U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen (D-WA) joined U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) in urging the U.S. Government Accountability Office to study the safety outcomes associated with the Federal Highway Administration’s traffic control devices.
The FHWA’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) sets the standards used by road managers across the country when it comes to installing and maintaining traffic control devices like stop signs, bike lanes and crosswalks on public roadways to improve safety. Citing rising traffic fatalities, Larsen, the ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, joined Fetterman in calling on the GAO to study how state and local government traffic engineers, planners and consultants use the MUTCD when implementing multi-modal roadway designs.
“We are experiencing an unconscionable safety crisis in this country,” law makers wrote. “More than 35,000 people die on our roadways every year. More than 7,000 pedestrians were struck and killed in 2022, the highest number since 1981. No comparable nation sees this kind of death toll.”
The congressmen said communication with local government officials found the MUTCD unwieldy in its implementation.
“While the MUTCD permits engineering discretion that should allow practitioners to exercise their own judgement about the best way to implement roadway safety, our offices have heard from engineers across the country that the structure and language of the MUTCD, as well as the industry culture around it, results in a reluctance to deviate from the guidelines even when alternatives may be more contextually appropriate,” the law makers wrote.
The congressmen asked the GAO to look at how the MUTCD is used in developing road designs, to what extent practitioners exercise engineering discretion, and in what types of facilities, projects and contexts do practitioners most frequently deviate from the MUTCD.