ITS America Calls on the FCC to Put Safety First in the 5.9 GHz Spectrum Band
ITS America has announced that it filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in ET Docket No. 13-49, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking stating that any sharing the 5.9 GHz (DSRC) Band with unlicensed devices should be permitted only if it can be shown that such sharing will not interfere with DSRC's ability to protect and save lives.
The comments state: "In developing the rules for U-NII use of the 5.9 GHz Band, we believe the Commission… should proceed cautiously to avoid the unintended regulatory consequences of setting back what has become a substantial effort to advance transportation safety, sustainability and mobility."
In 1997, ITS America petitioned the FCC to allocate the 5.9 GHz Band to DSRC and in 1999 the agency approved this request bringing the tremendous safety benefits of intelligent transportation systems ("ITS") to the American public. Since that time major advancements have been made in Vehicle-to-Vehicle ("V2V"), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure ("V2I") and Vehicle-to-Pedestrian ("V2P") technologies.
Intelligent transportation technologies help improve road safety while significantly reducing the billions in annual economic costs associated with vehicle crashes. Deaths from crashes currently stand at over 35,000 in 2015 alone. These technologies will help improve the safety of the roads by reducing deaths and injuries, significantly reducing the $300 billion per year in economic costs associated with vehicle crashes. More than a billion dollars have been spent over the last five years deploying or preparing to deploy DSRC.
"Intelligent transportation systems are transforming safety and creating a more sustainable, integrated mobility transportation environment," said Regina Hopper, president and CEO of ITS America. "Substanial research and critical testing has been conducted in reliance on the 5.9 GHz band which prove that time-critical communications of these safety systems must be able to operate without delay or interference."
ITS America also filed separate comments in conjunction with the Global Automakers and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
