Friday, April 21, 2023
Invites All to Take the Pledge and Help Stop Roadway Fatalities
WASHINGTON –The U.S. Department of Transportation today announced over 30 new commitments from organizations that are supporting the Department’s National Roadway Safety Strategy and taking action to reverse the crisis that is killing more than 40,000 people on American roads each year. This brings the total number of Allies in Action to over 80.
This announcement follows news earlier this week that the dramatic increase in roadway fatalities seen during the pandemic has begun to level out but remains far too high with an estimated 42,795 people dying in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2022. This represents a small decrease of about 0.3% as compared to the 42,939 fatalities reported for 2021.
DOT’s Allies in Action have committed to taking specific, tangible steps to actively reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on America’s roads and streets, expand the adoption of a Safe System Approach and a Zero Fatalities vision across the nation, and transform how we as a nation think about road safety. Allies in Action span multiple sectors and include health and safety advocates, the private sector, municipal and law enforcement organizations, and more.
See the full list and watch a message from U.S. Transportation Secretary Buttigieg here.
New voluntary commitments from “Allies in Action” include:
- DoorDash is helping Dashers stay safe and focused on the road through their SafeDash and occupational accident insurance. DoorDash is also launching a new set of safety initiatives to further help Dashers stay safe and focused on the road including reduced in-app notifications while driving, piloting advanced telematics to help Dashers learn from their own driving behaviors, and by encouraging customers to not reach out to Dashers via the app when the Dasher is driving.
- ITS America is creating a metrics-driven implementation plan to support V2X deployment. This plan, which will be released in April 2023, details objectives for public and private sector deployers to achieve in 2023 or by 2026, including identifying appropriate deployment metrics. ITSA is also developing messaging on how V2X enhances safety for all road users and messaging to make the technology easier to understand. ITSA is working with industry partners to host quarterly forums on automation. =. ITSA members and partners are working on a freight automation roadmap paper, set to be released in Summer 2023. Lastly, ITSA’s Digital Infrastructure Working Group will publish a strategy and roadmap in Summer 2023 on how digital infrastructure investments support safety, among other goals, including common use cases that are critical to advancing vision zero goals.
- The City of Houston – In 2023, the City of Houston will update their citywide High Injury Network dashboard based on 2019-2022 data as well as create a public-facing dashboard with Vision Zero metrics that will be updated on a quarterly basis. The city will also shift their citywide traffic impact analysis standards from Vehicle Level of Service towards Multimodal Service Standards, initiate two safety projects funded by President’s Bidens’s infrastructure law including the Telephone Road: Main Street Revitalization Project and the Bissonnet Corridor Safe Streets Project, and prepare a citywide freight network. Finally, Houston will participate in Houston Public Library’s Summer Camp program to introduce 100 grade 3-12 students to Vision Zero concepts, and they will collaborate with AAA to host a Distracted Drivers Awareness event.
- American Motorcyclist Association – AMA will work with State and local partners to encourage innovative approaches to motorcyclist safety and to ensure motorcyclists are included in zero road fatality programs. AMA will advocate for local road authorities to make use of the publications produced by FHWA based on the recommendations of the Motorcyclist Advisory Council, which describe safer barrier design, roadway design, construction, and maintenance practices as well as how to include motorcyclists in the architecture and implementation of intelligent transportation systems. AMA will partner with research organizations to advanced crash avoidance technologies for motor vehicles consistently detect and safely interact with motorcyclists on the road.
- Families for Safer Streets – In 2023, FSS will create a detailed manual for national FSS Chapters and for use by individualss to educate decision makers in their communities. They will also create an online post-crash resource guide to help crash victims navigate through the maze of police, insurance, and district attorneys, among other complex post-crash logistics as well as short training videos for FSS members to use when elevating the voices of those personally impacted.
- Transit Agencies – Nine transit agencies are committing to action, including increased pedestrian safety and visibility around transit stops through strategies like traffic calming, bus passenger boarding islands, raised crosswalks, and shifting transit stops to after intersections. Actions also include investing in equitable Transit Oriented Development (eTOD) projects and installing GPS on non-revenue vehicles to collect data on risky driving behaviors that is used to inform training. The nine transit agencies include: Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit); Baltimore Regional Transportation Board (BRTB); Chicago Transit Authority (CTA); City of Phoenix Public Transit Department; Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD); Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro); Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Houston METRO); San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)
- And many more stakeholder commitments that you can view here.
Share your organization’s commitment to action here. The Department is planning a convening of those who have joined the call to action in the early summer to discuss opportunities to advance the goals of the NRSS, share best practices, and catalyze efforts across the various engaged sectors.
The Department launched the National Roadway Safety Strategy in January 2022 in response to the fact that after decades of steady declines, traffic deaths began rising again in 2010 and then surged during the early days of the pandemic in 2020. The NRSS outlines a concrete set of actions the Department has committed to, and adopts the five-pronged approach that includes Safer People, Safer Vehicles, Safer Speeds, Safer Roads, and Better Post-Crash Care, all to work towards a goal of zero fatalities. The Department won’t achieve zero deaths on our roadways alone, which is why involving stakeholders across the country, at every level of government, philanthropy, advocacy and the private sector, is key.
The Department also announced recently that more than $1 billion is now available from the new Safe Streets and Roads for All discretionary grant program, funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These competitive grants will help cities, counties, Tribes and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) create safety plans, demonstrate effective strategies, and carry out infrastructure projects that prevent deaths and serious injuries on our nation’s roadways, from putting in high-visibility y crosswalks to redesigning intersections and much more
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