners will have to make the choice between providing healthcare to all their full-time employees or paying a penalty to avoid the new law’s “employer mandate.”  Some employers say the burden may be too hefty, and elect to pay fines.  Read More…

Energy Tax Reform a Heavy Lift for Lawmakers

Congress plans to tackle energy tax policy issues in the near future, but massive amounts of data must be sifted through before a detailed plan can be produced.  Lawmakers say that in order to make good policies, they need to have the most accurate analysis, even if it that takes more time than anticipated.  Read More…

'Obama Phones’ Subsidy Program Draws New Scrutiny on the Hill

The Lifeline program has provided discounted phone service to low-income subscribers for 28 years, but with recent increases in the cost of the program, lawmakers on the Hill are taking a closer look at it.  Read More…

Senators Move to Stop Flight Tower Closures

This summer the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is set to close 149 air traffic control towers, but a bipartisan group of 18 Senators are looking to stop the closures with the Protect Our Skies Act. Read More…

Studying Bike Crashes Can Help to Minimize Them

A recent article in The Atlantic Cities highlights a new study conducted by the City of Minneapolis.  The study was a “comprehensive crash analysis” of bikes.  It looked through approximately 3,000 bike accidents involving cars between the years 2000 and 2010.  The three main factors that led to bike crashes were lack of infrastructure, driver awareness, and rider behavior. Bicyclists played a role in 59 percent of recorded bike and car collisions.  Bicyclists were most likely to fail to yield and disregard a traffic signal.  Drivers contributed to 64 percent of accidents.  (The numbers add to a number greater than a hundred percent because there are accidents where both the driver and the bicyclist are at fault.)  Drivers were most likely to fail to yield or to be distracted while driving.

These accidents show that there is a need to improve bicycling infrastructure in cities.  Dedicated bike lanes can lower bike related injuries by half.  Even more impressive is that protected bike lanes (bike lanes that are physically separated by a divider from the street) can lower injury risks by 90 percent.  Minneapolis intends to improve its bicycle infrastructure.  It plans to add 183 miles of bikeway soon and to bring all of the city’s residents within a half mile of a bike lane by 2020.  Adding bicycle infrastructure has another benefit—it makes bicycling safer by encouraging more riders.  From 2000 to 2010, though the number of trips on bicycles increased, the number of accidents stayed constant.  Proper urban bicycle infrastructure can make all the difference in the safety of a city’s bicyclists.