"America Builds: A Review of Programs to Address Roadway Safety"

House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit

2025-02-12

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Source: Congress.gov

Summary

The Subcommittee on Highways and Transit conducted a hearing on addressing the nation's growing highway safety crisis, with nearly 41,000 traffic fatalities in 2023. Witnesses highlighted declining traffic enforcement, especially in rural areas, and the disproportionate impact on underserved communities. Key issues discussed include the need for more flexible funding, improved work zone safety, and policies like complete streets and school bus safety. The hearing emphasized that proven safety technologies, such as automatic emergency braking and roundabouts, should be expanded, and that rural and tribal road safety requires targeted investment. Ultimately, the committee underscored the urgency of prioritizing safety in future transportation reauthorizations and called for evidence-based, data-driven solutions to reduce preventable deaths on American roads.

Participants

Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

The Subcommittee on Highways and Transit will come to order. Welcome, everyone. I ask unanimous consent the Chairman be authorized to declare a recess at any time during today's hearing. Without objection, so ordered.

Also, I ask unanimous consent members not on the Subcommittee be permitted to sit with the Subcommittee at today's hearing and ask questions. Without objection, so ordered. As a reminder, if members wish to insert a document into the record, please also email it to documentsti at mail.house.gov. Again, that's documentsti at mail.house.gov. I now recognize myself for the purposes of an opening statement for five minutes. Today's hearing continues the subcommittee's efforts to improve highway safety through policy and program reviews within the Department of Transportation, as we work towards reauthorizing our nation's surface transportation programs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA for short, estimates nearly 41,000 people died in motor vehicle related crashes in 2023. While this was a 3.6% decline from 2022, fatalities are still up compared to the last decade. Driver behavior has changed considerably since 2020. After pandemic era closures began in March of 2020, driving trips dropped by 60% and speeding risk increased by 64%. These risks have only increased as traffic enforcement declined after police officers were discouraged from quote, non-essential contact and radical political movements called for the defunding of police across the country. This came to a head in 2021 when traffic fatalities jumped more than 10%, the highest number of fatalities since 2005, and the largest percentage increase since 1975. Today, car travel has returned to normal, but traffic enforcement has not. According to a New York Times report, traffic stops have declined by as much as 91% in cities since 2020. Again, 91% in cities since 2020.

Underfunded and understaffed police forces mean there are no real consequences for drivers' illegal actions, and it has only paved the way, pardon the pun there, for drivers to speed, drive while impaired, and make reckless decisions endangering others on the road. We have also seen the increase in traffic fatalities disproportionately affect our rural communities. In 2020 too, NHTSA found 40% of all traffic fatalities occurred in rural areas on non-interstate roads, despite the fact that only 20% of the population resides in these rural areas. Fatality rates remain one and a half times higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Our rural roads often have narrower lanes, limited shoulders, exposed hazards, and limited clear zones. And drivers tend to be riskier when there is less traffic and fewer traffic patterns that require slower speeds. 68% of our public roads are in rural areas and 77% of all roadways are maintained by local governments. The backlog for rural road and bridge maintenance was more than 180 billion in 2022. States and local governments need flexibility to implement programs that address the shortfalls in our rural communities. States also need reliable, consistent programming, such as the Highway Safety Improvement Program, which addresses maintenance backlogs and ensures roads meet safety standards. Our current and future road design standards can help drive down fatalities across our communities. Pavement and guardrail standards should adapt to new vehicle technology such as electric vehicles, which weigh more than traditional vehicles. We should consider if updates to the design standards for guardrails are necessary to absorb the heavier weight and help prevent these heavier vehicles from crossing the median into oncoming traffic. We also need to continue to address work zone safety.

Reckless driving puts our roadside workers at greater risk of injury or death. According to the Association of General Contractors, 64% of contractors reported a motor vehicle had crashed into their work zone since 2020. Now this number is simply unacceptable. Again, enforcement can discourage reckless driving in work zones, but we can also look at ways to better design work zones and related traffic patterns to curtail these incidents.

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