Road Safety Needs Urgent Action: NSC's Declaration on Lowering Traffic Deaths
The National Safety Council, along with other experts, is proposing a comprehensive strategy to reduce traffic fatalities in the United States. This approach encompasses education, enforcement, infrastructure improvements, focused safety initiatives, technology adoption, and substantial public investment.
Last year, nearly 45,000 lives were lost on American roads, according to the National Safety Council's data. However, in 2024, there was a marginal drop of less than 1%, with 44,680 people dying in preventable crashes. While this is a positive trend, advocates argue that more needs to be done to make our roadways safer.
Education and Enforcement
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is emphasizing the importance of educating Americans about dangerous driving behaviors such as speeding, distracted driving, and impaired driving. They are partnering with law enforcement nationwide to enforce traffic laws more rigorously to save lives.
Infrastructure Safety Investments
Experts and organizations like TRIP are encouraging substantial investment in roadway safety improvements. There is a focus on addressing a large backlog of safety upgrades—estimated at $146 billion—with cost-effective infrastructure changes expected to save tens of thousands of lives.
Targeting High-Risk Roadways
The Federal Highway Administration launched the SAFE ROADS initiative, specifically targeting non-freeway arterial roads, where more than half of U.S. traffic fatalities occur. This includes efforts to reduce distractions around intersections and crosswalks by removing political messages and artwork, simplifying roadway environments, and making roads safer for pedestrians, drivers, and automated vehicles.
Use of Automated Safety Technologies
Programs like Washington D.C.’s Vision Zero use automated camera safety systems combined with multiple safety interventions to substantially reduce fatalities and serious injuries, demonstrating the effectiveness of technology deployment alongside policy.
Centering Safety in Transportation Planning
State Departments of Transportation are prioritizing safety as a core element of all actions and investments, supported by federal surface transportation reauthorization to enable robust funding focused on reducing fatalities.
While the recent data shows a positive trend, advocates argue that the adoption of these technologies, combined with improved roadway design and stronger enforcement, could significantly reduce fatalities. The National Safety Council reported a difference of just 82 deaths compared to the previous year, highlighting the potential impact of these strategies.
The Safe System Approach, a strategy successful in reducing deaths in other nations, is being proposed for addressing the traffic safety issue in the U.S. This approach emphasizes five core areas: safer roads, safer speeds, safer vehicles, safer people, and improved post-crash care.
In conclusion, the multifaceted approach combines education, enforcement, infrastructure modernization, focused safety initiatives on particularly dangerous road types, technology adoption, and substantial public investment to continue the recent positive trends in reducing traffic deaths in the U.S. Without swift and decisive action, advocates warn, the nation's roads will remain as perilous as ever.
In the proposed strategy, the emphasis on education and enforcement involves the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) partnering with law enforcement to address dangerous driving behaviors such as speeding, distracted driving, and impaired driving, which are key factors in traffic fatalities within the general-news category.
The substantial investment in roadway safety improvements, as advocated by experts like TRIP, will not only focus on addressing the backlog of safety upgrades estimated at $146 billion but also aims to incorporate technology adoption in targeted areas, particularly transportation, to save thousands of lives and reduce accidents significantly in the future.
