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Transportation Safety Needs
Our nation suffers over 43,000 fatalities each year with over 3 million more sustaining disabling injuries due to roadway crashes. Despite the efforts of transportation agencies to improve facility and vehicle safety and the efforts of safety organizations and law enforcement to improve driver behavior, the absolute number of fatalities and fatality rates continue to climb. The cost to the nation in needless death and injury is so great, we believe the time has come to try to focus national attention on this issue by convening a Presidential Commission.
Recommendation
Establish a Presidential Commission to assist in the development of a national strategic highway safety plan designed to drive down fatal and disabling injuries on the nation’s highways. Emphasis should be placed upon increased awareness of the seriousness of the problem among national leadership, and a multi-cabinet and multi-agency commitment to action.
Increase Safety Funding and Continue Planning Requirement
SAFETEA-LU increased funding for highways by over 30 percent compared to TEA-21. Within the overall funding increases provided by the legislation, the amounts dedicated to safety-related programs nearly doubled. However, the amounts dedicated specifically to earmarked projects more than doubled. Due in part to the large growth in funding for these earmarked projects, funding for core programs will grow by very modest amounts. Despite the requirement for states to develop data-driven strategic highway safety plans, limitations on funding still exist that may preclude states from addressing the safety needs identified in the plans. Funding should be flexible enough to address strategies on the priorities as identified in the states’ plans, even if they are not on the state’s system.
Recommendation
Along with other highway core programs, increase the funding of the FHWA, NHTSA, and FMCSA highway safety funding programs, broaden their eligibility and flexibility, and simplify and consolidate the grant application processes, especially for the NHTSA grant programs.
Continue the requirement that states have a comprehensive strategic highway safety plan consistent with their long-range transportation planning and short-range programming processes.
Coordination with Law Enforcement and Adjudication
Local and state law enforcement agencies are a critical component in reducing fatalities. They experience many challenges in their daily activities that can have an impact on highway safety, from critical law enforcement (work zones, speed enforcement, red light running, and aggressive driving) to exposure when having someone pulled over. They also play a key role in compiling good crash data.
In many courts, traffic penalties are commonly reduced, thus minimizing their deterrent effect. The involvement of law enforcement agencies and the judiciary in the development and implementation of traffic safety plans should be encouraged.
Recommendation
Establish an interagency coordinating committee to recommend model statutes and best practices to the Congress and the States on ways to drive down fatalities through education, more effective state and local laws, and through rigorous enforcement and adjudication of those laws. The U.S. Department of Justice would lead this effort in partnership with NHTSA, FHWA, and FMCSA.
