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Motor Carrier and Highway Safety Action Plan

Rail-Highway Crossings Program and Hazard Elimination Program

State and Community Highway Safety Grants

Motor Carrier and Highway Safety Action Plan*

The action plan directs attention to those areas of greatest concern—poor drivers, unsafe carriers, substandard vehicles, and highway hazards. The plan does not identify all planned actions—only those deemed important to reducing crashes, injuries, and fatalities.

The action plan is organized in five broad chapters:

• Motor Carriers: The plan describes actions and technologies that will increase targeted enforcement of high-risk carriers with the objective of bringing them into compliance or putting them out of business. It also identifies how to use penalties more effectively to sustain compliance; how to issue more efficient and understandable regulations; and methods for reaching out to industry to improve voluntary compliance.
• Drivers and other Highway Users: The plan describes programs, technologies and research that will reduce pedestrian involvement and vehicular crashes, injuries, and fatalities linked to driver fatigue and behavior.
• Vehicles and Cargo: The plan describes actions and technologies that will improve the general safety-worthiness of vehicles through streamlined, targeted, roadside inspections and new regulations.
• Highway Construction: The plan describes actions and technologies to identify and reduce run-off-the-road crashes; reduce speed-related crashes; improve work zones; and promote better safety management.
• Border Crossings: The plan describes actions that will improve motor carrier safety related to border crossings.

Highway safety investment and oversight are a shared responsibility. Renewed attention has been focused on the need for better enforcement practices, regulations, and procedures; more effective application of new technologies; better data; innovative research; and stronger outreach techniques.

The action plan serves as a turning point for the Department to review what's being done; reprioritize and change how it's being done; identify new technologies; increase the agency's knowledge of safety; and change the organizational structure to take advantage of safety opportunities. The action plan is also a commitment to working with Congress, state officials, the motor carrier industry, other safety agencies, motor vehicle manufacturers, and the public to reduce injuries and fatalities.

*As of January 1, 2000 the responsibilities for large truck safety were transferred to the new FMCSA. The new Safety Core Business Unit in FHWA will be responsible for the remaining action items pertaining to highway safety.