State Priorities Meeting
September 23, 1999
Associated information from the slide
presentation is also available
Hon. Michael O. Leavitt, Governor of Utah and Chairman, National Governors'
Association
Hon. James E. Hall, Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board
Our Children are being killed
- Crashes are the Number 1 Cause of Death for every age from 6 through
27 years of age.
- Since 1990, 72,000 children under age 20 have died on our highways
- 14,000 of those children were under age 10 - 33 deaths per week.
- 7,513 children died in highway crashes in 1998
- We can't lose as many kids in the next decade as we have in the 1990's.
We must do better.
Trucks
- 5,374 people died in truck crashes in 1998.
- There's a national shortage of 28,000 truck parking spaces in rest
areas.
- 42% of 1,487 State rest areas restrict the hours truckers may stay;
many have police force truckers out after 2 hours.
- State policies putting tired truckers back on the road has to stop
and more spaces and rest areas need to be built.
Economic Costs and Funding
- Federal funding contingent on State action creates piecemeal funding
and results in fragmented efforts.
- Crashes cost $150 billion each year; Utah's share is $1.22 billion
per year. That is $580 for every citizen every year.
Changes are going to make traffic worse and more dangerous
- Young driver population will increase 22% by 2005.
- 225,000 more trucks are added to the fleet each year.
- Road construction lags highway use; lane mileage increased 3.2% from
1980 to 1996
- Travel increased 66.5% in the same period.
State Leadership can recapture highway safety for our citizens
- Highway safety is primarily a State government function.
- States must take the lead. Graduated licensing laws represent a good
example.
- States collect safety data inconsistently. Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria
(MUCC) was an NGA initiative. All states need to use the MUCC.
- Leadership needed to make tough decisions should come from NGA and
from each Governor.
- More lives can be saved if highway safety is the number 1 priority
than any other action a Governor can take.
NGA Action
- Take the National Leadership Role in Highway Safety as NGA has done
in education and other fields.
- Make Highway Safety the Top Priority in Each State.
- Ask Governors to provide political leadership.
- Get the funds necessary to make it work.
- Consider NTSB Participation in NGA Plenary Session.
