In 2005, Americans traveled almost three billion vehicle miles. People must use our surface transportation system to get to school, to work or to simply go about their daily business. With that in mind, it is imperative that we make our roadways as safe as possible. Crashes on our nation’s roadways have become part of our everyday lives. People speed, talk on cellular telephones, eat, and even read while driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 42,642 people were killed in 2006 in motor vehicle accidents. Human error should not be punishable by death. By increasing efforts to make our roadways as forgiving as possible, we can collectively limit the damaging effects these behaviors can produce. During consideration of SAFETEA-LU, ATSSA helped frame the debate on safety by making several recommendations that became a cornerstone of the new bill. ATSSA worked closely with Congress and the Administration to make roadway safety a key feature in the legislation. The culmination of those efforts was the creation of the new core-funding program — the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). ATSSA is proposing improvements to SAFETEA-LU in 11 issue areas. Implementing the recommendations included in this report will advance us TOWARD ZERO DEATHS. The issue areas are: • Highway Safety Improvement Program • Strategic Highway Safety Plans • Work Zone Safety • High Risk Rural Roads • Roadway Hardware • Brightness and Visibility of Signage and Markings • Older Drivers • Congestion Mitigation • Funding Roadway Safety • Funding the Highway Trust Fund • Additional Recommendations. The following pages provide ATSSA’s reauthorization recommendations for each of these issue areas. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting