Building safe roads: Secretary Mineta's goal of reducing the Nation's highway death toll to 1.0 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled by 2008 will be a challenge

Public Roads, May-June, 2004 by John R. Baxter

Safety is a fundamental building block for designing and constructing any highway project. It is the basis for the engineering analysis and standards that transportation agencies apply to the road network. Yet despite the advances that transportation professionals have made to incorporate a safety philosophy into everything they do, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Administrator Mary E. Peters says the annual toll of fatalities and serious injuries on the Nation's roadways remains too great.

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The highway community has several technologies that are available today that can help agencies increase safety, including pavement innovations, rumble stripes, retro-reflective materials, intersection countermeasures, and others. International scans and other industry programs also may hold a key to increasing safety.

A National Safety Focus

Although safety has always been an important goal of the highway industry, the "bottom line" outcomes, measured in terms of fatalities and serious injuries, has prompted a renewed emphasis on the safety issue. The case for a renewed national focus on safety was presented by FHWA Administrator Peters in the January/February 2004 issue of PUBLIC ROADS, a special edition devoted entirely to highway safety. Administrator Peters noted that the more than 41,000 fatalities and 3 million injuries each year "points to a national safety crisis, indicating a need for us [the transportation community] to do more to improve highway safety, both personally and professionally."

On July 16, 2003, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Norman Y. Mineta, announced the official fatality toll for 2002 during an "all-hands" meeting with FHWA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The number of fatalities had risen to 42,815--the most since 1990. Secretary Mineta used this occasion to announce to USDOT modal administrators and the public that this toll is unacceptable. He issued a "call to general quarters," declaring the Nation's safety crisis. Subsequently, Secretary Mineta characterized the highway safety crisis by relating it to air travel: "If we had that many people die in aviation accidents, we wouldn't have an airplane flying. People won't put up with it. They ought not to put up with 43,000 uncles, aunts, mothers, dads, brothers, and friends whose lives are snuffed out by traffic accidents."

The Secretary's challenge came at a time when traffic deaths are being viewed more widely as a major public health issue in the United States and internationally. The World Health Organization notes that road crash injuries will become the third-leading cause of deaths worldwide by 2020, up from ninth today. Indeed, automobile-related crashes were the main subject of World Health Day on April 7, 2004, supplanting diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria. Many European countries already address highway fatalities as a public health issue, as reflected in stricter laws for seatbelt usage and impaired driving, tougher adjudication of violations, and more extensive education for young adults before they attain full licensing.

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With the Secretary's challenge to reduce the Nation's highway death toll came a new goal--to decrease the fatality rate, currently at 1.5 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, to 1.0 by 2008. Achievement of that vision will result in more than 9,000 fewer deaths per year. Success also will reestablish the United States as a global leader in highway safety, a role the Nation relinquished over the past three decades as countries such as Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Australia, and others have attained lower fatality rates. Overall, the United States ranks ninth among industrialized Nations. The 1.0 goal by 2008 is aggressive--and achievable only if agencies at the Federal, State, and local levels, and industry associations and interest groups, work together in partnership. Three major associations representing State government have pledged their support: the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), representing State departments of transportation (DOTs); the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), representing State public safety officials; and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), representing State licensing officials. Momentum is building among key partners to address this national issue.

Safety Strategies and FHWA's Vital Few Focus Areas

To achieve the Secretary's vision, a three-pronged approach is needed. First, increasing seatbelt usage to 90 percent nationally is expected to provide a significant reduction of fatalities toward achieving the 1.0 goal by 2008. This past year, NHTSA celebrated a significant achievement on the way to reaching 90 percent national seatbelt usage. Belt usage for 2003 increased to 79 percent, the highest level ever, through NHTSA's Click It or Ticket campaign.