Acting Federal Highway Administrator Jim Ray issued a "call to arms" on highway safety July 24, urging state Departments of Transportation to adopt more coordinated, systemwide approaches to reduce crashes.
"Safety is our top priority and, while the fatality rate on our nation's roads is the lowest in history, we are always seeking new ways to prevent tragedies where lives are lost," said Ray, the nation's top highway official. "We owe it to the traveling public to work even more creatively." Each year, nearly 43,000 people–motorists, passengers and pedestrians–die on America's roads. Though the fatality rate–1.41 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled–is the lowest in the nation's history, the number of fatalities has hovered at about the same point for nearly five years.
FHWA safety officials met with transportation officials and safety experts July 24 in an online conference–a "webinar"–as part of a new effort to improve roadway safety nationally. In it, the agency strongly recommended better use of nine tools that are key to reducing roadway fatalities each year:
To review the FHWA's new policy, please visit Guidance Memorandum.