This week the USDOT released an updated National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS), replacing the 2022 Biden-era strategy. The update narrows the five objectives of that earlier strategy down to three objectives: Safer People, Safer Roads, and Safer Vehicles, striking the earlier focus on safer speeds altogether, and integrating the prior objective of Post-Crash Care into the Safer Roads category, while removing the original safer roads focus on road designs to protect vulnerable road users.

In addition to downscoping the focus areas, the new NRSS identifies a smaller number of agency actions to address safety—whereas in 2022 the agency identified 29 actions and increased that to 43 in their 2023 update, the new NRSS identifies 15 actions. Of those actions, Secretary Duffy’s NRSS has a much lighter focus on either grantmaking or regulatory activity compared to the Biden era strategies. Only two actions direct use of federal grants to address safety: the NRSS directs the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program to support implementation of 911 call taking protocols and prehospital blood transfusion capabilities, and directs general DOT funding programs to expand truck parking. In contrast five of the 2022 actions and two of the additional 2023 actions focused on addressing safety through grant funding.

The difference is even larger on regulatory actions. In 2022 and 2023, there were 13 total actions to consider, finalize or implement regulations. In comparison in 2026 only two actions address regulations and both refer to eliminating requirements  and “stripping away vestigial, design-forcing rules”.

With regard to content, the new strategy makes significant changes in the way it discusses road designs and speeds, particularly with regard to bicyclists and pedestrians. The 2022 strategy focused on both speeding and the effect on vulnerable road users, noting that “in 2019, 78 percent of the vehicles involved in fatal pedestrian crashes were on a roadway with a speed limit greater than 30 miles per hour.” As a result, the prior strategy sought to promote road design that can help to make safer speeds “’self-enforcing’ … via lane width, intersection design, pedestrian and bicyclist infrastructure, and other features.”

In contrast, rather than seeking to slow down vehicles, the Secretary Duffy strategy prioritizes efficient vehicle through-put, noting that “a safe road is an efficient road and vice versa” and further that “a safe road moves people and goods efficiently and without delay.” Speeding is acknowledged in the new strategy as a factor responsible for one third of roadway fatalities, but none of the 15 actions specifically address speeding. Neither pedestrian nor bicycling infrastructure are discussed in the new strategy and the only mention of pedestrians is in reference to vehicle safety and crash prevention technology. Eighteen percent of all traffic fatalities in 2024 were pedestrians, however the fatalities occurred predominantly in urban areas (84%) versus rural areas (16%), and one of the key “Safer People” strategies of the new NRSS is to “Prioritize Rural and Tribal Communities.”

The new NRSS does continue to promote the use of the proven safety countermeasures, stating that the Department promotes the use of evidence-based engineering interventions and the application of proven roadway designs and countermeasures. However, while those proven safety countermeasures previously included both separated bicycle lanes and automated speed cameras, both evidence-based interventions have since been removed from the Department’s website.

In other road safety news, last month at a session of the UN General Assembly in New York, the U.S. became the sole country to vote against a Progress Declaration to cut global road traffic deaths in half by 2030. The resolution was technically a recommitment to a resolution adopted in 2015 by consensus, with U.S. support.

According to the World Health Organization global road traffic deaths have declined by 21 percent between 2011 and 2025, however traffic crashes still remain the leading cause of death among children and youth aged 5 to 29 years, and were responsible for more 1.1 million deaths last year. The U.S. is a dramatic outlier in our high roadway fatality numbers: over that period, U.S. roadway fatalities rose dramatically from just over 32 thousand individuals killed in 2011, to more than 43 thousand killed in 2021. Since then, fatality numbers have declined again though they remain roughly 12 percent higher than in 2011. Outside of the U.S. roadway fatalities are particularly a problem in lower income nations; the U.S. has a roadway fatality per capita rate that is roughly double that of peer nations in Europe.

The statement from Ambassador Dan Negrea was not posted online but has been transcribed below. He defends his vote by explaining that the resolution represents mandate creep for the UN and “attempts to globalize lobal governance and hitch domestic transportation budgets to the United Nation’s sprawling ideological agenda.” His statement also objects to the idea of integrating road safety into “climate, environmental, and urban policies” as well as the suggestion that countries share safety technology with developing nations. Mirroring the focus of the new National Roadway Safety Strategy, Ambassador Negrea states that “the United States will continue to reduce traffic fatalities through American ingenuity, robust local policing, information campaigns, medical assistance programs, institutional partnerships and state of the art infrastructure investment.”

Statement of Dan Negrea to the UN General Assembly 104^th Plenary Meeting, 80^th Session

July 20, 2026

“Under President Trump, the United States is asking the United Nations to return to its core purposes, maintaining international peace through measurable results not ideological statements. Resolutions must be concise and actionable. They should drive outcomes. The United States voted no on this resolution because it represents the very type of mandate creep that has eroded the credibility of this institution. Instead of focusing on common sense measures, this text attempts to globalize lobal governance and hitch domestic transportation budgets to the United Nation’s sprawling ideological agenda. Every nation wants safe streets and every parent wants their children protected when they walk to school. The United Nations (sic) has long been a global leader in automotive safety infrastructure innovation and rigorous traffic enforcement. Our nation saw its second lowest traffic fatality record in recorded history at 1.10 fatalities per one hundred million vehicle miles traveled. We value practical efforts to save lives. This declaration insists on integrating road safety into “climate environmental and urban policies.” It attempts to treat traffic management as a subset of the United Nation’s broader 2030 agenda for sustainable development.  Road safety is a practical matter of engineering, sober driving, and personal responsibility. It should not be used as a backdoor vehicle to enforce global climate pacts or top-down environmental restrictions on freedom of mobility. Additionally the text pushes for international vehicle safety regulations and a top-down deployment of advanced automation technologies.  It explicitly calls for the sharing “of new safety technologies on mutually agreed terms with developing countries.” The United States will always protect intellectual property rights and free market enterprise. Innovation is driven by American companies competing in the private sector not by globally managed technology transfer schemes or by international regulatory boards attempting to dictate international automotive design. The United States is taking a back to basics approach to road safety as seen in our domestic programs such as pathways to safer streets, Safe Roads Initiative, and Operation Safe Drive, which uses targeted countermeasures and enforcement to remove thousands of dangerous drivers from our roads. We believe member states should focus their efforts on such practical results-driven actions within their own borders rather than engaging in symbolic global gestures. The United States will continue to reduce traffic fatalities through American ingenuity, robust local policing, information campaigns, medical assistance programs, institutional partnerships and state of the art infrastructure investment. We do not need a multiyear UN roadmap, a new reporting mechanism to the World Health Organization or international oversight to keep our citizens safe on the road. We underscore that UN General Assembly resolutions are non-binding. They do not create rights or obligations under international law nor do they change the current state of conventional or customary international law.”