On Thursday, the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it would release nearly $260 million in highway safety grants nationwide.
As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the funds will be distributed to Highway Safety Offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, United States territories, and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. The funds, which will be used to address traffic safety on American roads, represent a 31 percent increase over the previous fiscal year’s funding level.
“Traffic crashes take the lives of too many Americans, but these tragedies are not inevitable, and we will not accept them as part of everyday life,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Bolstered by additional funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these grants will save lives by improving safety on America’s roadways.”
NHTSA will provide $133.3 million in State and Community Highway Safety Program funds to enhance highway safety through data-driven traffic safety programs, including initiatives like high-visibility enforcement campaign and other safe driving campaigns, as well as programs to enforce seat belt use laws and educate communities about them. Funds will also be used to educate communities about risky driving, using and installing child safety seats, and where drivers can get those installations inspected.
An additional $123.4 million will be made available through the National Priority Incentive Programs to address impaired driving countermeasures. These funds include nearly $70 million for impaired driving countermeasures; $19 million for state traffic safety information systems to help states build databases related to crashes; more than $17 million for occupant protection, including seat belt education and enforcement; more than $9 million for distracted driving prevention; $6.6 million for pedestrian and bicyclist safety programs; and $2 million for motorcyclist safety.
“The variety of funds available allows each state to target its specific challenges,” said NHTSA Deputy Administrator Dr. Steven Cliff. “Traffic safety may be a national problem, but the solutions are regional and local.”
The department will release its first-ever National Roadway Safety Strategy in January to outline policies and provide officials at all levels of government with a call to action to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries.