Pedestrians and Cyclists: Better Information to States and Enhanced Performance Management Could Help DOT Improve Safety
Fast Facts
Over 7,000 pedestrians and cyclists died in crashes with motor vehicles in the U.S. in 2019.
Reducing crash risk can involve changing behaviors. Some risks are well understood, like the danger of high driving speeds. Less is known about how other behaviors, like pedestrian distraction, affect crash risk.
States can take on projects like media campaigns to encourage safer behavior among drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. The Department of Transportation offers information on project options, but few are demonstrated to be effective. We recommended DOT analyze states' projects and share results to improve project effectiveness.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The behavior of drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists—including driving speed, impairment due to alcohol or drug use, and distracted driving—affect pedestrian and cyclist safety. Some aspects of these road users' behaviors are well understood. For example, higher driving speeds are linked to increased crash risk and severity. In 2019, over 80 percent of pedestrian and cyclist fatalities occurred where speed limits were 35 miles per hour or higher, according to GAO's analysis of Department of Transportation (DOT) data. Other aspects of road users' behaviors are less understood. For example, there is little research on how pedestrian and cyclist impairment affects crash risk, in part because impairment research has focused on drivers. DOT has several efforts under way to improve knowledge of these behavioral aspects of highway safety.
DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provides grants and other support to help states implement projects, or countermeasures, to encourage safer behaviors. While NHTSA's Countermeasures That Work guide has useful information on a range of pedestrian and cyclist safety countermeasures, only 3 of 26 countermeasures were demonstrated to be effective (see figure). NHTSA has worked to advance research and monitor efforts to improve safety on a state-by-state basis, but has not analyzed information on states' use of countermeasures more broadly, such as by evaluating available information to identify national trends. Taking this step and sharing the results with states could help NHTSA and states identify promising efforts for study and advance knowledge of countermeasures' effectiveness.
Countermeasures Demonstrated to Be Effective in Improving Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Guide
DOT has not fully incorporated performance management practices into its pedestrian and cyclist safety efforts. These practices call for agencies to define goals and measure performance. DOT has established an overall departmental goal and an associated performance measure for pedestrian and cyclist safety. However, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) within DOT and NHTSA have not established performance measures to monitor their efforts to achieve DOT's pedestrian and cyclist safety goal. For example, DOT released a pedestrian safety plan in 2020 that lists 90 activities of FHWA and NHTSA but no performance measures to assess their progress. Performance measures at the FHWA and NHTSA level could help DOT understand how its different efforts are contributing to safety improvements, identify shortcomings, and make adjustments as warranted.
Why GAO Did This Study
In 2019, over 7,000 pedestrians and cyclists—about 20 per day—died in collisions with motor vehicles in the United States, up from about 4,800 in 2009. Road users' behaviors can affect pedestrian and cyclist safety, along with other factors like vehicle and road design. NHTSA provides states with over $500 million annually to address the behavioral aspects of safety.
GAO was asked to review pedestrian and cyclist safety and road users' behaviors. This report examines: (1) what is known about how road users' behaviors affect pedestrian and cyclist safety; (2) the extent to which NHTSA's countermeasure guide provides information to help states select effective projects; and (3) the extent to which DOT has used key performance management practices to help ensure activities are improving safety. GAO analyzed pedestrian and cyclist fatality data, state safety plans, and relevant literature; interviewed researchers and officials from states selected based on recent fatality trends; and compared relevant DOT strategic plans and practices to standards for effective performance management.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that (1) NHTSA collect, analyze, and share information on states' pedestrian and cyclist safety behavioral countermeasures; and (2,3) FHWA and NHTSA develop and use performance measures to monitor pedestrian and cyclist safety efforts. DOT concurred with the first recommendation and partially concurred with the others. GAO believes DOT should fully implement all three recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | The NHTSA Administrator should take steps to collect information on the range of countermeasures implemented by states and analyze that information to help advance what is known about countermeasures' effectiveness and then share results with states. (Recommendation 1) |
Open – Partially Addressed
As of March 2024, NHTSA has partially addressed this recommendation by reviewing states' highway safety plans to develop a spreadsheet of pedestrian and bicyclist countermeasures implemented by states during a year. However, DOT has not analyzed this information to identify any patterns or trends in states' selection of countermeasures, as discussed in our report. Nor has NHTSA shared the results of its review with states, as we recommended, to inform their selection of pedestrian and cyclist safety countermeasures. We have requested additional information from NHTSA on its efforts to analyze and share results of its work to monitor states' use of pedestrian and cyclist safety countermeasures, and we will continue to monitor NHTSA's progress in addressing this recommendation.
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| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | The NHTSA Administrator should more fully use performance management practices to guide its pedestrian and cyclist safety activities, such as (1) by developing performance measures for NHTSA and the program offices responsible for implementing pedestrian and cyclist safety activities to demonstrate how these activities contribute to safety goals, and (2) by using performance information to make any necessary changes to advance pedestrian and cyclist safety efforts. (Recommendation 2) |
Open
In March 2024, NHTSA officials stated that the link between federal efforts and desired safety outcomes is hard to measure as such outcomes are strongly influenced by state, local, and other safety stakeholders, as well as external factors beyond transportation such as the economy. However, NHTSA officials also reported that NHTSA is reviewing and revising the Uniform Guidelines for State Highway Safety Programs which provide the framework that states should use in developing and deploying their behavioral safety programs. In doing so, NHTSA officials stated that NHTSA is exploring the use of a performance criteria framework that could be used to set objectives or goals, along with specific measurable outcomes for NHTSA program components, and that the guidelines for pedestrian and bicyclist programs are among those that are under revision. We continue to believe that a more fulsome use of performance management practices by NHTSA would provide a greater understanding how NHTSA's different efforts to address pedestrian and cyclist safety are contributing to safety improvements so that NHTSA can address ant shortcomings and make adjustments to its efforts as warranted. We will continue to monitor NHTSA's efforts to address this recommendation.
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| Federal Highway Administration | The FHWA Administrator should more fully use performance management practices to guide its pedestrian and cyclist safety activities, such as (1) by developing performance measures for FHWA and the program offices responsible for implementing pedestrian and cyclist safety activities to demonstrate how these activities contribute to safety goals, and (2) by using performance information to make any necessary changes to advance pedestrian and cyclist safety efforts. (Recommendation 3) |
Open
As of March 2024, FHWA officials reported that they are using project information reported by states to develop performance measures on pedestrian and bicyclist infrastructure countermeasure implementation. For example, FHWA reported that it is tracking the number of projects and total expenditures for pedestrian and bicyclist countermeasures funded through the FHWA federal-aid programs. In addition, FHWA described recent activities to address pedestrian and cyclist safety, including: (1) awarding more than 511 grants totaling more than $800 million in fiscal year 2023 through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program; (2) providing guidance to states to clarify the requirements to conduct and publish a Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment, which must include a program of projects or strategies to reduce safety risks to vulnerable road users in areas of high-risk; and (3) tracking the FHWA's efforts to provide resources to states, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and local jurisdictions through FHWA's Focused Approach to Safety for the pedestrians and bicyclists program area. However, FHWA has yet to develop performance measures for these activities or use the performance information collected to make any necessary changes. As such, we believe FHWA should fully implement our recommendation, and we will continue to monitor its efforts to do so.
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