Highway Safety: Factors Contributing to Traffic Crashes and NHTSA's Efforts to Address Them

From 1975 through 2002, annual traffic fatalities decreased from 44,525 to 42,850, while the rate of fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled decreased from 3.35 to 1.51. However, decreases in fatalities have leveled off since the early 1990s. Since 1999, the number of alcohol-related fatalities has risen. In 1998, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century funded a series of highway safety programs. These programs, administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), increased funding to the states for activities designed to encourage, among other things, the use of seat belts and to prevent drinking and driving. The states establish highway safety goals and initiate projects to help reach those goals. NHTSA provides advice, training, and technical assistance to states and can use management reviews and improvement plans as tools to help monitor and strengthen the states' performance. This testimony is based on two recent GAO reports that discuss the causes of motor vehicle crashes and related research, provide highway saftey trend data and information on federal highway safety funds and the states' uses of those funds, and review NHTSA's oversight of state highway safety programs.