The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced its goal of ending traffic deaths on U.S. roads within the next 30 years. Called the Road to Zero Coalition, the ambitious campaign will be spearheaded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and National Safety Council. The government agencies will work together to reduce traffic deaths toward the ultimate goal of zero by 2046.
“Our vision is simple – zero fatalities on our roads,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, in a release. “We know that setting the bar for safety to the highest possible standard requires commitment from everyone to think differently about safety – from drivers to industry, safety organizations, and government at all levels.”
NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind echoed those sentiments, saying, “Every single death on our roadways is a tragedy. We can prevent them. Our drive toward zero deaths is more than just a worthy goal. It is the only acceptable goal.”
In 2015, the U.S. recorded the largest increase in traffic deaths since 1966, and the DOT’s preliminary estimates for the first half of 2016 suggest this year will see even more fatalities. To combat this, the coalition says it will initially focus on improving seat belt use, installing more rumble strips, promoting truck safety, launching behavior change campaigns, and using data to enforce changes. DOT must have faith that the other agencies are already equipped well enough to take on this task, as it’s only committing $1 million a year for the next three years toward grants for safety programs.
Of course, much of the change is expected to happen on its own with the advent of autonomous cars. Volvo has pledged there will be zero injuries or deaths in its cars by 2020, and says it would accept full liability if an autonomous Volvo were to crash. In Los Angeles, Calif., Mayor Eric Garcetti has committed to ending traffic deaths in the city by 2025 – a full 20 years before the feds’ deadline. Sweden was the first to set the goal of zero traffic deaths in 1997. Many automakers, including Volvo, Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota, Ford, GM, BMW, FCA, and others, are targeting the next decade for their autonomous car launches. Late last month, U.S. regulators released the first set of self-driving car guidelines, which are designed to speed up development and implementation of autonomous technologies.
“With the rapid introduction of automated vehicles and advanced technologies, the Department believes it is now increasingly likely that the vision of zero road deaths and serious injuries can be achieved in the next 30 years,” DOT said in a release. “The Road to Zero Coalition will work to accelerate the achievement of that vision through concurrent efforts that focus on overall system design, addressing infrastructure design, vehicle technology, enforcement, and behavior safety. An important principle of the effort will be to find ways to ensure that inevitable human mistakes do not result in fatalities.”
Source: Department of Transportation
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