▶ 0:00:58spe e
▶ 0:12:58for e
▶ 0:13:37the subcommittee on highways and Transit will come to order welcome everyone I ask unanimous consent the chairman be authorized to declare a recess at any time during today's hearing without objection so ordered I also ask unanimous consent members not on the subcommittee be permitted to sit with the sub subcommittee at today's hearing and ask questions without objection so ordered as a reminder if members wish to insert a document into the record please also email it to documents mail.house.gov again
▶ 0:14:08that's documents TI I now recognize myself for the purposes of an opening statement for five minutes today's hearing continues the subcommittee's efforts to improve highway safety through policy and program reviews within the Department of Transportation as we work towards reauthorizing our nation's surface Transportation programs the national highway traffic safety administration or Nitsa for short estimates nearly 41,000 people died in
▶ 0:14:38motor vehicle related crashes in 2023 while this was a 3.6% decline from 2022 fatalities are still up compared to the last decade driver be Behavior has changed considerably considerably since 2020 after pandemic er error closures began in March March of 2020 driving trips dropped by 60% and speeding risk increased by 64% these risk have only increased as traffic
▶ 0:15:08enforcement declined after police officers were discouraged from quote non-essential contact and radical political movements called for the defunding of police across the country this came to a head in 2021 when traffic fatalities jump more than 10% the highest number of fatalities since 2005 and the largest percentage increase 1975 today car travel has returned to normal but traffic enforcement has not according to a New York
▶ 0:15:39Times report traffic stops have declined by as much as 91% in cities since 2020 again 91% in cities since 2020 underfunded and understaffed police forces mean there are no real consequences for drivers illegal actions and it has only paved the way pardon the pun there for drivers to speed drive while impaired and make Reckless decisions endangering others on the road we have also seen the increase
▶ 0:16:09in traffic fatalities disproportionately affect our rural communities in 2022 Nitsa found 40% of all traffic fatalities occurred in rural areas on non-interstate roads despite the fact that only 20% of the population resides in these rural areas fatality rates remain remain one and a half times higher in rural areas than in urban areas our rural roads often have narrower Lanes limited shoulders exposed hazards and
▶ 0:16:39limited clear zones and drivers tend to be riskier when there is less traffic and fewer traffic patterns that require slower speeds 68% of our public roads are in rural areas and 77% of all roadways are maintained by local governments the backlog for Rural Road and Bridge maintenance was more than 180 billion in 2022 States and local governments need flexibility to implement programs that address the shortfalls
▶ 0:17:09in our rural communities States also need reliable consistent programming such as the highway safety Improvement program which addresses maintenance backlogs and ensures roads meet safety standards our current and future Road design standards can help drive down F uh fatalities across our communities pavement and guard standard should adapt to new vehicle technology such as electric vehicles which weigh more than traditional Vehicles we should consider if updates to the design standards for guard rails are necessary
▶ 0:17:40to absorb the heavier weight and help prevent these heavier vehicles from crossing the median into oncoming traffic we also need to continue to address work Zone safety reckless driving puts our roadside workers at greater risk of injury or death according to the association of general contractors 64% of contractors reported a motor vehicle had crashed into their work Zone 2020 now this number is simply unacceptable again enforcement can discourage
▶ 0:18:11reckless driving in work zones but we can also look at ways to better better design work zones and related traffic patter patterns to curtail these incidents so I look forward to hearing from our Witnesses today who will be able to share what's working what's not and how we can continue to make our roadways safer we don't have unlimited funds as we all know and it's crucial that we make strategic Investments that are proven to save lives I now recognize my distinguished ranking member Miss Norton for five
▶ 0:18:41minutes for an opening statement thank you Mr chair I would like to thank uh subcommittee chair Rouser for holding this hearing on the safety of our nation's service Transportation safety must continue to be the Cornerstone of our work as this subcommittee considers the next surface Transportation reauthorization Bill make no mistake
▶ 0:19:11we are living through a Public Health crisis in 4,990 people died on our roadways in 2023 urban and rural communities alike infrastructure that has traditionally prioritized the quick movement of cars over the safe movement of people these deaths are not
▶ 0:19:43inevitable taking a comprehensive approach to safe safety saves lives that includes designing roads that prioritize safety for all users including pedestrians and Bic cyclists equipping vehicles with the latest safety Technologies and continuing to work down on to crack down on impaired
▶ 0:20:14driving a Safe Systems approach ensures that when human error does occur it need not be a death sentence the bipartisan infrastructure law uh took safety take took safety seriously States and localities now have unprecedented resources to tackle the crisis uh the V the the
▶ 0:20:44Vil increased uh funding for the highway safety Improvement program uh by 34% to help States Implement data D driven driven safety plans it created a new vulnerable Road user Special Rule to direct more dollars to projects that project those not traveling in vehicles and through the safe
▶ 0:21:14streets and roads for all program the B uh covered 75% of the nation's population with roadway safety plans the B il's targeted Investments are making a difference the troubling upward Trend and traffic fatalities has declined since 2022 and projects that adhere to
▶ 0:21:45complete streets design principles are making a difference Vehicles design vehicle design is also part of the solution last year TSA uh issued a new standard to require automatic emergency breaking to reduce crashes this rule is anticipated
▶ 0:22:15to save 360 lives and prevent at least 24,000 injuries per year we have the knowledge and tools to respond to the urgency of the roadway safety crisis the rhetoric of around Traffic Safety has finally begun to change Transportation leaders now acknowledge the shared responsibility to build roads
▶ 0:22:45that are safe for everyone but words are not enough the service Transportation reauthorization bill this subcommittee considers must take concrete steps to design build and build roads that prioritize the safe movement of people regardless of how they move we must enhance the transport transparency and accountability of
▶ 0:23:15our transportation infrastructure design making uh to tackle safety the our safety crisis the V is making important progress toward the vision of zero roadway deaths we must keep this positive momentum going thank you to our Witnesses today I appreciate your input regarding the safety of the nation's transportation system and look forward
▶ 0:23:46to our discussion about the challenges ahead I you back I now like to uh recognize our ranking member of the committee of the full committee Mr Larsson for up to five thank you uh Mr chair and uh for holding the hearing to highlight safety and Transportation uh tragically nearly 41,000 people were killed on us roads in 2023 these fatalities make me and make thousands of families ask is safety a
▶ 0:24:16priority or not roughly 95% of fatalities on our on our roadways uh occur on our roadways so as we work on a Surface reauthorization Bill we have to to make sure that improving safety is a top priority we can invest in infrastructure while prioritizing safety at the same time when America builds America when so when when America builds Americans travel safely the bipartisan infrastructure law takes safety seriously
▶ 0:24:46it provides $16 billion doll for Highway Safety Improvement to help States improve Road and Bridge infrastructure nearly 6 billion for new Safe Streets and roads for all to support government local governments in deploying Safety Solutions and over $8 billion to the national highway traffic safety administration for efforts to improve driver safety the bill also reforms how we build and protect Road users new safety measures include incorporating complete Street principles
▶ 0:25:16in roadway designs and equipping new cars with new safety technology like automatic emergency braks these efforts work together to make infrastructure safer to raise driver awareness awareness and reduce higher risk scenarios and the next bill must put Safety First and build upon the funding and policies in the B now my state 8 813 people died in 2023 on our roadways it represents a 10% increase from 2022 and the highest number
▶ 0:25:47of traffic deaths since 1990 2023 also marked the worst year on record for pedestrian and motorcycle motorcyclist U fatalities in my state impaired driving speeding distracted driving were the leading causes of these tragedies so I've worked with communities in my district to raise awareness of our safety challenges and deliver Federal funding to improve safety and save lives in my district Safe Streets and roads for all funding will help tribes and other communities
▶ 0:26:17including the lummy nation the samish Indian Nation the city of Everett and the City of C woy to plan for plan for and build safer streets the City of Burlington received a $2 million Grant to look at removing a dangerous railroad crossing and the sil guamas tribe has received an $8.5 million award for crossing uh project to reduce dangerous interactions uh with Wildlife across Highway 20 tragically traval communities themselves are just disproportionately feel the impact of our safety crisis
▶ 0:26:47Native Americans are seven times more likely to be killed in a motor vehicle crash than other Americans the B doubles the funding for tribal Transportation safety uh for a tribal Transportation safety set aside if safety is a priority then we must keep the these uh funding streams going you can't have a big league economy with little league infrastructure and it's because this is because these Investments support the movement of people and connect them with jobs and the case of safety projects the right Investments carried
▶ 0:27:17out with accountability and where they are needed most saves lives it does not get more personal than that the national highway traffic safety administration estimated that in 2019 traffic crashes cost the economy $340 billion across the country our main streets and downtown areas depend on safe and accessible Mobility to support local economies so when people feel safe to drive walk or bike in their communities they are more active investing in safety is then therefore an investment
▶ 0:27:47in our families in our communities and our local economies and the safe streets and roads for all grants program empowers communities to plan and execute projects to safely improve mobility in ways that reflect local realities more than 75% of the nation's population will be covered by local safety plans funded by these grants so Congress has to act and continue to provide the historic investment levels from the B with a renewed focus on outcomes so the communities can Ser can
▶ 0:28:17turn safety plans into reality meaning lives saved and and livelihoods improved I'm ready to make that investment let's keep it going I want to want to thank the witnesses for being here today and I look forward to your testimony with that a yield back I thank the gentlemen I'd now like to welcome our Witnesses and uh thank each of you for being here today I am U going to introduce uh each of you and but first i'm going to yield to my friend and colleague from Minnesota to
▶ 0:28:48introduce Mr Hansen Mr stalber if if you'd like to introduce Mr Hansen thank you very much Mr chair I appreciate this opportunity and I'm excited to introduce a witness today who hails from the great state of Minnesota who brought the snow in with him last night Mr Hans Mr Mike Hansen is the director of Minnesota Department of Public safety's office of traffic safety he has held this position since November of 2017 in addition to his role as director Hansen also serves as Minnesota's representative to Nitsa and coordinates Minnesota's
▶ 0:29:18participation in nitsa's state and Community safety grant program he also co-chairs the Minnesota toward zero death program and chairs The Advisory Council on traffic saf in October director Hansen was elected to serve as chair of the Governor's Highway Safety Association the national nonprofit Association of state and territorial highway safety offices that addresses behavioral traffic safety issues he is here testifying on behalf of GHSA today I am especially proud to have director Hansen here
▶ 0:29:48Mr chair as he also wore the law law enforcement uniform he served the Minnesota state patrol for 32 years retiring as Captain and I often say even though my time in uniform is over my watch never ends your continued dedication Mr Hansen to safety after your service is a testament that's that the saying holds true for all those in law enforcement I look forward to hearing your testimony your expertise and safety cannot be overstated Mr chair one last thing Mr Hansen could be anywhere
▶ 0:30:19today with his family and friends celebrating his 39th birthday birthday thank you very much um we also have with us um The Honorable Jim willix uh Commissioner of Converse County Wyoming here on behalf of the National Association of counties in addition uh we have Miss haly Norman uh co-owner of Direct Traffic Control Incorporated here on
▶ 0:30:49behalf of the American Traffic Safety Services Association and I understand that you have two daughters here with you as well so welcome to them and last but certainly not least president of the advocates for Highway and Auto Safety Miss Kathy Chase thank you very much for being here now uh it's pretty simple as we move forward uh Mr Wilcox I'll recognize you for up to five minutes um pay attention to the light system green means go yellow
▶ 0:31:19means wind it down and red means close it up as soon as you possibly can Mr Willcox willix well thank you chair r ER and ranking member Norton and this opportunity to be before the subcommittee today my name is Jim willix and in my 19th year as a commissioner in Commerce County Wyoming and today I represent the National Association of counties who I serve as a vice chair of the transportation committee na is the only National Organization that represents All 3,69 Counties parishes and buus
▶ 0:31:49in the United States counties themselves are very diverse and have a wide range of responsibilities many of which are delegated To Us by the states or theed federal government counties own or operate 44% of the public roads and 38% of the bridges in Wyoming counties own over 14,000 mies of Road and 96% of those are categorized as rule as major stakeholders counties recognize that we have an important role to play when it comes to road safety and we want to do our part to
▶ 0:32:19protect American lives today I want to highlight a few challenges that counties especially rural counties face in our shared mission to make our roads safer as well as offer some solutions to help counties improve safety by working together and relying on our intergovernmental Partnerships I believe there are real opportunities to advance Road Safety save lives and strengthen our communities first rural communities have unique challenges and needs when it comes to Transportation safety one of our biggest challenges is that rural communities have limited
▶ 0:32:49tax bases which makes it difficult for us to raise revenue for infrastructure projects with restricted Financial capacity County officials must of make often make the hard decision between between choosing between a Safety project or regular maintenance of another mile of road another challenge is that rural communities often rely on non-traditional infrastructure like on Lane Bridges and gravel roads which present unique safety concerns in my County we are larger than the state of Rhode Island and we have over
▶ 0:33:19500 miles of gravel roads when it comes to Road Safety you may think of rumble strips or center lines but neither of those are good options on gravel instead gravel roads need dust suppression longer culverts and regular blading to avoid washboarding this is an area where I believe the government can do more to support rural communities by empowering local leaders to implement safety strategies that work for them we also face challenges implementing Road Safety due to our nation's broken permitting system although the
▶ 0:33:49issue impacts Urban and Suburban areas alike it is particularly taxing in rural counties especially out west which given the enormous Federal before counties can begin many infrastructure projects we must navigate a maze of federal permits currently in my County we have to we want to reduce and grade and pave an existing Gravel Road and yet the US Forest Service and BLM are requiring substantial permitting and review delaying the project for another year the standard permitting processes under NEPA can be costly
▶ 0:34:20complex and time consuming by streamlining permitting even by just increasing the categorical exclusions Congress could enable rural counties to take on more projects with less money lastly I believe the key way to improve Road Safety is by strengthening County involvement in federal policymaking like you're doing today the vast majority of federal transportation funds flow through States well my state of Wyoming does an excellent job of allocating money to our local partners and projects I know that's not
▶ 0:34:50true for all states despite owning half the roads and a third of the bridges counties are not getting their fair share of the fun in strengthening our intergovernmental Partnerships is not just about money it is about ensuring that Counties have a seat at the table to share our local expertise there's a tremendous opportunity in this upcoming surface Transportation Bill to hear from leaders at all levels of government to strengthen our partnership and to protect our communities Mr chair and ranking member I want to close with an antidote
▶ 0:35:21one of my fellow Commissioners experiences as a cattle rancher south of Glenrock Wyoming in order for him to get his cattle to Market he must travel across a series of Roads 6 miles of County Gravel Road 5 miles of paved County Road 3 miles of a State Highway 68 miles of the Interstate 49 mies of a US Highway finally into a city street to deliver the cattle to Market to ensure Road Safety there cannot be a wink Link in that Network the interstate can be lined with pillows and mattresses
▶ 0:35:51but if the county roads are unsafe we have not done enough to keep our road users safe please note that counties from across the country are looking to be partners and working hand inand with our federal and state Partners to protect our residents and to strengthen our nation's infrastructure Mr chairman Madame ranking member thank you for this opportunity and I look forward to the questions thank you very very much Mr Hansen you're recognized thank you Mr chair good morning my name is Michael Hansen and I am the
▶ 0:36:21governor appointed highway safety representative from Minnesota and the director of the Minnesota Department of Public safety's office Traffic Safety I also have the privilege of serving as the chair of the Governor's Highway Safety Association it's an honor to be testifying before the subcommittee today I offer my thanks to subcommittee chair Rouser ranking member Holmes Norton as well as full committee chair Graves and ranking member Larson for holding this hearing on such a critically important topic GHSA is a national nonprofit Association representing the state and territorial
▶ 0:36:52highway safety offices the state highway safety offices Implement Statewide programs to address behavor behavioral highway safety issues and are the recipients of Grants under the Nitsa highway safety grant program State Highway Safety offices are all public agencies in all states and territories and are run or overseen by a governor appointed representative GHSA members work to reduce motor vehicle crashes by implementing programs to address the behavioral aspects of Highway Safety like speeding impaired driving seat
▶ 0:37:22belt use and distracted driving roadway safety is a topic I'm extremely passionate about prior to my time serving as the Director of the State Highway Safety Office I proudly served the Minnesota state patrol for 32 years during that time I had Direct exposure to the unsafe driving behavior on our roadways and the life-changing and far too often life-ending impacts they can have traffic crashes are one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States crashes kill more
▶ 0:37:52than 40,000 people every year on our highways more than two-thirds of those crashes are caused by either an impaired driver or by speeding programs that are implemented by the state highway safety offices to address these unsafe driving behaviors are crucial in addressing the increasing roadside fatalities we are seeing one of the key tools available to address unsafe driving behavior is traffic law enforcement over the past several years due to several factors including concerns for fair policing practices reduced public support and Staffing shortages
▶ 0:38:23the amount of traffic enforcement being conducted across the country has significantly decreased we have seen a corresponding increase in unsafe driving behavior especially in the areas of impaired driving and speeding GHSA strongly supports the proven role of traffic enforcement and The Wider criminal justice system in preventing crashes and stopping dangerous drivers traffic law enforcement holds drivers accountable for poor choices that without intervention can be deadly by focusing on data driven unsafe driver behaviors in traffic
▶ 0:38:53stops instead of citations for administrative requirements we can can help ensure the traffic stops are fair and address those unsafe driving behaviors State Highway Safety officers receive a formula and program specific funding from Nito which are commonly referred to as the section 402 and 405 grants in order to participate in these program states must submit a highway safety plan every three years an annual Grant application and an annual report additionally states are routinely subject to oversight activities from Nitsa including
▶ 0:39:24comprehensive compliance reviews State Highway Safety officers across the country are doing their best to implement meaningful programs to improve driver Behavior we are bogged down by the amount of administrative red tape and limitations on how we can spend funds that we receive from NSA over the past several years there has been an increase in this administrative burden associated with these programs an example of this amount of detail that nitu is requiring is the approval for the annual Grant application what was intended
▶ 0:39:54to be a brief update to our uh High safety P plan has ballooned into several hundred pages long documents in order to meet all of the niter requirements some of which reach lengths of three to 500 pages across the entire highway safety program n's oversight activities have increased significantly GHSA supports appropriate oversight and recognizes the importance of transparency when using Federal funding but the current level of oversight is burdensome these programs need to be more efficiently
▶ 0:40:24administered by Nitsa so that more of the federal funding can work towards improving safety instead of expending resources uh demonstrating compliance as challenges with roadway safety continue we need to make sure that Federal funding is structured in a way that allows for new and innovative ideas like technology deployments novel data new safety counter measures and more Congress should look for opportunities to reform the 402 and 405 programs to provide less funding restrictions and more eligibility for
▶ 0:40:54states to try new approaches and Implement programs that address their unique challenges in conclusion State Highway Safety officers work hard to implement meaningful and effective programs to save lives but there is room for improving the NIT of Grant programs to better support the states the highway safety grants program is hampered by excessive administrative burdens and a lack of flexibility this diverts valuable resources away from implementing safety programs streamlining these programs reducing paperwork and empowering the states to tailor their initiative to
▶ 0:41:24these specific needs GHSA looks forward to working with the subcommittee as it works to tackle the safety challenges on our roadway and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Federal grant programs thank you for the opportunity to address the subcommittee today and I look forward to your questions Miss Norman you're recognized thank you Mr chairman good morning my name is Haley Norman and I'm the co-owner of Direct Traffic Control out of Mogi Oklahoma I appreciate the opportunity to testify today about
▶ 0:41:55reducing roadway fatalities our company is a small family-owned business that currently employs 127 team members across the state of Oklahoma we make roads safer through the installation of pavement markings traffic signs guard rail and the management of roadway work zones I'm testifying today in my role as the chair-elect of the American Traffic Safety Services Association at to members manufacturer distribute and install roadway safety infrastructure devices such as guardrail
▶ 0:42:25and cable barrier traffic signs and signals pavement markings and work Zone safety devices reaching Zero fatalities remains a very serious challenge according to the most recent estimate from Nitsa over 40,000 people died on roadways across the country in 2023 as we've heard numerous times today everyone on this committee and on this panel recognizes the severity of the current roadway safety crisis collectively we need to work together to identify actions that will address
▶ 0:42:55this crisis while while working to develop new solutions for the future as well as this committee works on the next surface Transportation bill I wanted to highlight the important programs and areas that contribute directly to saving lives the highway safety Improvement program is key to achieving the goal of zero deaths and provides dedicated safety funds to each state and DC to address their specific safety needs and while the iig significantly increased funding for HP by providing
▶ 0:43:26nearly 16 billion do we hope that this program will continue to be a priority in the next Highway bill I have seen firsthand that the projects funded through hsip have saved the lives of Road users across Oklahoma I believe that any discussion regarding safety must put an emphasis on the men and women that put their lives In Harm's Way in roadside work zones I have seen the dangers of these that these workers face I know that many ATA members have lost a friend or a colleague in a work Zone crash
▶ 0:43:57I have watched the dash cam footage of our own workers some are my family and all are my friends narrowly avoiding being struck in a work Zone by a distracted driver these stories recommit my company and our industry to reach our mission of zero deaths as we look to improve roadway safety we cannot Overlook Rural and Tribal Roads tragically while only 20% of Americans live in rural areas 43% of all roadway fatalities occur on Rural roads American
▶ 0:44:27Indian and Alaskan native adults have a traffic fatality rate seven times higher than any other ethnic group The iiga made good inroads in these areas to improve safety however we do believe that Congress has more work to do to protect our users of Rural and Tribal Roads while we know that there are difficulties in administering and implementing discretionary Grant programs the safe streets and roads for all program works to protect vulnerable Road users through the deployment and installation of life-saving roadway safety infrastructure
▶ 0:44:57devices the iiga set a new Baseline with historic levels of funding in roadway safety but many challenges still face our industry we support the goal of increasing the American manufacturing sector and creating good paying jobs across the country by expanding the application of build America biame requirements however without a thoughtful approach to implementing the bi America requirements this expansion has the potential for catastrophic impacts on the roadway safety infrastructure industry small
▶ 0:45:27businesses such as my own face price increases product scarcity and a mountain of paperwork and certifications the costs associated with having a small family-owned business are mounting inflation has sharply increased the price of products and therefore the iig has not funded as many project as we had hoped frivolous litigation and rapidly Rising insurance premiums have also diverted far too many resources away from improving roadway safety let me end my
▶ 0:45:57statement with a sobering statistic by the end of this day over 110 people will have died on our roadways this is a number that is incredibly tragic and completely unacceptable and as a safety professional a business owner and a mother I believe that we must all work together to make our roads and communities safe ATA members are ready to do what we do best roll up our sleeves and get to work thank you so much for the opportunity to testify today and I look forward to answering
▶ 0:46:30questions Miss Chase good morning chair Rouser ranking member Norton ranking member Larson and subcommittee members I'm Cathy Chase president of advocates for Highway and Auto Safety Advocates is a National Alliance of leading property Casualty Insurance companies and agents and public health consumer law enforcement and safety groups working together to prevent crashes save lives reduce injuries and curb economic costs thank you for holding today's hearing on roadway safety at a critical time when motor vehicle fatalities are
▶ 0:47:00at historic highs nearly 43,000 people were killed and 2.4 million more were injured in 2022 of particular note more than 7,500 pedestrians and more than 1,000 bicyclists were killed representing a 56 and 50% increase respectively over the past decade additionally motorcycle riders experienced the highest fatality toll since data collection began in 19 75 with more than 6,000 Riders being killed
▶ 0:47:30fatal truck crashes also have been on the rise increasing by 76% since 2009 nearly 6,000 people were killed and over 160,000 people were injured in crashes involving large trucks these are not just statistics they are family members friends and members of communities throughout the country they include Transportation secretary Duffy's family and numerous members of Congress many victim Advocates are joining us today virtually I want to extend my
▶ 0:48:00condolences for their losses and thank them for their perseverance to advance effective solutions to prevent crashes in addition to the physical and emotional repercussions of crashes the annual economic cost is approximately $340 billion moreover the network for employers for Traffic Safety finds that crashes cost employers more than $72 billion in direct crash related expenses in 2019 since Advocates Inception in 1989 we've worked with victim
▶ 0:48:31Advocates and safety stakeholders to advance a holistic approach to improving Traffic Safety by focusing on safe Vehicles safe road users and safe roadway environments this approach is akin to what is known as a safe system approach which has the additions of safe speeds and postare crash postc crash care which are also vitally important considering today's hearing is focused on roadways I will discuss steps that can be taken now to improve our streets streets roads and highways but I'd just like to
▶ 0:49:01note that the advances in all three areas go hands in hand and are available and needed America's roads move an ever increasing number of people and goods we all rely on our infrastructure system for household good supplies to be Deli delivered for family vacations to be enjoyed and for our nation's economy to thrive unfortunately our roadways and bridges are in urgent need of improvements and preservation the American Society of civil engineers has given America's roads a grade of D
▶ 0:49:31with 43% in poor or mediocre condition not much better our bridges received a c grade with 42% being at least 50 years old and more than 46,000 consider considered structurally deficient the infrastructure investment and jobs act authorized upgrades to the highway safety Improvement program that will helped protect vulnerable Road users and provides robust funding for the safe Street and roads for all program or ss4a to provide direct access to
▶ 0:50:01localities to make roadway improvements these changes promote infrastructure features that consider multimodal use calm traffic reduce vehicle speeds and prevent or mitigate harmful interactions among Road users infrastructure improvements consistent with the SSA are supported by federal grants including speed curving features like speed humps Road diets and roundabouts in fact intersections converted from traffic signals or stop signs to roundabouts
▶ 0:50:32have reduced injury crashes up to 80% and cut all crashes by nearly half moreover roundabouts and roundabouts are efficient in keeping Travelers moving and can be implemented both in urban and rural areas under a wide range of traffic conditions we also support the highway safety program section 402 and National priority safety program section 405 grants as with all federal safety grants it is critical that these programs include clear and
▶ 0:51:02transparent measures for success to ensure funds are spent as intended and result in actual safety benefits and improvements as was stated before the end of today6 Americans will be killed on our roadways that equals more than all the people in this room about right now we can and must Implement proven solutions to improve our roadways and make them safer for all thank you very well thank you I now ask unanimous consent that the witnesses full statements
▶ 0:51:32be included in the record without objection so ordered I ask unanimous consent that the record of today's hearing remain open until such time as our Witnesses have provided answers to any questions that may be submitted to them in writing without objection so ordered and then I also ask unanimous consent that the record remain open for 15 days for any additional comments and information submitted by members or Witnesses to be included in the record of today's hearing without objection so ordered
▶ 0:52:03so I want to thank uh each of our panelists uh for for being here today your testimony is very good uh and we now turn to questions for the panel so I will recognize myself for up to uh five minutes now I'm in come at this from a little bit different angle than many of my colleagues may just uh just because of some specific experience uh I had when I was in the state legisl I get elected to the state senate in 2008 and at that time in my home county at Johnston County
▶ 0:52:33North Carolina and other surrounding counties particularly in the rural areas uh but my home county in particular for whatever reason uh there was a death almost a week uh if not a week every two weeks uh it was one of those things where every time you turn on the on the news a young person um was killed in a traffic fatality and in the morning rural areas uh you have uh narrower roads um you know straight uh uh very straight
▶ 0:53:03roads in some places and then you know a quick turn and what we found was that there were a lot of young people young people as in teenagers those who are in their 20s and and those who are older too that uh when they would run off the road they didn't know how to correct they didn't know how to get back on they would over correct and the tire would grab and the next thing they knew uh they they were in we had a traffic fatality and so there was a big effort in the legislature uh to address that uh issue because it had become so so
▶ 0:53:34prolific and what we ended up doing was uh basically enhancing uh driver education uh specifically uh encouraging incentivizing uh parents to uh travel more uh you know with the with their children as they as they learn how to drive so if you were going to get a your license at age 16 at age 15 with your learner permit uh a big part of the requirement uh was u u experience behind the wheel uh that your parents or
▶ 0:54:04Guardian who or whoever you know was with you would document uh as part of a log and that um that translated in into saving uh saving lives it worked so my question is uh you know the fatalities we have out there is how did the demographics break breakdown is it Universal or is it are we having in these rural areas uh like we had in North Carolina where it was mostly younger people that were over correcting uh I'm just curious your experience on that front and and recommendations
▶ 0:54:34that aren't necessarily roads and bridges uh but driver education anybody I'd be glad to try to answer that thank you Mr chairman um I don't have the specific statistics about the breakdown that you asked but I'd be glad to get that to you I don't want to misrepresent but I appreciate greatly what You' said about graduated driver licensing we work in State legislatures throughout the country to make sure that young people whose brains are not formed yet I have two younger drivers myself and it's terrifying as a parent
▶ 0:55:05when you uh hand those keys over so um what you mentioned about graduated driver licensing or gdl is essential and we urge all state legislatures to enhance them we put out a report every year called the road map to safety and in our report no state has an optimal gdl law so there are improvements needed in every state legislature Mr Hansen Mr chair and members um in the demographic question I think you know some things haven't changed young males are still highly
▶ 0:55:35over represented especially in those rural rollover fatalities especially young males driving pickup trucks and so education and outreaches absolutely have to be part of that solution infrastructure especially on our unpaved roadways is a little bit tougher challenge to overcome so when we address those driver behavior issues through education and through Outreach and through training that is going to be the thing that will provide the benefit and save those rural lives thank you Mr will
▶ 0:56:05thank you Mr chairman you know as a commissioner we don't deal a lot with the driver Behavior we're trying to deal with the road and as I mentioned washboards if you were on Rural roads that's one of the dangers you have when you get that you lose traction so we try to address that as best we can the slopes of the gravel roads reduce those so if they do go off the road we reduce the chance for overcorrection but here's the challenge is many of those rural roads have an average daily traffic of 15 so how much when you're making the financial considerations of where to spend your dollars in a rural
▶ 0:56:35community how much effort can you spend on a road that has low volume but a high risk versus a road that's got a lot of volume and and a less of a risk so those are the challenges we face all the time try to do it as we go along but you know dealing with the slopes and the washboards are things we try to deal with on the gravel roads that that help if they get into a bad situation ation yeah absolutely Miss Norman real quickly only have about 18 seconds left but do you have some specifics as it relates to work zones I95
▶ 0:57:05cutting through North Carolina for example I I think that we've been working on that you know since the beginning of time uh it never ends work zones yeah thank you for that good question and I think in regards to work zones specifically there is um some new driver uh teen driver training specifically for work Zone which is not in current um driver education and that is really picking up especially in Oklahoma it is actually now a law that they take a course to get their driver's license um that is specific to work zones and so
▶ 0:57:35um ATS is happy to um share that information as well and get that into other states that'd be great I yield back Miss Norton you're recognized thank you Mr chairman uh Miss Chase uh in uh 2023 4,99 people were killed on public roads that is 8,996 more deaths
▶ 0:58:06than in 2013 despite hundreds of billions of dollars uh of taxpayer investment to maintain and improve our transportation system why is it important to ensure that Federal Transportation safety are used for their intended purpose thank you for the question ranking member um it is it's vital that federal dollars are spent for
▶ 0:58:36the precise reason that you just shared um our country is experiencing a Public Health crisis on our roadways and without federal dollars to improve the roadway environments as well as improvements to Vehicles themselves in your opening statement you mentioned automatic the new automatic emergency breaking rule we have worked to get that over the finish line for over a decade because we know that it will address distracted driving impaired driving drowsy driving if a car doesn't If a driver doesn't break the car will slow down and
▶ 0:59:07break for them so we need to have a holistic answer and we need Federal do dollars in order to finance it thank you uh M Miss Chase bicyclists and pestan suffer disproportionately uh from Highway uh fatality on our roads to combat the vulnerable Road user safety crisis the BL created the vulnerable Road
▶ 0:59:37user Rule uh the rule requires a state to direct 15 15% of its highway safety Improvement program funding to vulnerable Road user safety projects if bicyclist and pedestrians make up at least 15% of the state's uh traffic fatalities why does it make sense to dedicate highway safety
▶ 1:00:07funding for projects that address ongoing safety challenges facing vulnerable Road users thank you for the question vulnerable Road users lack the protections that motorists have basically a car surrounding them so they're a particular risk in terms of uh roadway safety um I think that that program that uh allocates a certain percentage toward vulnerable Road user safety makes sense because you're addressing a pro a known problem um oftentimes
▶ 1:00:37um we don't pay attention to the problem at hand um but every everything that is decided should be based on statistics and facts and that's why it's so important to um address vulnerable Road user safety which we know have have been increasing by over 50% of last decade than thank you Mr Hansen uh and miss and uh Miss Chase currently uh manufacturers and operators of vehicles equipped with
▶ 1:01:08automatic Driving Systems are required to submit crash data uh to a Nitsa however they are not required to report close call so-called close call incidents where Vehicles break traffic rules or operate unsafely but Do Not Crash recently Nitsa published its AV step proposed rulle making which would create
▶ 1:01:38a voluntary oversight program for cars what are ways to increase accountability for autonomous vehicles on our roadways Miss Chase and Mr Hansen Mr chair and members um the very good question thank you for that um really what it's going to come down to is those near misses and the technology is emerging for us to to track that type of of behavior using telematics and a variety of
▶ 1:02:08other technologies that are out there and so the the better that we can track that and the better that we can work with the manufacturers in order to to harvest that data it will identify the countermeasures that we can deploy uh in order to prevent the types of behaviors or the types of activity that you're describing from taking place in the first place so it's going to be a combined effort between I think the oems as well as Nitsa as well as the states to begin to track some of this um novel data and some of the telematic data that is available
▶ 1:02:38out there miss Chase I agree with Mr Hansen and that data collection is essential in order to make proper decisions um a number of years ago when Congress started deliberating about an autonomous vehicle bill um we came up with a document called The Av tenants and it provided a blueprint on how autonomous vehicles could be achieved safely we are not pro or against autonomous vehicles we just want them to be done in a deliberate and thoughtful way um our av tenants have a number of highlevel um recommendations
▶ 1:03:08including prioritizing safety for all users um which includes safety rulemakings and safety and performance data collection guaranteeing access accessibility for all preserving consumer and worker rights and ensuring local control and sustainable Transportation these are promises that are being made by autonomous vehicle manufacturers so we want to help make sure that all of the promises being offered are achieved thank you I yeld back Mr stalber thank you very much Mr chair
▶ 1:03:39before I begin uh Mr Wilcox uh britley Butner says hi she works for me now and she's had a great time working with you so I wanted to share that with you Mr Hansen director Hansen Nitsa put out the results of a national survey on driver knowledge of school passing laws in November participants were asked for their opinions on the reason most drivers illegally pass a stopped school bus 12.2% said they were distracted 25% said
▶ 1:04:09they were in a hurry 24.3% said they didn't know it was illegal to pass a school bus and 30.5% per said they didn't care those last two statistics are what startles me the most 55% of the drivers in the survey either didn't care or didn't know director Hansen can you speak to uh the dangers of illegal School Bus passings Mr chair and members absolutely
▶ 1:04:39this is a critical challenge for all of us in the traffic safety World our most precious cargo are those kids getting on and off of those school buses and it it is something we have to face education and outreach are certainly going to be some of the most effective tools that we can deploy so we can reach those drivers who don't know what the law is but along with that we also have to be able to have the method and the tools to hold drivers accountable when they don't care because quite honestly that is just not acceptable um in Minnesota over the last two years we've taken
▶ 1:05:09about $16 Million worth of state provided funding um and we have created a grant program for our transportation providers to equip uh our school buses with stop arm camera systems so that we can track those drivers and we can take that enforcement action that they seriously need to to be part of to date we've there's about 12,000 yellow buses in Minnesota that would qualify for that we've equipped over 8,000 of them with a camera system and talking with my law enforcement Partners across the state and with
▶ 1:05:39the transportation providers it's a much much more effective way to document those violations and hold those drivers accountable so education Outreach enforcement that is the key sir the education Outreach piece goes my next question would you support a public service announc but like uh the clicket or ticket campaign in the 9s for wearing belts absolutely the more we can keep these types of topics in the Forefront of the the the public the more they pay attention to it
▶ 1:06:10and the more likely we are to obtain that voluntary compliance which again that that that lessens the need for that enforcement and so forth but it increases the knowledge and the the the ability of drivers to know what the law is and what they have to do to comply with that I I can tell you I'm passionate about this and uh I'm going to work with you on working to get PSA announcements on the airwaves uh to make sure that the educational component is there um you said uh you mentioned it's our most precious cargo and we
▶ 1:06:40have to protect it I want to change gears uh director Hansen we have seen a decrease in traffic enforcement across the country has that had an impact on safety Mr chair and members um the the data is irrefutable um the the decrease in traffic law enforcement that has occurred over the last five six seven years um across the country has led to significant uh increases in the bad driving behavior that we are seeing out there and so traffic law enforcement is
▶ 1:07:10the one thing that we can take off the shelf as the state highway safety office we can put it to work right now and it will have an effect on driver Behavior now uh again it has to be implemented in the right place at the right time for the right reason in the right way in order for that to be effective uh but you know there are examples all over the country where where traffic law enforcement has decreased you know the DC area you know the number of impaired driving arrests over the last several years has decreased significantly but yet the number of impaired driving
▶ 1:07:40fatalities has increased almost diametrically to that number and uh in they're just example after example after after example talking to my partners across the country where that decrease in that enforcement presence has led to the increase in bad driving behavior Minnesota the number of drivers who are apprehended for driving more than 100 miles an hour is roughly triple what it was pre pandemic and so we have to we have to employ these tools in an effective way thank you very much
▶ 1:08:11uh last question EMS uh and post crash care aren't talked about as free frequently as uh tactics to reduce crash fatalities can you share more about why you think it is an important element of roadway safety this Mr chair and members and again thank you for a great question um EMS Services you know kind of the fourth e of the the toward zero death concept um and that that's post crash care over 40% of people who are killed in a motor vehicle crash are alive when EMS arrives on the
▶ 1:08:41scene we need to find better ways to provide timely care and get them to a proper facility in order to improve that survival rate even a small Improvement there is going to pay huge dividends for the number of fatalities that are taking place across the country um in Minnesota we're working with advanced technology and Advanced Data analysis Tools in order to identify ideal positioning for our EMS responders based on Crash history as well as real-time data so that we can cut down that response time
▶ 1:09:11get those services to the scene quickly and get those patients to the hospital quickly um whole blood I'm I'm running out of time Mr Hansen I I wish we'd have more time thank you for your service Mr chair yield back Mr Larson your recognized uh thank you Mr chair uh Miss Chase your testimony notes that crash tax which uh I think your your term which is the annual economic cost of the physical and emotional damage caused by motor vehicle crashes can you elaborate
▶ 1:09:41therefore on why Federal safety are critical not only to saving lives but but helping communities grow and prosper in terms of federal safety grants sir is that what you said I'm sorry I couldn't hear you you uh in terms of Federal safety Investments okay yeah well Federal in terms of federal safety Investments um as we're talking today about roadway Investments are crucial if you don't have the safe roadway environments then Vehicles will not perform as needed and expected um Additionally the 402 and 405
▶ 1:10:11grants which help to enhance um which which excuse me which help to address behavioral issues and which also encourage stronger state state laws um are essential in order to make all of the roads in our country safer on that point uh Mr Hansen uh um I have a question for you with regards to the uh whether roadway safety overall is a federal interest or not uh is it a is it a federal interest that uh a road in my
▶ 1:10:42district um be built safely versus one in your District uh or should we rely strictly on local or local governments to take care of that I think the answer if I understand the question sir is um you know they're they're both equally important um and Rural Road Safety is certainly something we need to focus on and the infrastructure part of this and the behavior part of of what's happening on our roads absolutely has to intersect in a meaningful way
▶ 1:11:12so infrastructure affects driver Behavior but driver Behavior can overcome infrastructure occasionally and so I think it is a federal priority to ensure that that we have the same level of safe design and safe implementation across the country yeah thanks um uh Miss Norman I'm sorry I lost I misplaced my glasses this morning so miss miss Norman I note that in your testimony you said you're MOSI Creek Nation citizen as well and your testimony covers travel Road
▶ 1:11:42Safety um I have a district that includes eight federally recognized tribes as well members all over the this committee as well have the honor to and privilege to serve with with uh tribal citiz ciens um can you talk a little bit more based on your testimony how important the tribal Transportation safety program is just so they have it in the record yes thank you so much for that um we
▶ 1:12:12are so thankful for the continued focus on tribal road safety and the increase in both the tribal Transportation program and the safety set aside um of that program were great steps forward um as a result my company uh as I mentioned in my statement has worked on projects on tribal lands um to install pavement markings guard rail uh signage and rumble strips in an effort to make those roads safer I drive those roads myself every day with my kids and those things are vitally important um
▶ 1:12:43as mentioned earlier a lot of those rural roads and Tribal Roads can be more narrow and have you know other issues that uh we don't see in other places and so I would ask that Congress continues to invest in safety on our Tribal Roads um and ensure that the safety funds can get directly into the hands of those communities that need them yeah thanks uh thanks uh Mr Willcox I'm very thankful that uh you we put these U panels together the minority gets uh one uh witness uh majority gets the majority of
▶ 1:13:13the witnesses um and yet we have a panel that largely agrees regardless of who they're who who asks them to be here which is really really great to hear and I think that's been a theme of the America build hearings that we've had as well broad consensus on both sides of the aisle uh to craft a bill in the future that we can all agree on um very pleased as well as a former County elected official uh to hear from you how important the counties think it is for the federal
▶ 1:13:43uh programs to provide money to counties directly and not necessarily to the states must be W States in Washington state we also have a very set way of the state legislature taking the federal dollars and allocating to cities and counties as well not every state does that Wyoming sounds like it does that as well perhaps West Virginia's in that boat too um but I just wanted to ask you underscore the the role the counties play again and how important
▶ 1:14:14it is for uh you to have that direct relationship with Federal funding sources thank you representative yeah the the path is it's a system and and as I said my statement with the whole system has to work so County roads are a vital part of that you have both pass through and grants and I think the thing that we need to keep in mind is the pass through at times for Rural counties can be such a small amount of money they can't do some projects so we also need to have the grants available so that you can apply for the bigger projects $100,000
▶ 1:14:44to a small county is a fifth of a blade blades are half a million dollars now whereas they might have a million-dollar project they can apply through grants so it's a balancing act that is Terri that that's tricky but is also vital for uh small rural communities and that balance at the federal level thank you appreciate that thank you m Mr NS thank you Mr chairman uh despite billions billions in funding for roadway and safety programs traffic fatalities remain above prepandemic
▶ 1:15:15levels Doge and the work Elon Musk and his team are doing to expose the waste the fraud and just government faat of these agencies programs that merely exist because no one in Congress has objectively looked at them and asked is this worth Federal taxpayer monies I think it's key to highlight Federal taxpayer monies a lot of programs they have good good intentions if people in their state or local municipalities
▶ 1:15:45want to invest in PR campaigns that I I think that's great go for it however I question if it's the most effective use of taxpayer monies can we provide concrete evidence that nitus behavioral safety programs like the high visibility enforcement public awareness campaigns have directly reduced crashes and not just increased awareness increasing awareness is fine but it should be temporary
▶ 1:16:16our section 402 or 405 programs improving roadway safety or are the relics of previous attempts to just do something I mean are we really reducing drunk driving with the drive sober or get pulled over how we reducing it I don't think so n's website look it up I just looked it up 13,000 lives last year drunk driving desk last December the highest in 15 years Miss
▶ 1:16:46chase you said it you said a few minutes ago everything should be decided by statistics and facts I believe some of nits safety programs do not improve safety and the statistics and the facts support my conclusion we have a $36 trillion debt we need to start thinking about cutting these programs and the career bureaucrats who do this work it needs to be either private money or at the state and local
▶ 1:17:16level with that I yield gentleman yields Mr Johnson you're recognized thank you Mr chairman uh and ranking member um for holding this hearing it's a critical hearing when we're talking about lives lost on American highways in fact 400,000 lives lost on American roads in the past decade that means 400,000 empty dinner table
▶ 1:17:46chairs 400,000 M birthdays 400,000 Futures that have been snuffed out and these these aren't just numbers it's real lives torn apart by preventable tragedies this is devastating uh this is devastating and the bipartisan infrastructure law recognized the need for safer roads and invested more than $38 billion in safety projects thanks to
▶ 1:18:16these efforts we've seen a decline in traffic fatalities that progress is now being recklessly jeopardized the US Department of transportation's recent memo prioritizing funding for safety based on birth and marriage rates represents a dangerous diversion of resources away from critical safety initiatives and proven technologies that save lives if we lose sight
▶ 1:18:46of this the tragedy of more lives lost will continue to devastate communities Across the Nation Federal investment should never be tied to factors like birth rates and marital status our priority must be protecting lives and that means investing in the safety of every person who uses our roads no matter where they come from or who they are Miss chase you ended your testimony with a compelling message that everyone in in the UN in the
▶ 1:19:16United States moves on our road ways whether as a driver passenger pedestrian cyclist worker and uh that everyone deserves a safe trip our goal in Congress should be to ensure that no one's safety is at risk simply because of where they live how they travel or their economic background however in a recent Department of Transportation memo outlining policies for DOT grants loans contracts and federally
▶ 1:19:46supported or assisted State contracts the department stated it would quote give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average end quote Miss Chase can Federal investment based on birth rates and marital status truly meet the safety needs of everyone and how does Federal investment based on birth rates and marital status inherently prioritize
▶ 1:20:17some over others uh thank you the for the question Congressman Johnson um safety has been and always will be nonpartisan non-political issue um we have always strived to work on both sides of the aisle to advance safety improvements starting with airbags and seat belts um electronic stability control and most recently as was mentioned automatic emergency braking these systems protect all Road users and um should not be in a political um tangle so I mean so
▶ 1:20:47when we start creating uh uh prerequisites like birth rates and marriage marriage rates and giving preference to communities with above average uh you know higher uh birth and marriage rates how does that disfavor other communities and should that prerequisite Trump
▶ 1:21:17uh health and safety for all Advocates has always proceeded in a way that we base our recommend ations on safety on facts and figures as I stated so that is relevant are those are birth no those are not legitimate factors those are not what we have based our policies on all right thank you uh I particularly appreciate the conclusion of your testimony where you highlighted the importance of datadriven solutions for improving roadway safety
▶ 1:21:47through infrastructure improvements this approach has proven effective in preventing fatalities and injuries while ensuring more efficient roads is there any data or evidence that shows that prioritizing funding based on birth and marriage rates will actually reduce traffic fatalities and injuries not that I'm aware of so why would we apply such a prerequisite to uh future funding is it just simply
▶ 1:22:18political sir it's not a question that I can answer since I didn't make the determination I think it's clear uh what the motivation would be uh now we know that traffic fatalities disproportionately affect certain communities and investing federal dollars into infrastructure that protects vulnerable Road users has clear benefits especially for disadvantaged communities these disparities are a matter of life and death how can a funding model that fails to prioritize
▶ 1:22:48safety outcomes exacerbate the risks faced by already vulnerable communities potentially leading to a rise in traffic related fatalities and injuries is that AUST to me again sir yes okay um well we should always base our determinations on how to improve safety based on what's happening on the roadways so if there are communities that are suffering disproportionately then Solutions effective Solutions with transparency and accountability should employed
▶ 1:23:19all right thank you my my time is expired are you back Mr Massie thank you Mr chairman Mr Hansen I once had a mentor who told me that hope is not a business plan I would also say it's not a good technology development plan uh in your testimony you noted that the infrastructure investment jobs act requires Nitsa to complete rule making for advanced impaired driving technology AKA Automotive kill switch by November of last
▶ 1:23:49year a deadline that the agency has not met I made a prediction in front of the this committee and I'm going to make it again today that this won't be ready by 2026 Congress has asked the impossible it's a wish it's not a plan are you aware that Anne Carlson the former acting director acting administrator of Nitsa sat in front of this subcommittee and said I think it's safe to say that we do not think they are available yet in a way that actually will achieve the goals both of the bipartisan
▶ 1:24:20infrastructure law and the vehicle safety act did you hear her make that comment Mr chair members I don't remember that specific comment sir so um are you aware that the technology that you are advocating for in your testimony does not exist Nitsa released their early uh rul making process in March of 2024 um there was a
▶ 1:24:50deadline uh in late 2024 for them to have a proposal ready to go and that has gone uh by or expired um Nitsa has also been working with the dads program since about 2008 which is the early precursor for the halt act or that the technology inar that would prevent an impaired driver from operating that vehicle um my understanding is that that dad's project um is now
▶ 1:25:20ready to go and could be implemented in 2025 and the oems have been involved in the development of that well before airbags were mandated and before seat belts were mandated they both existed in commercial vehicles for over a decade does this technology exist in any commercial vehicle presently I'm not aware of it being uh Mr chair members I'm not aware of it being available or mandated in any vehicle type now but I would compare it to ignition interlock that you know that type of technology
▶ 1:25:51is there in one shape form or another well the difference between the ignition interlock and this technology you're advocating for is the one you're advocating for is science fiction presently it doesn't exist in any vehicle it's never been implemented and there's a mandate by the government to have it in every new vehicle within two years it's just not practical um and what's more is if if you did try to implement it there would be false positives so what we're talking about here is a
▶ 1:26:21kill a kill switch in an automobile that would monitor the driving of a vehicle and then stop the vehicle from operating if the car itself decides that the operator is not driving safely let's say a mother is driving u a vehicle taking her kids to work and how does she appeal her conviction of a disabled minivan from the side of a road how would you reenable the car that's been disabled with this technology you're advocating
▶ 1:26:51for it's a good question sir Mr chair members uh good question and I'm not quite sure that I'm qualified to provide the the technical answer that that you're looking for there um I do understand that the technology is is very near to being developed that would allow for a passive type of system that would detect when a driver has an alcohol concentration above a predetermined level and that would uh not allow the vehicle to be Opera well the problem with the technology is it's not looking for
▶ 1:27:22alcohol levels you could you can monitor blood alcohol levels at least if somebody's breathing into something that's not what this technology promises to do in fact it says it's going to passively monitor driver performance what does that mean the Mr chair and members um my understanding is that it doesn't require any active participation by the driver like an ignition interlock system would it simply is a system that exists within
▶ 1:27:52the vehicle platform that would detect when a driver has a predetermined alcohol concentration or is above that predetermined alcohol concentration so this is primarily focusing on preventing an impaired driving incident from happening before it does the the specification hopes to do that but the technology does not exist it simply doesn't exist and what's more is if it did exist there's some cost associated with developing
▶ 1:28:22it maybe an at autonomous vehicle could perform this but what does an autonomous vehicle cost and whenever we're looking at safety you know as an engineer um what you need to look at is where's your bang for the buck if this system assuming it could exist cost $5,000 you can't simply mandate it and say you're going to improve safety because the price of the vehicle can't go up $5,000 you're going to compromise somewhere else maybe less metal in the frame or something
▶ 1:28:53so I think is I think it's full hearty for you to sit here and testify that we need to have this technology available on this timeline because it simply does not exist we don't know the cost we don't know how it works and there would be false positives that could put the public at danger and with that I yield back Mr Garcia thank you uh chairman uh ranking member and uh to all of our panelist this morning uh commissioner uh willix uh in a region as large
▶ 1:29:23and complex as Chicago addressing Transportation safety can't be done one town at a time it takes a coordinated Regional strategy that's why the safe travel for all road map prepared by the Chicago metropolitan Agency for planning is so important this region-wide initiative is bringing together six counties to identify high-risk roads upgrade infrastructure and make streets safer for Everyone by
▶ 1:29:53creating creating Safety Action plans in each County our region is laying the groundwork for critical Investments that will make our road safer for all users my question to youer is uh as we work on the next we auor reauthorization how should Congress help Regional governments more uh directly access safety funding so that they can Implement these plans and move projects forward more quickly
▶ 1:30:25thank you representative I I think the key is not to make the box too small what works in Chicago does not work the same in a regional Authority in Wyoming so make sure there is flexibility built in so that what works in that local area can be best implemented and provide those uh opportunities some of the regional transportation in our part of the world uh it's a little larger area I mentioned my countyy is larger than Rhode Island so there's some Geographic challenges that happen there as well but when you
▶ 1:30:55create that uh continue to work with that it make sure that the restrictions aren't so tight that what works for Chicago doesn't necessarily work in a rural area uh thank you uh Mr Willock Switching gears uh a little bit it's clear to me that grants play an important role in making communities safer uh programs like Safe Streets and roads for all help Implement projects to prevent deaths and serious injuries on our roadways and in Chicago we know the corridors
▶ 1:31:25with the highest incidents of crashes thanks to the state's vulnerable Road user safety assessment many of these corridors are of course in my district Mr Chase I'm going to ask you to comment uh and to answer a question we know that indigenous Black and Hispanic populations all experience pedestrian and bicycle fatalities at higher rates up to three times more frequently than the general population we cannot effectively address the issue
▶ 1:31:56of traffic safety without accounting for these inequities that's another reason why the the why the bipartisan infrastructure law programs like Safe Streets for all and transportation alternatives are so important the benefits of investing federal dollars into infrastructure that protects vulnerable Road users are reaped especially by disadvantaged communities as this committee considers new investments in traffic safety how
▶ 1:32:26can we ensure that those dollars reach communities most impacted by this crisis and that's a question for Miss Chase thank you for the question I think it's essential that when we're looking at the next reauthorization bill that we take a good look at what is happening on our roadways and make determinations to address the problems we know that some of the leading crash contributors are drunk driving um speeding uh not wearing your seat Bel and distracted driving and and yet we have proven solutions
▶ 1:32:56to address all of those that aren't being used effectively and that's what needs to happen and I'm looking forward to working with the members of this committee as we did at the last reauthorization to try to advance these safety improvements and will you be advancing proposals to the committee for our consideration as we look at reauthorization absolutely sir great looking forward to it thank you and I yield back Mr chairman Mr Weed thank you Mr chairman as always I'd like to extend my thanks to our Witnesses for appearing before us today to discuss the safety
▶ 1:33:27on our nation's roadways whether it's motorists pedestrians or cyclists the safety of everyone who uses our roads must be a top priority every person deserves to travel safely whether they're driving to work walking to school or biking through their neighborhood and I look forward to working with my colleagues to make this reality in my home state teens are required and it's free for them to complete a 30-minute work Zone safety instruction as a requirement to obtain
▶ 1:33:57their license after completing the course they will know what causes most work Zone crashes and the basic driving safety habits that can prevent injuries and fatalities the course also introduces teens to powerful real life stories of the faces behind the flags cones and flashing lights which are too often overlooked by many drivers Miss Norman I'd like to direct my first question to you what can this committee do to support
▶ 1:34:27state efforts like this on Works own safety thank you so much for that great question um it's a wonderful program uh that's happening in several States and um this committee can continue to invest in in the roads in in safety um we are at atsa we are very uh confident that there is a lot that can be done uh as far as Behavior goes but that
▶ 1:34:57we also need to remain focused on what happens when we can't control behavior um and so I am thankful for that uh program and I think that one thing that can be done federally is awareness and communication between states on best practices I believe that we will see that that type of program is effective and should be um shared across States so thank you for mentioning that so that that that program is currently only offered and again it's free it's it's privately funded in Oklahoma
▶ 1:35:27and Wisconsin uh do we know I mean that if is there stats that show that it is effective I do not have that information at this time and I do know that it is a newer program so it may take some time for that to come out but would' be glad to follow up on that afterwards okay great obviously having stuff you know programs like that that are privately funded um are definitely things that we need to look into and of course raise that awareness like you said to other states and perhaps I mean you can't I can't imagine it's not
▶ 1:35:57effective yes sir absolutely yeah and and it's uh in Oklahoma we have seen um a lot of our contractors and um our road builders come together and be the ones that support that and it is very important we want to keep our workers safe it's great to see Private Industry getting involved and and certainly that's very important for our safety and for our children and and for the workers so um Mr Wilcox you mentioned that Converse County is a commodity based economy that's iant on oil and gas and making heavy trucks I'm sure a common sight on your
▶ 1:36:28roads what investment is needed in your opinion and for Rural roadways to ensure trucks hauling essential Goods can continue to operate safely in rural environments and I say this because we are a very large logging Forestry District in Northeast Wisconsin the Green Bay Area and of course agriculture um but would really like your uh your input on that well thank you representative you know oil and gas and is a big part of our and those heavy trucks what I want is legal heavy trucks um we you know they are
▶ 1:36:58hard on our roads I talked a little bit about dust suppression and they kick up a lot of dust so one of the things I'm advocating for is allowing dust suppression to actually be a safety control right now it's an environmental control but if you have a big truck that goes past it creates dust that's a challenge they're harder on our road so we have to do maintenance they're providing Revenue so it's a trade-off but you want to make sure that the education many times when you have that industry particularly they are non uh residents of our state and our County so they're learning the
▶ 1:37:28roads as they drive so education and signage is a big thing so we're using signage and temporary speed limit trailers if you will Safe Streets for all that was mentioned is we're actually going to use the some of those portable signs that slow the trucks down so we have a maintenance issue and then we don't want them to get heavier than legal limits because then that's a real challenge for our bridges and regular maintenance all right thank you again Witnesses and I yield back SES thank you very much Mr
▶ 1:37:58chair and ranking member for holding this hearing today uh this is a great conversation and certainly very timely as you know we'll be working on the surface Transportation authorization uh and safety is always it's always a good day to talk about safety uh thanks to the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021 communities from coast to coast will continue to see over $1.2 trillion dollar in local Investments to improve the reliability resilience and efficiency of Americans infrastructure over the next 10 years Americans are already seeing tangible
▶ 1:38:28differences including improve roads Bridges transit systems airports waterways and environmental infrastructure one of the programs that many Midwestern states and localities have taken advantage of is the railroad crossing elimination program which provides funds to improve the mobility and safety of Highway Rail and pathway rail grade Crossings anyone who has lived near a rail Crossing as I uh understands the inconvenience and dangers that railroad crossings pose to local drivers
▶ 1:38:58bikers and pedestrians as well as for the rail workers and the staff uh and those whose staff trains but these Crossings don't just pose threats to people passing through they're also cumbersome for the communities around them as they're very costly to improve or remove uh this means that the federal dollars coming in coming in to address these issues with rail crossings are invaluable resources for communities like mine and akan and throughout District since last month the Federal Railroad Administration has invested uh $48
▶ 1:39:29billion of funding for more than 445 rail projects uh creating safer communities for the millions of Americans living around them in Ohio These funds are desperately needed um while the number of train vehicle trashes crashes at public Highway rail grade Crossings is as high as it was in 2001 when there were 123 crashes the recent jump from 62 to 77 is certainly a cause for concern and with I know we're not talking about rail but I can't
▶ 1:39:59not help talk about rail there was a train derailment today in Ohio so it's uh it's always timely uh but I'm going to turn our attention to Ohio's 13th District I was thrilled to see that the Ohio rail development commission awarded $13 million of railroad crossing elimination program funding uh from federal government uh with path pass through funds to uh remove existing rail crossings and build a grade separation uh in the city city of Hudson which has consistently had issues and while this project will likely bring more orange barrels to the streets of Hudson
▶ 1:40:29it's certainly important to remember that these orange barrels mean jobs and opportunities for folks in Ohio uh Mr Chase I want to ask you a question uh we know that safety alone is a reason enough to miss Chase excuse me to invest in our communities but could you also speak to the economic benefits of safe roadways the economic investment of safe roadways you said yes ma'am thank you I'm sorry I'm having a hard time hearing today my apologies um yes we know that um crashes
▶ 1:41:00cost our economy $340 billion every year and any investment in both the roadways and vehicles and in safe road users will pay off um as I was stated in my written testimony this amounts to a crash tax if you will of about $1,000 on each American so clearly with that combination and the mounting death and injury toll we can and must do better to make our roadway safer for all Road users and as I mentioned earlier we have proven Solutions so it's not like we're
▶ 1:41:30curing cancer we know how to make our roadway safer we need our leaders and our safety stakeholders to implement proven answers thank you so much for your your response there in December of last year the akan metropolitan area transportation study also known as amtz uh amats released its latest analysis identifying the Region's most dangerous intersections uh for both pedestrians and motorists uh 222 bicycle Rel related crashes occurred
▶ 1:42:00in 2021 uh and 2022 and 2023 204 of them resulted in an injury or and two of them in a fatality uh there are 428 pedestrian related crashes in the same time period with 80 89% of them resulting in injury and 31 of them in a fatality uh cars are heavier and larger much of the infrastructure does not consider pedestrians or people walking or biking uh and to address this issue I worked with uh Congressman
▶ 1:42:30Cary to introduce save our pedestrians act which requires states to set aside federal funds to make our roads safer for everyone from pedestrians to motorists unfortunately uh we continue to see um a freeze of to federal funds particularly uh for transportation projects that are particularly important and I see I'm running out of time into I'm not going to get to my next question um but uh Mr chair and to the members of the committee thank you so much for uh your consistent approach to
▶ 1:43:01safety and the work that you do we look forward to working with you in this Congress I think the gentle lady U Mr Braham thank you Mr chairman um I appreciate this conversation because uh before I became a member of Congress last month I was a heavy Highway electrical contractor and was a certified pen do Flagger so um um I I've seen the risk inherent dangers of being a contractor I've been on the road with our crews uh we specifically focused
▶ 1:43:31on traffic signals and smart electrical infrastructure CCTV cashless tolling systems um and every single day that we would do job safety analysis the first thing every day would be the uncontrollability of traffic on a roadway and my first question would be for Miss Norman uh this is what you do through crash trucks attenuator trucks how have you seen the technology of the attenuator truck and have you seen or have had any firsthand experience
▶ 1:44:01where an attenuator truck did exactly what it was supposed to do yes thank you for that question um I have multiple stories I would not be able to count the number exactly um where every single time the attenuator truck has done what it was supposed to do both the driver that impacted the vehicle and our dri driver who was driving that impact attenuator walked away from the accidents with no injuries so what I think it's really interesting is an attenuator
▶ 1:44:31truck and the the slang term is a crash truck and something that pendot requires is somebody to occupy the actual actual crash truck uh we were a part of the autonomous vehicle Coalition many moons ago and actually our company installed the first connected V connected autonomous vehicle system in the city of Harrisburg um something that we were working on with the committee was utilizing autonomous vehicles relevant to the attenuator truck where there'd be a Chase car and the truck would
▶ 1:45:02move through the work zone so you did not have literally a Sitting Duck in inside of one of these attenuator trucks is there anything that we can do in Congress to cauterize or or solidify interpretations relating to aonis vehicle specifically inside of zones thank you for that great question as well I don't have the technical experience I believe to answer that question but I do know that adet is very actively engaged with that AV conversation and we would be
▶ 1:45:32glad to connect on that um as we have been you know working on the autonomous vehicles specifically with the crash attenuators I think we're going to be moving in a world where there's going to be more and more autonomous vehicles um connected vehicles and specifically inside of work zones I mean whether it's a GM technology or a Tesla technology we have to remember that they're still computers and they still take away the fact of the human decision situational
▶ 1:46:02awareness um Miss chase you had testified earlier um you know relevant to the autonomous vehicles and where the the industry is heading um is there you know any potential downsides of having more autonomous vehicles on the road that you see well I think the potential downsides and again I just want to reiterate that Advocates is not pro or against autonomous vehicles we just want to see that it's done safely and we believe that the downsides are if they're put on the roads before there are proper safeguards
▶ 1:46:33that it could endanger the the unknowing public people don't necessarily know if they're next to an autonomous car if it's not obvious from the outside and I think that as technology progresses that will probably be even more likely so I think now is the perfect time for our nation to consider what our policy should be so that it's deliberate and safe uh I appreciate this uh my last question is for Mr Hansen and Miss Chase relevant to safety sensitive positions and marijuana specifically relating to
▶ 1:47:03these I think uh at a prior hearing we talked about you know the fact that alcohol has the ability to detect instantaneous impairment obviously when you are driving an 80,000 pound vehicle over the road um do you have any recommendations for Congress and also with States getting out in front of federal legislation relating to marijuana specifically do you have any recommendations or ideas or technologies that we can start to implement that would detect
▶ 1:47:33um a more instantaneous level of impairment thank you sir Mr chair members um I think the first and foremost thing that that is going to assist us in preventing those tragedies from taking place is oral fluid roadside testing um we can deploy instruments and technology in the field that allows a law enforcement officer to detect recent use of a cannabis product that is a strong indicator that that person may be impaired so putting those tools in the hands of law enforcement to prevent that from from happening or
▶ 1:48:03allow them to process somebody who may be impaired is going to be important thank you I think we're out of time but uh I yield back and happy belated birthday I look forward to working with you on the issue sir all you have to do is sit on 14th Street bridge and you can smell all of it Mr Nadler thank you Mr chairman uh Mr Willcox the condition of our roads and bridges is a critical component of roadway safety however according to the Federal Highway Administration
▶ 1:48:33over 42,000 bridges are rated as poor including over 1,600 in my home state of New York furthermore the 2016 US do truck size and weight study found that thousands of Interstate bridges are unable to accommodate 91,000 lb trucks which is 11 lb 11,000 lb above the current gross vehicle weight limit even more troubling is the damage these heavier trucks caus to our local Bridges no truck loads and unloads on an interstate
▶ 1:49:04they all eventually rely on local infrastructure a recent study by the Coalition against bigger trucks showed over 70,000 local Bridges would be put at risk by 91,000 lb trucks and the cost to replace and repair these Bridges would be over $60 billion in New York there are9 145 Bridges put at risk by 91,000 lb trucks with an estimated cost of more than $1.3 billion to bolster them the heavier truck configurations this cost burden is an unfunded
▶ 1:49:34Federal mandate that in the end local taxpayers will have to put the bill for commissioner Wilcox does the National Association of counties have a position on the current debate on heavier and longer trucks and when these bigger trucks cause more damage to our nation's Bridges creating an unfunded mandate on counties and ultimately on taxpayers thank you representative yes the National Association counties has very been very consistently against the heavier trucks for exactly the the points you've made Bridges
▶ 1:50:04and roads are not set up for that weight currently without a corresponding allocation of those billions of dollars from the federal government we would not support raising the limits for those very reasons as you say nothing gets from point A to point B without leaving the federal system and crossing a county or city street and and Bridge and bridges are a big issue as you pointed out and and continue to be both just for heavier trucks or for regular traffic thank you Mr Hansen in your testimony you express
▶ 1:50:34support for the halt act and requires all new motor vehicles to be equipped with Advanced drunk driving uh detection technology the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that when fully implemented this loow will save over 10,000 lives a year clearly this is a GameChanger for Public Safety nhsa has already missed a statutory deadline in promulgating a final rule implementing the halt act per the law the agency now has a maximum
▶ 1:51:05of three additional years to finalize the regulation can you elaborate on gsa's support for the halt Act and why it's important for nhtsa to fulfill its statutory mandate and what can Congress and stakeholders do to hold nhtsa accountable to comp complet its Making Mr chair and members thank you for that question um anything that we can deploy to prevent an impaired driving incident from happening um is something
▶ 1:51:35that is worth looking at as you correctly mentioned over 10,000 people a year lose their lives in completely preventable and predictable events when an impaired driving crash occurs and so the the technology as I testified several minutes ago uh in the dad's program is and what we are hearing from manufacturers um that that they could have this ready to go by the end of 20125 and so it it it it is something that needs to be looked at from
▶ 1:52:05a safety perspective um I think you correctly uh uh characterize this as a GameChanger anything that we can do to keep an impaired driver off the road is is going to be something that's important I think as far as our ask from from Congress is uh it's quite simple um nit has existed for about eight years without a senatorial confirmed administrator and without an administrator there is a lack of leadership and I think by uh getting a confirmed administrator
▶ 1:52:35in there who is safety-driven and who is willing to push these initiatives forward and embrace these new technologies um and The Innovation that goes with them that we can we can get these things over the finish line and this is just one of one example of the technology that can exist out there that will make a significant difference on our road sir have you talked to the Senators as to why they haven't I don't have a good answer for you there sir okay thank you very much
▶ 1:53:05I yield back Mr Taylor thank you chairman ranking member for holding this hearing today and thank you to our Witnesses for their testimony and insight bring that microphone a little closer to you sorry any better yes okay sorry about that as a third generation business owner in the concrete industry I know firsthand how important it is that our highways roads and bridges across the United States are safe for commuters citizens and businesses drivers and workers on our nation's
▶ 1:53:35roads deserve to be safe and I look forward to working with members of this committee to implement meaningful legislation and policies that make our road safer for all as chairman Rouser mentioned according to Nitsa a disproportionate amount of traffic fatalities occur in uh in rural areas when compared to the percentage of the populations who live there uh I appreciate your dedication to the challenges rural communities face Mr willix uh do you believe that current federal safety programs adequately address rural safety needs or do they
▶ 1:54:05tend to favor priorities more aligned with Urban challenges thank you representative you know we're we're making progress there but again it's what works in Wyoming doesn't work in Texas doesn't work in Florida so more flexibility in those dollars so that we can be more creative at the local level and accountable and I think accountability is important so strides have been made but again I think the the more flexibility we have at the local level I mentioned dust control that's not eligible right now uh there are other things we don't have a
▶ 1:54:36ton of pedestrian interactions in a rural state but and it was mentioned in an inner city that's a bigger deal so more flexibility uh in the in the reauthorization would be beneficial you talk you talked a little bit about uh streamlining the permitting issues and when we talked a little bit about the uh maybe getting better funding for Rural projects but are there other specific steps that we could take in the upcoming uh surface transportation reauthorization that would help rural
▶ 1:55:07communities and I I'm a broken record a little bit in the flexibility but Mr Hansen even mentioned you know the reporting requirements they're doing or reporting requirements on grants if you're going to have a grant system which I think is incredibly valuable in these programs sometimes in a rural community the commissioner is the person writing the Grant and trying to implement the Grant and it I've been told it's just a checklist well the checklist was 15 pages long if we can simplify and still have that accountability so that more rural communities and quite frankly any County can apply
▶ 1:55:37without having to staff up that would be beneficial you talked about hundreds of pages of reporting for some of the safety anything we can do to reduce those while providing accountability would be valuable thank you I think both sides of the aisle can agree that the United States is facing an infrastructure rure challenge across the United States citizens drive on unsafe roads and bridges that are awaiting federal dollars to repair while Congress can fund infrastructure projects for decades problems in our supply chain have caused delays in addressing safety concerns Miss Norman in your testimony
▶ 1:56:07you raised concerns with a rule issued in the final days of the Biden Administration to resend the Federal Highway administration's long-standing General waiver of by America while we all support the need for domestic manufacturing can you expand on what resending this waiver means for safety projects specifically yes thank you can you repeat the last part of your question I missed it with the door closing Sor um while we all support the need for domestic manufacturing can you expand on what resending this waiver means for safety projects
▶ 1:56:37specifically the bi America yes um absolutely and we do uh also uh desire to have as much manufacturing and and production here in America as well um but for me and my small business um the the implementation of that if it is not done very thoughtfully we do not have the capacity um or the um manufacturing abilities in America to meet the needs of the projects that we have on the ground right now
▶ 1:57:08and so it would halt projects we would not be able to provide uh the materials needed in order to provide the projects that HP funds thank you ma'am and thank you all for being here today very much chairman iel back fredman thank you chair Rouser and rank ranking member Norton and I want to thank the witnesses for being here today we've all heard the terrible statistics of almost 41,000 people killed on our roads every year uh 4,000 of those
▶ 1:57:38being in California and just early morning we had a terrible fatal crash in Los Angeles on the streets uh this is a public health crisis and while many of those deaths are to um people in the vehicle un fortunately about 18% of all traffic deaths are pedestrians and almost 3% are cyclists other users of the road I've worked for years on traffic safety issues in California um passing bills around things like like automated speed enforcement um on a
▶ 1:58:08task force for um Zero fatalities um and on cyclist better laws for cyclists and while there are certainly conditions that lead to accidents like driver's misbehaving um like bad road conditions um we also know that for the majority of our roads were designed to move cars efficiently and quickly and not designed with safety in mind for drivers or for pedestrians and cyclists so many times when drivers speed it's because the road invites them to
▶ 1:58:39speed and I'm also very concerned that the way that we design Vehicles has been focused on making the inside of the vehicle safer for those occupants which is of course important when I was a kid you know people didn't always have seat bels in the back of old cars right I mean youall are nodding um but we have put a lot less focus on the safety of people outside the vehicles and in fact we see some of our trucks right now being so elevated that you can't even see a vehicle in front of them much
▶ 1:59:09less an a a pedestrian or a child and we certainly have the technology with AI and we understand enough about engineering to know when the front of a car is conducive on a low level strike to to saving that pedestrian's life or created with complete disregard to that so Mr Chase I want to thank you for being here today and I wanted to know if you could talk about Nitsa and their role in encouraging or mandating vehicle designs
▶ 1:59:39that are as safe as they can possibly be to um uh uh uh pedestrians and to um cyclists I'm sorry that's Mis Chase that's okay um we've been work advocates for Highway and Autos safety has been working for years to improve roadway safety for all Road users in fact one of our top priorities was automatic emergency breaking with pedestrian and cyclist detection it's issued a final rule on this last year um which we supported we wanted to see it implemented
▶ 2:00:10quick more quickly than it was um new cars are required to have AE with pedestrian detection in 2029 um which will be a tremendous St step forward for safety we've also been working to improve hood and bumper design to be more forgiving if there is a collision with a vehicle and a pedestrian or a bicyclist so as you mentioned there are proven Solutions known we need to get them into cars instead of a focus on as you mentioned um bigger heavier cars would I hope
▶ 2:00:40that this is something that moves quickly because we certainly have the technology we know what to do and I understand that this is a a climate of sort of deregulation but I think that every pedestrian every child has the right to walk to school knowing that the vehicles that are passing them are designed with their safety and their lives in mind and we also know that you know just because a driver wants a certain type of vehicle that doesn't mean that it's safe to to kind of be out in the world
▶ 2:01:11I'm also wondering how do can work to protect protect a pedestrians and cyclists how dot is working to be well the infrastructure R structure investment and jobs act there were certain directives to have Nitsa issue rules on in addition to automatic emergency breaking Lane departure warning and other technologies that are part of Advanced Driver assistance systems so Nitsa is tasked via Cong via this Congressional directive to move forward um to require these with
▶ 2:01:41safety uh standards in new vehicles thank you very much and you know that that act is certainly important the funding that's uh in that act is is something that I believe will save lives as it starts to be implemented uh Mr Hansen thank you so much for being here today and I'm wondering if you can talk about what the Minnesota Department of Public Safety has been doing to reduce speeding and change driver Behavior thank you Mr chair members um it's really a holistic approach we work very closely with our
▶ 2:02:11Department of Transportation on the infrastructure issues obviously our office works on the behavioral issues we work with our Department of Health on the injury issues that occur when these crashes occur the care that the the patients get the better the outcome is going to be so it's really kind of taking an all hands on deck approach to it speeding continues to be our number one challenge though thank you and I yield back Mr
▶ 2:02:41shrieve uh thank you Mr chairman um folks I'm Jefferson shrieve I represent the sixth district of Indiana uh we describe that as the crossroads of America the district includes 465 Ring Road around Indianapolis uh for uh us Interstate crisscross the district uh as with so many of my U uh colleagues here Road fatalities or just proportionately higher on our rural roads uh and as with my freshman colleagues uh I'm new
▶ 2:03:11at this and as we jump in and out of of of these hearings it's uh it's an extraordinary kind of adjustment to figure out who's asked what has uh has as you come back in from another meeting uh but I was here with at the start and there were a couple things that that piqued my my my interest and so if they're not redundant I wanted to hop around just a little bit uh Mr willix um uh Wyoming I spent uh little time there at the University of Wyoming uh doing a range
▶ 2:03:41Management program uh I was as Mr Hansen said one of those young males uh who are prone to going fast and I love that at the time in Wyoming on uh some rural roads I don't think there were posted speed limits uh certainly that would play into uh issues of uh of Highway fatalities um is that the case still today are there any uh States in our uh Union where in certain rural
▶ 2:04:12areas you can go about as fast as you want thank you and go pokes um so representative in Wyoming this the statute is if it's an unposted Road there's a speed limit that applies so it's 55 or 45 so there's a statutory limit but a lot of roads are unposted partly because of the daily traffic we haven't posted them because it's not Val but you bring up a point that the reflectivity standards of signs went up about 12 years ago that increased the cost of signs
▶ 2:04:4220% so now with the same budget we can put up less signs and everything has got more expensive over time so signage is valuable but sometimes the standards that are implemented mean we buy less signs for the same dollars and so yes they are still unposted roads most time they're low volume but that doesn't mean that there isn't traffic that can be unsafe it uh on the subject of the design of our rural roads um just north of my district Hamilton
▶ 2:05:12County uh Indiana Carmel places like that we have the we have more roundabouts per capita than any other part of the country uh the incidents of uh Serious injury accidents SL alone fatalities are are way down with those roundabouts but they're so darn expensive they're extraordinarily expensive um uh are we making any Headway toward uh the design lower cost design of uh roundabout
▶ 2:05:43intersections right sized if we if that's fair to characterize it as such for uh rural uh uh uh uh County intersections can we can we bring those in uh from a design standpoint at a level that might make it possible to bring those enhancements to secondary tertiary stretches of of of roadway thank you for
▶ 2:06:13that I believe those are eligible now it's really they are cost more to do the roundabouts than a traditional intersection we heard some test early that they can be safer when used right uh so I think that is okay to do most of our rural roads are so low volume that that's not necessarily the best in some counties they have high volume roads depends on the state so that's an option that is definitely could be available I honestly don't know if they qualify as a safety enhancement and so that would be something we'd have to follow up that if that's going to if you
▶ 2:06:43want to implement a safety enhancement that would have to be a change to the bill I believe and we'll follow up with that uh to confirm because I'm not sure it's eligible other than as normal construction at the current way the law is written I appreciate that Mr hon thanks again for celebrating your birthday with this this morning um uh young males in pickup trucks it's not the case that pickup trucks uh a late model pickup truck isn't inherently less safe than a late model passenger vehicle is
▶ 2:07:15it Mr chair members no I don't believe so um it's just some of the behaviors that go with those young young males in the pickup TRS yeah I once resembled that um uh uh incidents of Road fatalities on motorcycles uh we've seen terrific improvements in the safety of vehicles as as chairman Rouser noted I mean uh those those fatalities uh for passengers in vehicles are down dramatically are we seeing uh
▶ 2:07:46similar improvements on motorcycles um Lane departure emergency breaking can has the industry been able to incorporate some of that technology into motorcycles that have made such a terrific difference in uh passenger vehicles light trucks Mr chair members um I'm aware that some of the manufacturers are adopting that I'm not a writer myself so I don't have a lot of firsthand knowledge there but I do
▶ 2:08:16know that that some of the manufacturers are looking at bringing some of those same features to the Mot motorcycle riders like you know the antiock breaking the automatic emergency breaking things like that so I think that that technology is ripening and and the last uh uh statement is is simply more of a statement um in in my district driver Jed isn't offered in the schools it's not just kind of part of turning 16 and and I think that's uh investment in that
▶ 2:08:46in in that mainstreaming of driver education uh or the absence of it has been a loss that uh is I'm going to have to cut you off there sorry about that but we can answer that question as we move forward thank you I yield back then Mr figures thank you Mr chair and thank you guys for hosting this uh holding this hearing and thank you all for uh for bearing with us here uh I know it's it's tough to grind it out with us more junior members on the committee
▶ 2:09:17uh and sitting here uh so thank you guys and happy birthday uh to you Mr Mr Hansen and before I go any further Miss Chase my uh TNI staffer uh is a proud proud graduate of rut gers so um so shout out to you and Yan here she is um this um what I see as some of the more avoidable safety issues uh on our highways have to do with construction zone crashes and crashes involving
▶ 2:09:48uh semi semi-trailers um so can we just kind of go down the line and you and you let me know in roughly I guess 30 45 seconds each what you guys are seeing in terms of Trends with fatalities and construction zones um in your respective areas starting with you Mr willix thank you representative so in our County Road environment a lot of times we're dealing with the gravel roads and Blades so we have increased our pilot cars and our flagging because of the volume of traffic that we have there
▶ 2:10:18maybe that sorry I'm getting feedback but so so we have earlier I mentioned that in our area we have a lot of drivers that are not native to our area they've come from out of state some from out of country and so we've really had to increase our Awareness on the roads to reduce that but on gravel road you're dealing with a blade that's taking up most of the road so we're stopping traffic trying to be aware of that we have more incidents not in work zones to be honest because we've tried to do a good job of labeling those but they are they are definitely an issue around the country and
▶ 2:10:48more expertise down the line Mr chair members um if we look at the national stats you know work Zone crashes are are trending down slightly um however what I can tell you on my personal experience is when they do happen they're horrific uh because there is a lot of things especially when they involve a commercial vehicle and we've had some challenges with that I think one of the biggest things that we can look at to continue to improve that is some of the in vehicle technology we've talked about that automatic emergency
▶ 2:11:19braking things like that but I think we can also look at better ways to inform drivers about what they are about to encounter using digital alerting systems um and and different uh avenues like that to actually get that warning into the cab and not just make that a stationary sign on the side of the road so I think there are ways we can continue to improve those thank you so much for that question um very personal to me with 127 team members across Oklahoma that work in those work zones every day um
▶ 2:11:49I would say that what we see person personally is an increase in distracted driving and the lack of awareness to uh slower work zone speed limits um we have had recent incidents where despite the number of uh devices that are placed to the federal and state standards drivers are still for whatever reason distracted or um otherwise coming into and intruding into our work Zone where our workers are standing and working um and performing their job every day and so a continued
▶ 2:12:19investment into HP is so vitally important uh because we need to continue to lean into the new technologies that are there in cab as have been mentioned alerting drivers that there are workers on the roadway as well as um uh new technologies roadside that we can use to protect our workers um in forms of barriers and items such as that and Miss chase you can you can just take the balance of the time I think that in addition to what um was said but everyone
▶ 2:12:50else um which I agree with um because a construction zone basically is a person's workplace in the road and they're exposed and they need to be protected so um as I mentioned earlier automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection will help that if a car is cening toward a construction zone as has happened um the car will stop um itself if the if the driver doesn't do that so we need to be improving AE to address different types of scenarios like
▶ 2:13:20that um so we need to improve construction zone safety as well as Vehicle Safety in order to make the those areas safer for the workers thank you I Y back Mr Collins thank you Mr chairman um Miss Norman I I I want to give you a little bit of who I am first I I'm in the trucking business so and and I like to tell people that especially when we're having meetings like this because you
▶ 2:13:50know um my office and my employees office is not inside a building I mean we make our living out there on the highway and on the interstates and I can assure you that uh 99.99% of the trucking companies out there want to be the safest and be the best on the road we want to get home to our families as well as everybody else and uh last summer I had uh I had the opportunity to tour uh Sun belts asphalt plant uh in my district and then we went out to a work Zone
▶ 2:14:20and and and actually did a safety video that we released out there to help people understand how important it is because we want those people to get home safely too and if you just take a look say 2023 there were over 42,000 workplace accidents that happened in work zones there were over a thousand people that that are out there trying to to improve our roads and and and build them that died in 2023 so we need to
▶ 2:14:50take a hard look at what what we can do and I guess my question is what can we do as a committee uh with the next Highway reauthorization Bill to support state efforts uh on work Zone safety um I mean are there certain educational or or enforcement efforts that uh that we might can get behind support well thank you so much for that question um I would Echo that the states are doing a wonderful job of raising awareness they each have um
▶ 2:15:21work Zone uh awareness uh programs that are making a difference and I think this committee can continue to support that support the states in doing that and um it does make a difference our our workers do need to be a they are a vulnerable Road user that is often overlooked yes ma'am um I I can't read is it Mr Willcox willix I um I was listening to your to your testimony and talking about rural roads there and
▶ 2:15:51and it's something that's bothered me I live on in a very rural section uh but unfortunately Google Maps found our road and uh we have a lot of traffic that comes down that road now and and the first time they'll come down through there they'll be nice about it but then uh as recently as over the weekend I saw a vehicle pass a vehicle now you know that we've got kids that play on the road even though we're only one of three houses on there what uh what are some suggestions that can be I've even asked for Speed bumps to
▶ 2:16:21be put on our road but you can't do that because you from what I understand 911 may need to come down through there but I don't know if you offer any or or Mr Hansen if y'all have any suggestions on on how you might can look at these rur roads in the way Google are the maps you don't want to just say Google what Maps has have uh put you on the map thank you for that and I laugh a little bit because we love the mapping service but it now is opened up areas when roads are closed we've had to pull trucks out of places they never should have been because the map says they are open
▶ 2:16:52it it's about driver's education an appropriate s you know not through traffic kids are you know you can only do so much to educate a driver If a driver is not going to be smart nothing we do is going to change that we try to do it at the front end but I think it is the working with our state DOT is actually trying to work with some of the mapping companies so when roads are closed we also close the county roads so people don't get in unsafe situations in bad weather for your situation in the normal weather it's it's education and signage is the most we
▶ 2:17:22can do law enforcement and I would just add to that going going back to that tool box that we can we can draw from the first tool that that that is effective is traffic law enforcement um along with that education and Outreach as well as things like um Dynamic speed signs um that that draw people's attention to how fast they're going and it's not just on their Dash it's on that flashing speed sign that they're going by on the road they have proven to be effect effective um how long that
▶ 2:17:52effect last you got to move those things around so they don't become noise but that the the enforcement component can't can't be forgotten thank you I just uh I want to make one last comment to is someone that runs a little over 100 trucks out there I've tried those automatic braking systems and we we pulled them they're not fail prooof if you're ever in a truck doing 65 miles an hour down the interstate loaded 80,000 gross and all of a sudden your truck just Slams on brakes and you don't know anything about it and there's no reason except for the bridge
▶ 2:18:23ahead or the construction flashing sign then you'll understand that these things are not foolproof and we don't need these mandated until they are because the car behind you they don't know what you just slammed on brakes for either regardless of the fact you may be hitting the windshield at the steering wheel so there there's they're not foolproof and people don't understand that these things actually are are hurting more than they're helping right now thank you and I Yi back Mr Stanton thank you very much Mr chairman thank
▶ 2:18:53you for all the witnesses for testifying today I'm heartened that the last two Congress members both Democrat and Republican have focused in on roadway safety for those who work in the the roads construction workers First Responders Towers Etc uh and I want to talk about that as well as part of my uh questions here today I think you're going to hear that is a bipartisan priority for this committee so I do want to talk about three things today um a tragic issue in my state of Arizona wrong way turns uh I want to talk a little bit about Native American
▶ 2:19:23communities and the disproportionate increase in crashes on the roads in our Native American communities and highway safety for our First Responders the rate of Highway fatalities has declined in recent years but we are still above pre- pandemic levels in fact Arizona's highways often come up in rankings as some of the most dangerous in the country a persistent problem that we have in our state is wrong way crashes especially on on our freeway system there were more than 51 wrongway crashes
▶ 2:19:53last year nine of which were fatal to address this the Arizona Department of Transportation and the marope association governments which I was fortunate to chair when I was mayor of Phoenix invested more than $4 million in thermal cameras along Interstate 17 an interstate that crosses both urban and rural areas in Arizona these cameras catch wrongway turns when they occur and they prompt a wrongway vehicle ahead alerts on message boards above the freeways this is not going to stop the behavior that causes the wrong
▶ 2:20:23way turns driving on the influence distracted driving Etc but it does give other drivers on the road the opportunity to get out of Harm's Way shift to the right lane or exit the freeway these safety improvements they are an ounce of prevention to uh for a pound of cure Mr Hansen as part of the Governor's Highway Safety Association uh you discuss your testimony how 402 funds state highway safety grants should be given more flexibility to allow for state and local local Innovation I couldn't agree more could you talk a little bit about how you could
▶ 2:20:53see these funds helping places like Arizona with its wrongway driver issues Mr chair and members thank you uh a great question and Arizona is Not Alone um I talked to my partners across the country wrongway drivers on our freeway system uh is a growing and quite honestly a very scary problem because those are high-speed collisions when they do occur uh the technology that you mentioned in Arizona certainly I think you know this is where the behavior part and the infrastructure part come together and anything we can do to help support
▶ 2:21:24our infrastructure Partners on this is is going to be a step in the positive direction so though I'm I'm familiar with the thermal imaging cameras but there's also emerging technology in the telematics arena that we can leverage as well for real time reporting and tracking of that wrongway driver and so as technology continues to develop I think there's some Hope on the horizon to prevent these things uh but I also as a trooper some of the scariest calls that you got were those wrong ways because you just never know where you were going to find them and
▶ 2:21:54how they were going to react to that so the more information we can get out there early the better all right thank you for that Miss Norman your testimony on behalf of the American Traffic Safety Service Association um you cite some shocking statistics Native American children face a traffic crash death rate eight times higher than others Native American adults face crash death rates seven times higher this is completely unacceptable uh what can we do about this situation there were Provisions
▶ 2:22:24in the bipar infrastructure law focus on highway safety for tribes and tribal communities what do you think has been most helpful and what can we do to focus more attention on resources on tribal Road Safety yeah thank you so much for that question um we want to first thank you for your continued focus on tribal road safety and the increase in the tribal Transportation program and the safety set aside within that program um they were great steps forward um my business has had the opportunity to install uh life-saving devices such as improved payment marking guard
▶ 2:22:54rails rumble strips uh in an effort to eliminate uh roadway departures and uh the crashes that come from that and so as we have seen with hsip those corresponding fatality numbers come down those that investment in safety works and so we just want to ask that Congress continues to place a focus on Tribal Roads and ensure that those safety funds get to the communities that need it all right in my state that is critical we are so blessed to have over 20 uh federally recognized tribes uh
▶ 2:23:25finally a similar issue that was mentioned by my colleagues on the both the Democrat and Republican side about road safety for our First Responders 1600 emergency responders have been struck and killed uh while outside of a disabled vehicle since 2015 Mr Hansen can you discuss opportunities before dot to make meaningful improvements to roadway safety by embracing safety Innovation you may be seemingly asked the same question over and over but that's because it's a priority for all of us on this committee traffic incident management and and training and adherence to
▶ 2:23:55best practices traffic incident management is how we mitigate that risk if it's properly implemented it it is a risk reduction tool the less time our First Responders spend on the side of the road the less risk of them getting hit thank you very much I Y back Mr Johnson uh Mr Hansen I think I'd heard you say earlier that 10,000 people a year die on the roads because of impaired driving is that right didn't did I hear that right Mr chair members at least 10,000 yeah
▶ 2:24:25at least 10,000 it's uh it's remarkably sad uh my state South Dakota in 2005 pioneered the 247 program rather than put people who have a problem with addiction alcohol addiction rather than put them in prison they try to hold them accountable and get them healthy in their Community for those who don't know this is you wake up in the morning you go down to the Sheriff's Office you blow a PBT you'd go do you go about your day at the end of the day you come
▶ 2:24:55again it is remarkably effective because it's an accountability mechanism people know they cannot drink and this goes on for a series of months it changes their behavior it is a 99% success rate and even after they're off the program the reci recidivism rate for those on the program is much lower than it is for those who do not participate in the 247 program my act the sober act would expand the reach of that kind of program by incentivizing other states to set up something similar
▶ 2:25:25so uh any reaction to to that program uh does are you aware of literature that that does indicate it's successful either in South Dakota or in other states Mr chair and members um this is a great topic because I think the emerging thought line when it comes to dealing with impaired drivers and reducing that recidivism um Minnesota we Face a 40% recidivism rate four out of 10 will reoffend um programs like 247 sober um that I'm familiar
▶ 2:25:55with in South Dakota I believe North Dakota also very successful it's also uh very closely linked and related to our DWI Court program and to intensive supervision um and screening for those who find themselves uh arrested after making that faithful first choice and so um it's a solid program with a proven track record and it it does bear looking at from from any perspective really and one of the things that I like about it again it works
▶ 2:26:26that that matters if it didn't work uh if it didn't work everything else uh I'm not sure anything else matters but when you put people in prison all too often of course they're going to lose their job all too often they're going to lose their family they're going to lose a lot of these really important connections that help them that are going to help them stay clean once they get clean 247 allows that treatment to take place in the community allows them to be hel accountable to have those accountability mechanisms in the community what about other programs what else has
▶ 2:26:56worked uh to reduce impaired driving well certainly high visibility enforcement I I I couldn't ignore that um when I started in law enforcement I'll date myself in the early to mid 1980s 50 over 50% of the fatalities that we attended were alcohol rated um in Minnesota now we're writing about 30% so the enforcement and high visibility events have certainly contrib Ed to that but I think beyond that um addressing the underlying issues that lead to either
▶ 2:27:26substance abuse disorder or addiction or these repeat uh offender problems that we have the 247 program the DWI courts the uh sudden in or uh quick intervention programs where somebody is screened for not only chemical uh issues but mental health issues when they come in for that first court appearance so that the proper and customized recovery program can be build for them these are the keys a one-size fits-all doesn't work for impaired driving and as we stare down at at an
▶ 2:27:56increasing drug impaired driving issue across the country this is going to become more critical and I would say to my colleagues part of the reason so many of us on both sides of the aisle like Federalism is that it gives us 50 Laboratories of democracy to try to figure out how do you keep those roads safer how do you save lives how do you get people clean and in South Dakota we have a laboratory of democracy that has developed an evidencebased mechanism that really works and I would call my colleagues attention to
▶ 2:28:26the sober act this is an opportunity to add Rocket Fuel to those state-based efforts let's get people clean let's save lives with that I would yield back gentleman yields back Mr carber HOV thank you I will just say to my colleague who spoke earlier and then there are some of those labs that are way underperforming having said that Mr willocks more than half of the states have established a state infrastructure
▶ 2:28:57Bank my understanding is that Wyoming is one of those States from your perspective how have infrastructure Banks helped cities meet their infrastructure needs and if there was a federal infrastructure Bank how can we model this to anticipate some of the future needs in Transportation uh thank you grants are an important part of how you can do the big projects and so through Wyoming it works through what we call our slib which is a grant program of the five Statewide electeds help manage
▶ 2:29:27that what we need is that combination of grants for big projects and direct funding for regular fund for regular projects if we don't have the eligibility and the ability to go after grants that can help us with the large projects many small underpopulated or underfunded counties won't have the opportunity to uh do those projects that are larger in scale and that can be funded through their Grant method so it can work again flexibility is the key we can't have the box too small the Box needs to be flexible enough to work
▶ 2:29:57for New York and Wyoming and Florida and California thank you Mr Willock counties and local governments are major owners of our nation's transportation system owning about 45% of all public roads while the bipartisan infrastructure law created additional funding opportunities a constant issue that I hear from my local stakeholders is that they would like more certainty in federal dollars that they are eligible for can you talk about the advantages and disadvantages of creating
▶ 2:30:28a dedicated funding source to directly allocate resources to local governments for the Improvement in maintenance of local roads and Bridge infrastructure well thank you again and it goes back that we need both direct funding is wonderful but if you're a small County with a small population the formalistic number is going to be smaller a blade costs a half million now if the formula gives you 100,000 that's still five years to gather it up so direct funding is always valuable consistent funding
▶ 2:30:58is valuable but between continuing resolutions and priority changes between the five administrations that I brown and nine congresses there is some uncertainty there but I think the blend is what's important we want grants for the larger projects and direct funding for that regular maintenance and ongoing activities thank you uh this question is for the whole panel my office just met with one of our local npos from my district and we discussed the uncertainty of this administration's repeated director directives
▶ 2:31:28instructing the transportation department to freeze critical federal dollars from talking to other stakeholders in my district I know that these actions have created chaos throughout the federal government and uncertainty for the communities and industries that rely on federal programs today I am interested in hearing from you can you each talk about how uncertainty and Federal funding and project delays caused by funding freezes impacts the organizations you represent thank you represent
▶ 2:31:58I think it goes back to my last question uncertainty is built into the system it's a political system in my time we have seen uncertainty from administrations we've seen uncertainty from Congress CRS create as much uncertainty as anything so we are used to it we would love to have certainty all the time but it seems like every two or four years there's some uncertainty built into the system and we'll deal with it thank you Mr Hanson any pause in in the the funding that we depend on in the state highway safety offices potentially
▶ 2:32:29could have a negative impact on traffic safety we would just simply ask that in the event that there is some type of a pause that the issues or concerns are quickly identified and that the funding stream is restored thank you m Norman thank you that's a wonderful question in my experience as a small business owner I can tell you that it affects us uh very directly when there is uncertainty with funding projects are often halted if you can imagine um someone who has orange devices
▶ 2:32:59out on the roadway um anytime that that funding is halted those devices have to remain in order to keep the traveling public safe um and so when we have those uncertainties that's a very small example but in a more large example would be we have to make million dooll investments into equipment to be able to provide these life-saving infrastructure projects and we cannot confidently do that when we have funding freezes and things like that and so ASA is looking forward to working together um to
▶ 2:33:29uh help us everyone come together to make sure that we have long-term stable funding for these life-saving projects uh advocates for Highway and Auto Safety does not receive any Federal grant funding however I agree with what Miss Norman just said that the stability to safety Grant programs is essential especially at a time when our roadways are experiencing historic highs and fatalities and injuries thank you very much I'm out of time Mr chair I yield back Mr not thank you Mr chairman um
▶ 2:34:00members of the panel thank you for being here I wish I had more than five minutes this has been very interesting and stimulating uh Mr will I want to start with you coming from North Carolina there's a lot of of need in my district where we are the proverbial small town America that is receiving dozens and dozens every day people moving out of the bigger cities into these local communities and I want to touch on uh a point that you raised earlier the need streamline uh the delivery of dollars
▶ 2:34:30and Real Results to the taxpayers to these programs and if you could if you could just um I would say identify what the main issue is with the delays with the inefficiencies in the system and how we could address that so that the taxpayers get a more immediate return on the investment that we send up for yeah thank you in my 19 years permitting has always been an issue in the west a lot of of huge Federal presence is going to be different than in your but if you're dealing within an existing RightWay
▶ 2:35:00so a lot of what we do is non Virgin Territory the the ability and permitting should be relatively easy so that you can improve an existing Road whether it's safety or widening and that isn't uniformly accepted under NEPA categorical exclusions broadening that would be would be helpful um be BLM and Forest different administrations have different focuses on different things and then if you're doing grants and and Mr Hansen WR to if you're going to apply for a grant let's make it simpler easier to comply with
▶ 2:35:30application is easy it's actually when you get the grant that is harder so anything we do to simplify that make it easier to do would be valuable would you say that the issues arise from overlaying or or overlapping regulations or is it inefficiencies within the delivery system how would you pinpoint the the root problem yes um it's a little bit of everything you know the sometimes it's overlapping jurisdictions sometimes it's just the the boxes you've got to check to get through I wish there was a simple answer and
▶ 2:36:00that's why it's not easy to simplify but we have to trust our local government partners and if we don't trust them then say that but don't say we trust you and then make you jump through 15 Hoops trust local we're elected to represent our people to be good stewards of tax dollars it seems like the the perverse incentive is it it consolidates all of the approvals in Washington and then there's all types of justifications for the delay at the cost of local local needs and um certainly towns like North Carolina I also want to talk to
▶ 2:36:30you just briefly about disaster related needs to rebuild if you could pinpoint any kind of solution to there's a disaster that wipes out a road how can we better deliver a a federally funded uh recovery project in those instances fortunately I haven't had to deal one directly but all the recent instances have made us think more about it I think the key is to make sure we don't have to jump through too many Hoops so we can be quick speed is what's important accountability is important
▶ 2:37:01but you can't do it without federal dollars we need those federal dollars when a disaster hits a county so we need the flexibility to implement it without jumping through too many Hoops waivers of some of the requirements so you could so Source when necessary without doing the bidding and some of that exists but it is a challenge to blend that you generally got the state involved but continue to make those funds available allow the flexibility and speed to be able to respond great uh Mr Hansen just briefly in regards to the last I would say
▶ 2:37:31five years there's been a a a fairly unprecedented assault on law enforcement on uh local law enforcement especially what effect has that had on road safety and the ability to protect uh the roadways thank you for the question and Mr chairman members it's had a negative um law enforcement is taxed in ways that I could never imagine when I worked in the field um agencies are critically short staffed and when they're critically short staffed oftentimes the first thing that gets cut is
▶ 2:38:01that Traffic Unit 911 calls get have to be answered I get that um but traffic enforcement and traffic safety activity is as much a part of any public safety strategy as policing is and so we need to continue to rebuild um the ability for agencies and the ability for communities to understand why Traffic Safety is important thank you Mr chair unfortunately I'm out of town I Y back Mr
▶ 2:38:34cie thank you Mr chair uh and thank you for holding uh today's hearing on a a ver vitally important topic that uh probably doesn't get the amount of attention attention that it deserves when you consider the fact that we still have 40,000 uh fatalities on our roads every year uh this is uh you know uh one of the leading if not the leading cause of preventable deaths uh in this country and these are tragedies that strike folks of all backgrounds of all ages uh and happen suddenly uh and
▶ 2:39:04cause uh you know cascading uh amounts of grief for those who are close to them so it should be a absolutely uh leading priority of this committee uh and of our government at all levels uh to do everything possible to reduce these tragedies um and I was reading through uh all of the testimony for today's hearing and there's a lot of great work being done uh by your various associations I was a little surprised that uh autonomous vehicles were barely discussed at all maybe a couple times uh in passing I
▶ 2:39:34believe a couple of the witnesses uh mentioned that uh there will continue for the foreseeable future to be a mix of levels of uh autonomous vehicles or levels of autonomy within vehicles uh that are on the road which is undoubtedly true uh but I would think that for a hearing that's focusing on safety uh this would be a little more of a focus given uh the clear evidence that we see right now that those autonomous vehicles that are on the road are indeed improving uh safety for example uh weo which has
▶ 2:40:04been operating in San Francisco and Phoenix for some time recently started operating in uh Los Angeles and is expanding I think to three other areas uh in this coming year uh data shows that over 33 million miles driven in Phoenix and San Francisco the wio uh vehicles have had 81% fewer airbag deployment crashes 78% fewer injury causing crashes 62% fewer uh police reported C crashes there was a study done uh by an insurance company that found uh that with weo autonomous
▶ 2:40:34vehicles there were 88% fewer property damage claims and 92% fewer uh bodily injury claims uh likewise uh Tesla is probably the other uh leader in this space and has what it calls its full self-driving uh capability that's available uh for a fee to millions of of Tesla owners uh and has been uh improving quite rapid recently uh their data shows uh that there's one crash per 7.08 million miles driven actually
▶ 2:41:04that's just with autopilot uh engaged which is uh about uh 10 times more miles driven uh per accident as folks who are uh driving unassisted uh so uh and and keep in mind that this is the worst the technolog is ever going to be uh it's iterating rapidly it's going to get better it's going to get safer uh and it holds the vast potential to reduce the number of fatalities on our road uh to really minimal levels so I guess my question and and I'll just throw this out to any witness who would like to answer it
▶ 2:41:35uh is shouldn't encouraging the adoption of autonomous vehicle uh technology uh for more drivers especially as the technology improves not just be one facet of our transportation planning but really be uh a a major imperative of us policy uh thank you for the question I I'll take the first shot at it um Advocates supports um proven technology
▶ 2:42:05such as automatic emergency braking and other Advanced Driver assistance systems that we know based on Research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety the national Transportation safety board and others will in fact save lives while I agree with you that autonomous vehicles are improving uh based on the research that we have we have seen um it's still a small comparison compared um to the larger driving set of how much people are driving on the roads so while we see promise we want to make sure that the promises
▶ 2:42:35offered are delivered and we believe the way to do that is through transparency accountability and regulation mrom thank you for the question um as my friend retired Colonel Matt Langer put it technology will eventually save us from ourselves um and we're getting there autonomous vehicles will eventually make an incredible difference on our roads um I would agree that we're not quite there yet and I think the thing that is lacking is that overall um federal
▶ 2:43:06guideline that everybody follows much like the the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety standards as applied to connected and automated Vehicles that's the missing link that we we really need to look at right now can you just expound a little bit I know you you're short on time and what that should look like I'm sorry could you just expound a little bit on what that should look like much like if you look at the transportation system and the regulations that surround it the national highway traffic safety administration and the federal government they they cover the the the vehicle
▶ 2:43:36part of it the states then have their traffic safety laws if you look at how traffic safety laws developed in the early part of the 19th century every state had their own code many of them conflicted with each other well the the federal government had to step in and develop a more uniform code that all of the states would abide by and then the feds took over through Nitsa or whatever the the body was at that time the design parameters and the safety parameters for the vehicles that use that infrastructure
▶ 2:44:06thank you I you back Miss Gillan thank you um Mr Hansen uh in New York more than 30% of fatal crashes are alcohol related which is unacceptable in 2023 on Long Island more than 220 people were tragically killed in car crashes uh and Nassau County has been the second deadliest County for car crashes in six out of the last 10 years long Islanders should not have to take their lives into their hands every time
▶ 2:44:37they get behind the wheel as a law enforcement officer what do you need to be able to increase safety and crack down on drunk and drivers I'm sorry I couldn't quite hear the last part of your question ma'am so what do you need from us to help us improve safety and crack down on drunk and reckless drivers on the road the thing that will make the biggest difference for us is more flexibility
▶ 2:45:07as Mr Willock has uh commented on more flexibility in the federal 402 and 405 funds for us to be creative to be Innovative and to be proactive um the way I describe it for years you know we rely on historic crash data that's data that's collected after something bad has happened well we're entering an age now where we have technology and we have data that we can harvest in real time that allows us to be much more proactive in preventing events from occurring in the first place so
▶ 2:45:37having that freedom and that flexibility to be Innovative to be creative to to color outside the lines so to speak is going to be critical for state highway safety offices moving forward as we develop the next generation of counter measures to make our road safer thank you sir uh Miss Chase in your uh written testimony you spoke a bit about using roundabouts um to improve the flow of traffic and also to enhance safety and I was wondering if you could share this was something my husband talks
▶ 2:46:07about roundabouts all the time have you um seen how we have aging infrastructure in Long Island but I I would imagine it would be difficult to implement the use of roundabouts have you seen it successfully implemented in places where there were there was aging infrastructure but they was employed successfully um thank you for the question the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety which is an organization we rely upon to do research has found that um crashes injury crashes have been reduced up to 80% in all crashes at intersections and
▶ 2:46:37this is when you go from a stop sign or a red light to a roundabout reduced by about 50% so that's pretty remarkable with regards to aging infrastructure that you mentioned specifically I don't have that data but we'd be glad to look into it and we we strongly support roundabouts for that reason it's a proven solution and um in addition to making the road safer it improves the efficiency of of motorists thank you I would love to get some uh some information about successful
▶ 2:47:08implementation try to PR that thank you uh and lastly this could be for anyone I was with folks just two nights ago who were talking about the shocking number of roadside workers who are killed each year um and what are some of the best ways that we as Congress can help reduce the number of fatalities and improve uh work roadside conditions I'd be glad to take that thank you for the question um again one of the things that I think can be most important is that we can bring stakeholders together to talk
▶ 2:47:38about best practices about what's working um there are new technologies one that we utilize is a telematic based technology that we have on our vehicles when they are in and active work Zone that is communicating to drivers in cab that there are workers on site there is a work Zone ahead it is audible um it is getting that attention and that is something that we have uh implemented over the last couple of years and it has given a great sense of security to our workers that we are taking another step um to
▶ 2:48:08let people know that that they are in their office on the side of the road if I could add to what Miss NN just said um we were pleased that in the infrastructure investment and jobs Act the use of federal grants were expanded for automated enforcement in work Zone and constructions construction zones because they've been widely effective in uh reducing crashes in those areas and we hope that in the next reauthorization it's expanded even further thank you I yield back gentle lady yields back Mr
▶ 2:48:39desier thank you Mr chairman I want to thank all the witnesses Mr Chase I wanted to follow up and invite some of the other witnesses to comment on an earlier comment in exchange with one of my Republican colleagues so I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area when I was in the legislature I was very involved in being one of the first states to prohibit holding your phones um and I was always amazed that the compliance rate was as good as it was but with new technology you always add so much benefit and a lot of my
▶ 2:49:09businesses in the area I represent are always very aggressive about their product understandably but getting it right so that you're not inhibiting Innovation but you're making sure you're doing the right thing we got it right in California I think with hands-free driving um but on the other hand we were uh two lacks I think on self-driving Vehicles so now we're trying to come back so my question to you and um maybe Mr Norman if you have any insights Mr Hansen or Mr Willcox what are what's the research show
▶ 2:49:40about peer reviewed looking at this these kind of new technologies to make sure they're safe before we deploy them without um overregulation the community there's a there's a sweet spot there that I think we're still struggling with thank you for the question we've been watching San Francisco very carefully in terms of autonomous vehicles and are have been really s um struck by the the dangers that have been employed the San Francisco Fire Chief has spoken about um
▶ 2:50:10fire trucks being um prohibited from getting to scenes and the um police chief has spoken about um the police officers not being able to get to a live shooting scene and these are you know this is what's being reported in the news by and large so we're concerned that even more incidents are happening that we're not aware of um we have always contended that um autonomous vehicles need to have Federal safety regulations just like other cars and I'll just give one quick example
▶ 2:50:40uh right now when a person goes to get a driver's license they have a vision test but right now an autonomous vehicle which will be doing the seeing and responding for a because there's no person there's no minimum standard to make sure that the car can see if you will so that's just one quick example of techn of uh regulation that we've been supporting thanks M Norman you have any comments yes thank you I think one of the things that we would like to highlight of of importance when we have the conversations about AVS
▶ 2:51:11and Cavs is that there is so much changing in work zones um regularly uh you've got Lane changes throughout the day as contractors are doing their job building the road and so we have to make sure that all the stakeholders are working together and we look forward to being a a big part of that uh with the work Zone Focus to ensure that those um Cavs and AVS see our devices and our people and do not cause more harm Mr Hansen I want to throw in another question if you could
▶ 2:51:41address briefly um I have a district that has very long commutes a lot of our big Employers in San Francisco Salesforce said they want to go to three-day weeks so there's push to get everybody in in back in the office if you have any comments about that in safety because I've got people who drive an hour and a half two hours both ways and that affects safety so any comments you might have Mr Hansen because you represent similar area certainly as traffic volume uh thank you uh traffic volume increases
▶ 2:52:12um the the problems on our road does do does increase you know what we saw when uh 2020 when Co arrived um and the roads emptied out you know we fully expected to see a significant drop in the fatality rate well in fact um contrary to historical data uh we saw a an exponential increase in the number of fatal and serious crashes that were taking place and this was across the country and it it was really led by speed and the way I've kind of put it out there before is there was a lot
▶ 2:52:42more Lane space for folks to use and quite honestly to abuse and so the problem is is some of those bad behaviors that manifested themselves at that time period have continued now and even though our VMT or the number of vehicles on the road now is higher than it was pre pandemic we're still seeing people drive in extremely Reckless ways Mr Wilcox any observations from no on either of the questions well you in rural areas we've always returned to work because he couldn't couldn't not but I do think it
▶ 2:53:12it's about the traffic and and human behavior and I do think Mr Hansen was correct we there are times people got lazy because there was less traffic on the road so I think that's important I want to go back to autonomous vehicles there's a big difference between rurual autonomous vehicles a gravel road and autonomous vehicles are not the standard has not been created for that an urban environment is but let me give you another Point that's interesting on autonomous vehicles there's been discussion about going from 4-in paint to 6in paint for autonomous vehicles and for visibility
▶ 2:53:43that's 50% more paint that local government has to put on the road there's a cost associated with the safety improvements needed not just for autonomous vehicles but that visibility and we can't lose sight of that as we uh look at that technology enhancing and moving forward thank you all thank you Mr chairman Mr Molton thank you very much Mr chairman and uh going to start by saying how much I share your concern for uh road safety and improving uh Road Safety it's an extraordinary number of Americans
▶ 2:54:13who die every year on our roads many of them driving many of of them just simply trying to cross the street as sadly happened to a a 5-year-old amazing girl in my district who died in a crosswalk crossing right in front of her family doing absolutely nothing wrong in fact doing everything right but she was run over by a truck so I want to talk about what we can do to to improve road safety
▶ 2:54:44and Miss Chase I know you've done a a lot of work on this the chairman mentioned the importance of police enforcement uh I agree we need to enforce the rules we need to enforce the law people should follow the law the law laws aren't just there for uh to look good they're meant to do something uh what about traffic cameras are they effective at enforcement yes they are we support um automated enforcement safety cameras both for red light running and for Speed because they have been proven by the insurance Insurance
▶ 2:55:14Institute for Highway Safety to reduce crashes so we strongly support them and we we urg Congress and the next reauthorization bill to expand the use of federal funds so that localities can afford to use them and how did traffic cameras compare to police enforcement in Effectiveness well we we consider automated enforcement as a supplement to law enforcement not not a replacement because I think both are very important um as has been discussed earlier in this hearing uh law enforcement efforts in terms of traffic safety have reduced um so it's time
▶ 2:55:44we would like to see them uh the effective use of traff of uh law enforcement to enforce uh traffic safety laws uh back on the rise and we would also like to see the use of automated enforcement I mean I agree with that I've spoken to my local police chief about the importance of traffic enforcement and he's shared with me some of the challenges that he has in in just doing this duty but I also understand that statistically cameras are even more effective because everyone knows there's a camera there all the time you don't have to see a police car
▶ 2:56:14is that not correct that is correct we also it's very important that the automated enforcement systems are are done properly because if not then there could be a backlash and that has happened in certain areas um so we want to make sure that they are done effectively our organization together with GHSA and um other organizations put together a safety checklist uh for localities on how to implement automated enforcement saf safe excuse me automated enforcement system safely
▶ 2:56:44um and uh that can be I think that's widely available um on on the website and I see a lot of nodding heads there is there anything that Mr Hansen or Mr will Cox you'd like to add to this thank you I no and counties are very diverse we like that option of having those traffic cameras that's a policy choice that sometimes gets a lot of push back in in local areas but having that option available would absolutely love that chance uh so various counties could take advantage of it if available yeah I get that there's push
▶ 2:57:15back because some people like to break the law right but the problem is that when it results in deaths you know it's it's one thing if you're you know speeding out in the middle of the desert and you might run over a jack rabbit but if you might run over a 5-year-old kid crossing the street it's a different story there's some new data that's come out on the effectiveness of no write on red now I like turning on right on red just as much as the rest of us sometimes
▶ 2:57:45I can get you home faster but it's pretty easy to understand how when you're looking left to see the cars coming you might not be looking right in the crosswalk for someone crossing the street so the data is pretty clear and yet the champions of federalism the people who say that local communities should make their own decisions the Republican party is the one Banning the enforcement of traffic cameras
▶ 2:58:15Banning no right on red signs in DC even though the data clearly supports the fact that when you ban these enforcement systems you say to locals you can't make your own decisions because a bunch of politicians from out of state are going to come and make them for you for the three and a half days a week that we're here more pedestrians are going to die I don't know about you but that doesn't seem right to me
▶ 2:58:46doesn't seem like selfless service to the country doesn't seem like living up to your own principles and values and it doesn't seem like making our roads safer thank you Mr chairman I yield back gentleman yields back we have
▶ 2:59:18the chairman recognizes Mr Cohen for minutes apologize for not hearing your remarks I kind of tried to read them I've had Judiciary today and that's a committee I've not paid as much attention to as I should have last two terms because we had the Aeronautics Aviation I'm not sure your microphone is on well it's on bring it to you there you yeah there we go I guess uh let me get my remarks and we'll get going thank
▶ 2:59:48you chairman Rouser and ranking member Norton uh roadway safety is a national crisis and and it is and we you talked about it and Congress must act decisively in next surface Transportation reauthorization Bill to implement life- saving policies one of the things I've worked on has been complete streets and I'm sure you all know complete streets reduces fatalities makes people with who pedestrians and bicyclists or whatever they do they little green things that look like best or something without
▶ 3:00:18Motors uh have more safety when they're on the streets and that's important too Memphis has got a whole lot of pedestrian deaths and it's so sad we could fix that with plannings and better design streets and walkways and set Des walkways so we need to do things about that and help people and we've had some declines in deaths but 40,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 20123 that's Motor Vehicles so that doesn't include all The Pedestrian deaths of which there're thousands and thousands
▶ 3:00:49um proven Solutions exist to help us try to reach zero uh goal of zero roadway Debs well that's not going to happen but if we can get it down about half or a third or whatever we strive for that as a as a goal but realistically we'll do what we can do um we've got certain bills that I've introduced uh the dot victim safety Advocate act to ensure crft victims their families have a dedicated voice and transportation policy and they should this is a devastating thing to their families they lose family members
▶ 3:01:19never get over it and they should have the right and we can learn from them and they can be the force that drives legislation that can save people's lives complete streets act which I just discussed a little bit um design roads to prioritize safety for all Road users uh the school bus safety act implemented Central protections for our children such as seat belts on school buses seen so many kids killed on seat and crashes and school buses and seat belts I think would save lives and there's problems of chairs 90° and go back and
▶ 3:01:49all that but they seat bels work and I think they would be helpful and there battles between local governments don't want to spend the money and the seat belt people Etc but the kids lives are at stake the stop under rodes act which came to me from a constituent whose uh a child was killed when the car went underneath a truck um it would prevent horrific underride crashes that claim lives of too many Americans um so many cars can go under trucks and then I think my my Stafford is going to go crazy when I
▶ 3:02:19say this she's not going to go crazy because she's a very stable and good woman but uh Jane Mansfield that's probably child I remember that under under rdes can be devastating kill people Additionally the bipartisan infrastructure law created critical programs including the safe streets and roads for all program which has demonstrated local communities can reduce traffic fatalities when given the necessary resources I look forward to our discussion which we've already had and how Congress can further Advance these critical safety initiatives the upcoming trans Transportation safety bill I thank you
▶ 3:02:49and I yield back the balance of my time thank you Gentle gentlemen yields back uh seeing no other members that uh have not already spoken or wish to speak uh the hearing for today um well let me back up and let me just thank our Witnesses uh for your great testimony uh very informative informative uh subcommittee hearing and it wouldn't have been so without uh you and your contribution so thank you very much
▶ 3:03:20uh seeing no no one else uh this concludes our hearing for today subcommittee stands journ