The U.S. Department of Transportation has a goal for the number of road fatalities in this country.
Zero.
On Thursday, the department was expected to unveil its vision for getting as close to that number as possible, an effort it's calling the National Roadway Safety Strategy, which will push everything from new technology to prevent crashes to road designs that lower speeds. It will also use almost $14 billion from the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed last year to help make it happen.
It's a vision that road safety advocates are likely to cheer.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a report laying out the strategy that it will take a concerted effort, not just by the department but by all stakeholders, at a time when fatalities are on the rise. Road deaths hit 38,680 in 2020 and were on track to rise even higher in 2021 based on data from the first six months of the year, according to the report. Deaths among all road users have been on the rise over the last decade, but deaths of pedestrians and bicyclists have risen even faster.
More than 354,000 of the 370,000 people who died in U.S. transportation incidents from 2011 to 2020 died on U.S. roads, the report said, noting that a host of factors, from alcohol use to distraction, play a role in the numbers.
"Americans deserve to travel safely in their communities. Humans make mistakes, and as good stewards of the transportation system, we should have in place the safeguards to prevent those mistakes from being fatal. Zero is the only acceptable number of deaths and serious injuries on our roadways," Buttigieg said in the report.
He called the status quo unacceptable and preventable.
Buttigieg described the core of the strategy as a "safe system approach" focused on five objectives — safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds and post-crash care. The approach acknowledges human mistakes and human vulnerability, according to the report, which lists various actions that the department plans to take under each of the objectives.
Under safer vehicles, for instance, the federal New Car Assessment Program would emphasize safety features for people inside and outside vehicles and may include consideration of pedestrian protection systems as well as paving the way for regulations to require automatic emergency braking, which is currently covered by a voluntary agreement between automakers and the government that has been criticized as toothless by some safety advocates.
New regulations would also be pursued for Monroney stickers, which are the informational labels posted on the windows of new vehicles, so that they include crash avoidance information. Manufacturers would also have to provide notification of crashes involving automated driving systems.
"The Roadway Safety Action Plan is designed to focus all of USDOT's resources, authorities and incredible expertise, working with our stakeholders, to combat the tragic number of fatalities and serious injuries we see on U.S. roadways — from our largest cities and towns, to rural and tribal communities all across the country," Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg said in a news release.
