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Julia Kite-LaidlawNext month, I’ll be in Leeds, England, for Road Safety on Five Continents. You know a conference is going to be good when you’re genuinely having trouble deciding which sessions to attend because they all seem unmissable. I’m looking forward to learning more about the implementation of the Safe System Approach in other countries and how road safety strategies are being evaluated. There will also be a session on the E-Survey of Road Users’ Attitudes (ESRA), which should illuminate how people in 68 countries feel about different transport modes, traffic behaviors and policy measures.
I took a peek at the results of the latest ESRA and was surprised to see that pedestrians in the United States report feeling safer on the road than those in Sweden – the country road safety practitioners all look to as a model for safety! Objectively, Swedish pedestrians have a lot less to fear than their American counterparts. As the birthplace of Vision Zero, it has one of the lowest pedestrian death rates in the world at 2.6 per million inhabitants. Contrast that with the shocking 23.3 pedestrian deaths per million here in the United States. But when I was a young researcher in the UK – where, incidentally, I spent some time on assignment in Leeds – my boss was fond of reminding us that perceptions weigh far more heavily than facts in people’s minds.
So what’s at the root of this perception? It's a mystery to me why American pedestrians feel so safe on the roads when our statistics show us we’re in greater danger than our peers in other countries. It could be that we’ve simply normalized our situation and convinced ourselves things are good enough. After all, if you’re used to close calls with aggressive drivers in the crosswalk, you might dismiss this as “just the way things are” and consider yourself fine because you haven’t been hit yet. That’s largely how I felt before I got involved in street safety advocacy. If you live somewhere where walking isn’t a practical option or a daily necessity, you may only do it in the limited number of places where it really does feel safe. Perhaps drivers on a main road are speeding dangerously, but because you’ve decided there is no way you’re going to cross it on foot, then it doesn’t factor into your experience of being a pedestrian when you answer the survey questions. If the main places where you walk are those that are specifically geared for pedestrians, then your view will be more positive than that of someone who regularly encounters a lack of sidewalks or safe crossings.
But what is it about the American experience, specifically? It’s true that historically we have tended to show more optimism than our European counterparts, even when objective measures aren’t rosy. Or perhaps it’s our tendency to be afraid of the wrong things. Plane crashes understandably command headlines for days, and they shock us with the tragedy of so many lives lost in one event. But when you consider over 40,000 people were killed on American roads in 2024, that’s the equivalent of a 747 crashing every few days. If, in fact, we were seeing domestic plane crashes happening that frequently, I’d like to think that rather than becoming inured to them and shrugging that it’s just the way it is, we’d see the public demanding serious change at every level of power. I’m grateful to all of you as members of Road to Zero for keeping road safety in mind and refusing to normalize preventable deaths.
Of course, there are multiple reasons why the United States lags so far behind Sweden and other developed countries on measures of road safety. One of them, the larger size and heavier weight of our vehicles, is the focus of my session at RS5C. Don’t forget, our Road to Zero report on the topic, Massive Hazards, is available at our website, nsc.org/roadtozero.
Best,
Julia Kite-Laidlaw
Senior Program Manager
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation confirmed the nomination of Jonathan Morrison as administrator of NHTSA by a vote of 16-12. The full Senate will vote on whether to approve the nomination later this year.
From Aug. 15 through Sept. 1, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s NHTSA will be working alongside local law enforcement for the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over high-visibility enforcement campaign. The goal is to deter impaired driving and prevent the tragedies seen during previous Labor Day weekends. This year’s Drive Sober campaign also includes two additional messages: Drive High, Get a DUI, and Ride Sober or Get Pulled Over.
During the 2023 Labor Day holiday (6 p.m. Sept. 1 to 5:59 a.m. Sept. 5), there were 511 traffic crash fatalities nationwide. Of these 511 fatalities, 36% (185) involved a drunk driver. Sixty-eight percent of the impaired drivers killed had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .15 or higher. Among drivers between the ages of 18 and 34 who were killed in crashes over the Labor Day holiday in 2023, 45% of those drivers were drunk, with BACs of .08 or higher.
For NHTSA resources to communicate the consequences of drunk driving this Labor Day weekend, visit August/Labor Day | Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over | Traffic Safety Marketing.
The Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities for the First Quarter of 2025 is now available. This data shows a decrease of about 6.3% compared to the first quarter of 2024, and marks the 12th consecutive quarterly decline in fatalities.
For highly detailed data on different types of crashes and fatalities, you can now access the Traffic Safety Facts 2023 Annual Report.
NHTSA has also released 15 new fact sheets with 2023 data on different modes of transportation, as well as topics such as speeding, alcohol impairment and young drivers. You can find them on NHTSA’s publications database.
On Sept. 3, join NSC for Occupant Protection: Research, Innovation and Next Steps to Advance Safety. Panelists from the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center, Injury Biomechanics Research Center at Ohio State University, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and National Safety Council will hold an engaging session on the importance and benefits of motor vehicle crash testing, education and innovation — all focused on enhancing safety for every occupant. We’ll also highlight exciting new resources and upcoming programs designed to support and advance safety for everyone inside motor vehicles.
Join America Walks, the Pueblo of Jemez, Cherokee Nation, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and the University of Montana on Thursday, Aug. 28, for a webinar that will present tribes and other communities with a step-by-step process for planning, designing and implementing quick-build traffic calming projects. This project was funded by a 2024 Road to Zero Community Traffic Safety Grant. Project team members will discuss the details involved in designing and implementing these “hands-on” public events, and present the evaluation results and lessons learned. Plans to establish a national coalition focused on preventing traffic deaths and injuries in Indian Country will also be announced.
It’s your chance to see the results of six innovative projects funded by the 2024-2025 Road to Zero Community Traffic Safety Grant program.
Information about applications for the next round of grants will be available this autumn.
U.S. Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA) has introduced the AMERICA DRIVES Act, which would establish a national framework for autonomous trucking. The bill aims to establish national safety and performance standards for commercial automated driving systems (ADS), and define the roles and responsibilities of federal and state governments. You can read the full text of the bill here.
Commercial truck drivers who fail a hair test for illegal drug use would be disqualified, in new legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR), vice chairman of the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. H.R. 4320, known as the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Public Safety Improvement Act (DAC Safety Act), requires employers with actual knowledge of a driver’s positive hair drug test to report that information to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. FMCSA already recognizes ways, other than the required urine test, that an employer has “actual knowledge” of a driver’s drug use. These include a DUI ticket or a driver’s admission of use. This bill will add a positive hair drug test to the list. Drivers will be immediately removed from performing safety-sensitive functions, such as operating a commercial vehicle, until successful completion of a return-to-duty process. Full text of the bill can be found here.
How did Canada reach a per-capita roadway fatality rate less than half of that of the United States? How has our northern neighbor managed to sustain decreases in deaths? A partnership between the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Canada’s Traffic Injury Research Foundation found that laws against mobile phone use while driving, stricter seat belt and impaired driving laws, and widespread use of automated enforcement have all played a role. Read the report here. Don’t miss IIHS 30x30 strategy for reducing U.S. road fatalities 30% by 2030.
The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services and Together for Safer Roads will hold the annual Vision Zero Fleet Safety Forum Oct. 8 at the Queens Theatre. Come hear from leading stakeholders about the latest in road, vehicle and fleet operations safety. This is a free event. Get more information and RSVP.
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