Safety
Automobile crashes caused 37,261 fatalities nationwide in 2008 and each year some 3 million Americans suffer injuries as a result of collisions. Traffic deaths and injuries dramatically impact society, with $300 billion annually in costs that encompass medical, emergency, and police services; property damage; and lost productivity. While much progress has been made, much remains to be done.
Who Is Affected?
- 102 people die on America’s roadways every day.
- Highway fatalities are the largest single cause of death for children under the age of 14 in the United States.
- Other nations have achieved far better highway fatality reductions than the U.S.
- In 2006, Congress significantly increased funding for safety programs, created a new highway safety improvement program, and required all states to develop a fact-based strategic highway safety plan.
AASHTO’s Solutions
AASHTO calls for an even more aggressive highway safety program that would reduce fatalities on our nation’s roads by half within the next two decades.
AASHTO is asking Congress and each state to formally adopt that reduction goal.
AASHTO is also proposing other significant actions, including:
- A National Summit on Highway Safety;
- A joint AASHTO-Governors Highway Safety Association Safety Center of Excellence;
- Increased funding for all safety programs;
- More flexibility for states to apply resources to the most pressing needs as identified in their respective strategic highway safety plans;
- Continued funding for the High Risk Rural Road Program;
- Updates for the Safe Routes to School Program so that it focuses more on pedestrian safety and also each state’s strategic highway safety plan;
- The continued development and implementation of state-based strategic highway safety plans, to be updated at least once during the authorization cycle;
- A nationwide effort undertaken by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop model statutes and best practices to bring fatalities down;
- Funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the final phase of the National Driver Register; and
- Federal incentives and regulatory and research initiatives made available to expedite the introduction of safety improvements in vehicles.
Information and Resources
Safety – Reducing Highway Fatalities by Half
On a Crash Course: The Dangers and Health Costs of Deficient Roadways
Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety
Highway Safety Strategic Safety Plan
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
