Statement of
Frederick G. Wright, Jr., Executive Director
Federal Highway Administration
And
A. George Ostensen, Associate Administrator for Safety
Office of Safety
Federal Highway Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
On Reauthorization of Federal Infrastructure Safety Programs
Before the Committee on Environment and Public Works
United States Senate
June 14, 2002

Thank you for holding this Safety Symposium and for providing the opportunity for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to discuss highway safety and highway safety programs. It is fitting that the Symposium is multi-modal, multi-agency, and represents both the private and the public sectors, because we know that it requires a comprehensive, multi-agency/multi-discipline effort to address our Nation's highway safety needs. All of us, working together, can play important roles in saving lives and preventing injuries on America's highways. As a Nation, we have made significant strides in reducing highway fatalities from 51,000 in 1966 to 41,821 in 2000. In that same time period, the fatality rate has dropped from 5.5 to 1.5 deaths per 100 mvm [?? Spell out] traveled. Despite this progress, as FHWA Administrator Mary Peters points out, "a quarter of a million people have been killed on our roads in the past six years and more than 3 million police-reported injuries occurred annually." And, as she stated, "[w]e can, we must, and we will strive to do better."

Recently, Administrator Peters has led the effort in FHWA to better focus our attention and resources in critical areas. Highway safety was identified as one of three "Vital Few" areas where FHWA will be focusing attention and resources in order to accelerate a reduction in the number of fatalities on our nation's highways. We are in the process of developing agency-wide strategies to save lives on our nation's highways and intend to contribute significantly to attainment of the Department's goal of a 20 percent reduction in highway fatalities by 2008.

Background

With the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), safety funding for all roads was provided through a safety set-aside program that required a minimum of 10 percent of the Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds to be used for two major infrastructure safety improvement programs--Hazard Elimination (Section 152) and Rail-Highway Grade Crossing Safety (Section 130).

The Transportation Equity Act for the 21^st Century (TEA-21) continued the 10 percent set-aside of STP funds and the language requiring States to spend at least an amount equivalent to the funds apportioned to them in 1991 for Sections 152 and 130. TEA-21 also increased flexibility for Hazard Elimination funds by expanding eligible activities to include traffic calming, safety improvements to publicly-owned bicycle and pedestrian pathways or trails, public surface transportation facilities, and Interstate highways.

As funding increased in the STP program, Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA) funds, and the Minimum Guarantee, the safety set-aside funds also increased beyond the 1991 levels. These "Optional Safety Funds" are available for either Hazard Elimination or Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety. While many States have obligated their funds up to the 1991 levels, few have spent the optional funds at the same rate. In many cases, the 1991 levels have become the ceiling as well as the floor on State spending of safety set-aside funds.

The Surface Transportation Research Program (Section 502) and the Technology Deployment Initiatives & Partnership (Section 503), authorized in Title V of TEA-21, also provide important support for safety research activities and technology transfer initiatives.

In addition, TEA-21 required State and regional planners to consider projects and strategies to increase the safety and security of their transportation systems. [This section should be relocated. To help planners meet this requirement, the Safety Office partnered with the Office of Planning in sponsoring six Safety-Conscious Planning Forums in Maryland, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Michigan, and Oregon. The Forums provide an opportunity for planners and safety professionals to communicate and share information, to improve integration of safety in the planning process. Seven more states have expressed interest in hosting Forums.]

FHWA's Role in Highway Safety

Other key partnerships are evidenced in each of the following FHWA safety activities:

FHWA provides support and guidance to State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and the railroad industry in their efforts to eliminate hazards on public roads and at highway-rail grade crossings-efforts dating from enactment of the 1973 Federal Aid Highway Act. FHWA also coordinates its highway-rail crossing program with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
FHWA partners with NHTSA to provide funds and technical assistance for Section 402 Highway Safety Programs.
FHWA works within the Research and Technology program to develop and deploy new safety tools and technologies.
The Safety office also partners with the Local Technical Assistance Program Centers and organizations such as the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), National Association of County Engineers (NACE), American Public Works Association (APWA), Intelligent Transportation Systems of America (ITS America), and the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) to deploy tools and best practices at the local level.
FHWA's Office of Safety works with the Transportation Research Board (TRB), State DOTs, and safety equipment manufacturers to evaluate the effectiveness and upgrade safety features such as guardrails, crash cushions, barriers signs, marking, intersection traffic controls, and guardrail.
FHWA partners with NHTSA, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), TRB, and private sector safety and planning groups to implement TEA-21's requirement to integrate safety in metropolitan and statewide planning.
FHWA works with NHTSA, community groups, and State DOTs to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety.
The Office of Safety partners with professional engineering groups on a wide range of initiatives from intersection safety to workshops on older driver needs and human factors.
FHWA partners with NHTSA and private sector groups in national public awareness campaigns, including efforts to increase seat belt use, Work Zone Awareness Week, and "Put the Brakes on Fatalities" Day.

FHWA Safety Focus Areas and Strategies

Because of the efforts of the entire safety community, an estimated 109,405 lives have been saved in the United States since 1966. The fatality rate per hundred million vehicle miles traveled has dropped from 5.5 to 1.5. Since TEA-21's enactment, FHWA and its partners have continued to achieve safety successes--an estimated 7,200 lives have been saved through State hazard elimination efforts and an estimated 2,000 lives have been saved through safety improvements at public highway-rail grade crossings.

However, notwithstanding the major advances in highway safety over the past thirty years, we are still losing over 41,000 lives per year on our highways each year. Using NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data, we can identify trends in fatalities and areas where major losses are still occurring, and we find two areas stand out.

Two-lane and rural roads. The highest fatality rates are occurring on two-lane and rural roads--fifty-seven percent of all fatalities occur on two-lane roads. More than eighty-two percent of all Federal-aid roads are two-lane. The fatality rate on rural local roads is more than three times the rural Interstate fatality rate and six times the urban Interstate rate. Single vehicle run-off-the-road crashes accounted for fifty-seven percent of two-lane road fatalities, which equates to 15,905 fatalities in 2000. Many of these fatalities are due to overturns or striking roadside obstacles such as trees or poles.

Intersections. Intersections are also high-risk areas. In 2000, there were more than 2.8 million intersection crashes-a total of 8,632 fatalities at intersections. Intersection- related crashes accounted for 44 percent of all reported crashes and 48% of all injury crashes.

FHWA is committed to achieving the Department's safety goal of a 20 percent reduction in highway fatalities by 2008. To achieve this goal, FHWA has identified four major safety focus areas based on the trends described above and on the characteristics of the highest fatality crashes, and is focusing safety efforts on these areas: (1) single vehicle run-off-the-road crashes which account for 38 percent of yearly fatalities, (2) speed-related crashes which contribute to 30 percent of the fatalities, (3) intersection-related crashes where 21 percent of the fatalities occur, and (4) pedestrian and bicycle crashes which amount to 13 percent of the fatalities each year.

Single-Vehicle Run-Off-the-Road Crashes

First, keeping vehicles on the road is the best approach to avoiding these crashes. Effective measures to accomplish this include improving the visibility of signs and pavement markings, installing rumble strips, maintaining skid-resistant pavements, and effective speed management. The other major challenge is protecting the drivers that do leave the road. Effective ways to reduce these fatalities is deploying and maintaining crashworthy sign and light supports, guardrails, and crash cushions; relocating or shielding utility poles; reducing roadside hazards; and reducing side slopes and ditches.

FHWA has completed a number of initiatives to reduce the number of single vehicle run-off-the-road crashes. For example:

The Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM) was developed by FHWA in cooperation with States and the private sector to provide highway designers with a tool to identify opportunities for improved safety during the design of a highway improvement project and the means to evaluate the costs and benefits of safety improvements. Training will be developed and presented as the model is initially deployed for the design of two lane roads.
FHWA issued a technical advisory on the use of rumble strips to assist States in using this highly successful countermeasure. A wide range of crash reductions from 30 percent to 90 percent have been reported. [Detail?]
FHWA has completed over 240 reviews of new roadside hardware to verify its compliance with current crash test evaluation criteria. The reviews evaluate the crash worthiness and effectiveness of safety features such as guardrails, bridge rails, crash cushions, sign and light poles and traffic devices for work zones. The reviews are posted on a website that functions as a "clearinghouse" on what types of roadside hardware can be used safely.
A training course in techniques to measure and improve nighttime visibility of signs has been developed for state and local transportation practitioners.

Speed-related Crashes

We know that effective speed management and reducing the speed differential within the traffic stream will lead to fewer crashes. FHWA has partnered with FMCSA and NHTSA to develop a comprehensive approach to managing speed, including engineering, enforcement, and education. New technology has contributed to establishing a multi-location demonstration project on variable speed limits in work zones, and several speed-setting and enforcement demonstrations are underway. The Office of Safety is also developing an expert system to help engineers set appropriate speed limits.

Intersection Crashes

FHWA is working with AASHTO, ITE, and others to develop and implement a multi-faceted National Agenda for intersection safety, which includes engineering, enforcement, and education countermeasures. FHWA has developed a video called "Red Light-Green Light" to raise awareness about intersection safety. In addition, FHWA sponsored a community-based "Stop Red Light Running Campaign" and sponsors an annual "National Stop on Red Week," which promotes effective enforcement programs aimed at intersection safety.

Intersections are also the single greatest highway safety concern for older drivers and pedestrians. Half of all fatal crashes for drivers 80 and older occur at intersections. In fact, thirty eight percent of all fatalities for pedestrians 65 and older also occur at intersections. With the population of older drivers and pedestrians increasing, this presents another significant safety challenge. By 2020, one fifth of the driving age population will be 65 year or older. [What are we doing to address this problem?]

Pedestrians and Bicyclists

FHWA works to integrate pedestrian and bicyclist safety needs into the planning and design of highway facilities [How are we doing this?] in order to reduce the current number of pedestrian/bicycle crashes and fatalities, and in order to prevent an increase in these numbers as a result of the increase in the elderly population. The Office of Safety has developed a wide range of tools and products to assist engineers, communities and individuals improve pedestrian safety including a CD-Rom Pedestrian/Bicyclist Safety Resource Set, a "Walkable Community" brochure, a Pedestrian/Bicyclist Crash Analysis Tool, and a Bicycle Compatibility tool.

The Pedestrian Safety Engineering and ITS Deployment Project includes an outreach campaign, a countermeasure selection system, a University course, and a studies program for rural and tribal areas. "Safer Journey," an award-winning interactive CD on pedestrian safety, was produced for elementary and middle school children.

Other Safety Issues

Two key issues apply to all of FHWA's safety programs and focus areas-- (1) the current "plateau" in reduction of highway fatality numbers and injuries, and (2) the need for more accurate data on fatalities and injuries, particularly on their location and causation.

As vehicle miles traveled have increased, despite a decrease in death rates, the actual number of highway deaths in 2000 is nearly identical to the number of deaths in 1995. Significant reductions in the number of fatalities will require greater emphasis on safety improvements on the roadway and the roadside environment, as well as addressing driver behavior and vehicle design.

A key component in moving beyond the highway fatality plateau is improved safety data. Accurate collection and analysis of crash data is essential to identify and address the most critical safety problems and deploy the most effective countermeasures at State and local levels. We must improve the collection and analysis of crash data and we must ensure that this information is linked to other key roadway data.

Conclusion

Highway fatalities are a national tragedy and FHWA is committed to reducing their numbers. Our Administrator, Mary Peters, said it best when she called for a "quantum improvement" in the safety of our highways.

ISTEA and TEA-21 have provided us a solid and balanced structure around which to shape reauthorization legislation to improve surface transportation safety, and we will build on the programmatic and financial initiatives of these two historic surface transportation acts. To this end, we will apply the core principles enunciated by Secretary Mineta in testimony before this Committee in January, including the mandate to make "substantial improvements in the safety of the nation's surface transportation system." FHWA wants to work with this Committee and with the States and our other partners in the transportation community during reauthorization to make a difference in reaching this important goal for America.

Thank you for your attention. I look forward to responding to your questions.