Tens of thousands of people die on U.S. roads every year, and the fatality trend is going in the wrong direction. After a decade of record declines, traffic fatalities increased nearly 8% in 2015 over the prior year – the largest increase in 50 years. Estimates for the first half of 2016 show an increase of more than 10% over the same period in 2015.
In October, the National Safety Council, in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, announced the Road to Zero initiative. Its aim: To eliminate traffic fatalities within 30 years.
Zero traffic deaths sounds like a lofty goal, but it's attainable based on a few driving principles:
- Traffic fatalities and injures are preventable
- A future with zero traffic deaths is more certain than ever with the emergence of self-driving cars and the
Safe Systems transportation approach
- A coordinated effort that brings together multiple stakeholders with the same goal can achieve more than individual organizations working independently
The initiative builds on the national
Behavioral Change in Traffic Safety conference held earlier this year. Road to Zero expands the discussion to include not only representatives of roadway, behavioral and vehicle safety, but also nonprofit groups, public health officials and technology companies – dozens of organizations working together to develop a coordinated approach to highway safety.
Road to Zero Grant Program
The application period for one-year Safe System Innovation Grants closed Feb. 3. Grants will be awarded in mid-March, and the winners will be posted here.
NSC is dedicating $1 million over three years for the program.
Growing the Coalition
One of the next steps is to grow coalition membership. If your organization is interested in joining the Road to Zero initiative, please fill out this
The coalition will:
- Examine and promote current behavior-change strategies and improve their effectiveness
- Be more intense and coordinated in its response
- Develop a zero-traffic-deaths scenario through strategic deployment of self-driving cars; this will reveal needs that haven't been considered and create a planning tool for policymakers and traffic safety organizations
- Provide funds to traffic safety organizations on a competitive basis for work on priority programs
The coalition has enlisted the RAND Corporation to help develop a scenario on how a human-vehicle-roadway system could be designed to optimize safety. The first
RAND framing workshop was held Jan. 26 and 27, 2017.
It is only through a coordinated effort that we can achieve zero deaths in 30 years, and we are on track to do just that. For more information, email