WASHINGTON — Facing a surge in traffic fatalities, the Department of Transportation on Thursday will reveal a new roadway safety strategy to be paid for in part by the bipartisan infrastructure law.
Though the department has long identified safety as its “North Star,” the 42-page plan to be released by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, is described as a “paradigm shift” by one DOT official.
It comes after a sobering statistic: Even though far fewer drivers were on the road in 2020, traffic fatalities spiked, with some 38,680 dying in motor vehicle crashes that year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It was the highest number since 2007 and a 7.2 percent increase over the 2019 level of 36,096 fatalities.
