On Wednesday, February 12, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit met for a hearing entitled, “America Builds: A Review of Programs to Address Roadway Safety.” The Subcommittee called on several witnesses to provide testimony on various roadway safety issues and provide insights into recommendations for ensuring the safety of roadways and all of its users.  

Witness List 

• Honorable James H. Willox, Commissioner, Converse County, Wyoming, on behalf of the National Association of Counties 
• Michael Hanson, Director, Office of Traffic Safety, Minnesota Department of Public Safety, on behalf of the Governor’s Highway Safety Association 
• Haley Norman, Co-owner, Direct Traffic Control Inc., on behalf of the American Traffic Safety Services Association 
• Cathy Chase, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety 

The Roadway Safety Problem 

Our interaction with the roadway is constant and common, whether we are driving, walking, or biking along it. Almost as constant and common as our daily use of the roadway are accidents and crashes. Subcommittee chair David Rouzer (R-NC) and Ranking member Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC) referenced the all-too-familiar statistic that almost 41,000 people died on U.S. roadways in 2023. A host of representatives and witnesses pointed to this statistic throughout the hearing. For the most part, there was a sense of deep concern for the well-being of the American public and frustration over inadequate infrastructure.  

The number of roadway deaths decreased from 43,000 in 2021 to 41,000 in 2023. This might seem like a positive metric, until this data is put into a larger context. Roadway deaths in 2021, 2022, and 2023 are still higher than those between 2010 and 2020.

Data source: USDOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Several voices in Wednesday’s hearing described the current landscape of roadway safety as a “public health crisis.” The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has a set of maps that visualize the road safety problem, showing fatality rates by county, concentrations of high fatalities, and cities with the highest and lowest rates of fatalities. These maps indicate the breadth of the problem, which affects both urban and rural places. Although, as subcommittee chair Rouzer pointed out, rural areas experience around 40 percent of roadway fatalities with only 20 percent of the population. 

While roadway fatalities are common everywhere, it is worth noting that there are communities and regions that disproportionately experience fatalities and injuries. During the hearing, Ms. Norman, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), and Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) flagged that American Indian and Tribal communities for example, are multiple times more likely to experience roadway fatalities than the average American. The USDOT notes that of the communities in the top 20% of fatalities, almost 60% of them face transportation disadvantages. Transportation disadvantage refers to a difficulty in using transportation due to physical or mental disability, income, or age.  

The data from USDOT and discussion during the hearing paint a dreadful picture. Unsafe road design, aging infrastructure, and careless driver behavior are all factors that contribute to the ongoing challenges of road safety. Yet, there are efforts at the federal, state, and local levels to address, reduce, and prevent roadway crashes. At the federal level, the Safe Streets and Roads for All program dedicates federal funding for improved street design, pedestrian and cyclist-friendly infrastructure, or to address speeding, among other uses. In her opening testimony and in response to several members, Norman discussed the Highway Safety Improvement Program as a valuable resource of federal dollars for making safety improvements to the nation’s highways.  

Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-OH) took some time to talk about the importance of railroad grade crossing safety and the value of the Railroad Grade Crossing Elimination grant program, which sets aside money to remove grade crossings and improve safety infrastructure at points of interaction between roads and railroad tracks. The intersection of roads and tracks creates more potential conflict points, and reducing interaction altogether is an important and proactive strategy that can prevent collisions and fatalities.  

Members of the subcommittee provided examples of state programs that are designed to target behavioral changes. Rep. Tony Wied (R-WI) discussed an opportunity in Wisconsin’s driver’s education in which teens take a 30-minute course on work-zone safety. Oklahoma was the first state to require that teens take a work-zone safety course within their driver’s education program, making it law in 2023. Road work-zones are the workplaces for the men and women who go out every day to improve our roadways. Members and witnesses made it clear that protecting work-zones ought to be a safety priority.  

Vulnerable Roadway Users  

A concern throughout the hearing was ensuring that roads are safe for all users. People driving cars are not the only users of the road. Pedestrians, cyclists, and people working in work-zones interact with the streetscape and can be characterized as “vulnerable roadway users.”  

It can be a dangerous business, walking or biking out on the street. Yet, walking is one of the basic forms of transportation. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, almost 28% all of trips in the United States were less than one mile in 2022 (this includes all modes of transportation). For many trips of that nature, walking may be a primary mode of transportation, and very often, pedestrians interact with a street on their journey. Of the almost 43,000 people killed on roadways in 2021, 1 in 6 were pedestrians (and that does not include cyclists and construction-zone workers). The term “vulnerable” is indeed appropriate. The hearing included discussions about strategies to protect vulnerable road users, including improving safety infrastructure and reducing driver speeds.  

Improving infrastructure includes a variety of options. Just as in the case of railroads and streets, the point of direct interaction between the pedestrian and the automobile is an environment susceptible to accidents: the crosswalk. Intersections without a crosswalk or mid-block crossings can be dangerous, especially when crossing an arterial road where the speed limit is high. According to the USDOT, 75% of fatal crashes involving a pedestrian occur at mid-block crossings. Arlington County, Virginia has made some efforts in strengthening the safety elements of mid-block and regular crossings. In 2017, the county installed 10 Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons in different areas. RRFBs are small rectangular yellow lights that flash when activated, usually by a pedestrian about to cross the street at a crosswalk. The county found that in the places with RRFBs, driver speeds decreased and rates of driver yielding increased.  

Tools and policies to reduce driver speeding were top of mind for members and witnesses, including improved street design. Changes in street design can include roundabouts, grade separated bike lanes, smaller travel lanes, and improved signage. West Palm Beach, Florida implemented several street improvement projects as part of their Vision Zero Plan (which is a national strategy to achieve zero roadway fatalities). The South Olive Ave, Cumberland Drive, and Okeechobee Blvd projects added protected bike lines, updated school zones, and reduced travel lanes from 11ft to 9.5 ft. The Cumberland Drive project included a roundabout with protected bike and pedestrian paths.  

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) inquired about speeding cameras and Chase explained that speeding cameras have proven to reduce crashes, and act as a supplement in traffic speeding enforcement. Speaking on enforcement, in response to Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN), Hanson discussed how when done correctly, traffic enforcement can be valuable in improving driver behavior.  

Safety Technologies 

Members and witnesses were generally supportive of leveraging technology as a tool to improve roadway safety. Responding to Rep. Holmes-Norton, Hanson discussed the benefit of using telematics, which involves the use of GPS, telecommunications, and vehicle technology to collect and track data. The use of telematics can provide data to manufacturers and policy makers on driver behavior and vehicle performance. For example, telematics can be used to track driver speeds and geographic areas where speeding is common. A city or county can use that information and overlay it with crash data to see the relationship between high speeding and crashes. Cities or counties can pinpoint areas that have higher speeding with high levels of crashes or fatalities and then make targeted decisions to improve the street design or install improve safety infrastructure (signage, flashing crosswalks, stop signs, roundabouts).  

Responding to Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA), Chase discussed Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) systems as a tool to prevent accidents and fatalities. An AEB system is a mechanism that automatically applies the brake to a moving vehicle if the system detects that the vehicle is close to a collision. Chase built upon the idea with the suggestion of pedestrian detection within the AEB system. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is working with industry partners to research pedestrian detection technologies and better understand pedestrian crash-scenarios. Not all in the hearing room were supportive of leveraging safety technology. Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) voiced his concern over the effectiveness of AEB systems, stating that a large truck suddenly breaking at speed is not helpful to any of the other drivers on the road.   

Interaction Between Levels of Government 

There are around 90,000 different governments in the United States, from the smallest school water district to the largest state governments. Each of them has a function and they interact, like when the federal government provides funding through a grant program that a state or county may use for a project. For the moment however, this article will focus on just the federal, state, and county governments (which is still over 3,000 governments). There is debate about how much interaction should exist and what role each of these levels of government has.  

The discussion in the T&I hearing room on Wednesday was about what role the federal government plays in supporting roadway safety and infrastructure. For some, the federal permitting process is an example of excessive federal regulations that hinder project delivery. In response to a question about streamlining the permitting process, Commissioner Willox expressed a valuable thought: a simplified permitting process would help rural communities, yet it should retain accountability. He added that the committee should trust local governments in the permitting process and make it easier for them.  

The witnesses spoke on the value of federal grant programs, which they noted as valuable in providing state and local governments with the necessary funding to implement safety projects. The value of federal investment in infrastructure across the country was not overshadowed during the hearing. Speaking on disaster relief efforts, Willox expressed the desire to get federal funding faster when it is needed, but that federal funding is incredibly important for disaster relief. The billions of dollars in funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) make the federal government a key player in infrastructure development. Yet, the states and counties also have a role, as many of the roadways are owned and maintained by states and counties. The federal government has dramatically increased investment in infrastructure, but county commissioners and state legislators are making decisions about important projects. Willox suggested that more flexibility in federal programs would be useful, saying that what works in Wyoming may not work in Texas.