Buckeye broadband support cspan is a Public Service along these other Television Providers were giving a front row seat to democracy. Next, testimony on roadway safety before a Senate Commerce, science and transportation subcommittee. From transportation policy advocates and local officials. They discuss roadway fatalities, infrastructure needs, Pedestrian Safety and the integration of Autonomous Vehicles. This is an hour and 40 minutes. [background noises] the subcommittee will come to order. Today the subcommittee for surface transportation, maritime, freight imports will examine the roadway safety crisis. These solutions we must implement and responsive. Boots would like to thank my Ranking Member, senator young as well as chert cantwell and member crews for their help in convening this very important hearing. Every day unfortunately more than 100 americans lose their lives on our roads. If trends continue what we expect more than 40000 fatalities this year. Hundreds of thousands of serious injuries. That means thousands of families are going to be torn apart by preventable crashes. Those families deserve our recognition as we work to address this problem. Let us buy like to enter into the record statements made by victims families who havent havewritten it to this committeo urge further action on roadway safety. That objection those letters will be entered into the record. Also dedicate todays discussion to them as these families know all too well safety situation on our roads or constitutes a consl crisis. In 2021 national Highway SafetyTraffic Administration estimate the u. S. Had the higher number of fatalities since 2005. Unfortunately the trend has not significantly improved over the past two years. According to the most recent estimates roadway deaths remain elevated with only a 3 reduction in 2023. These numbers do not reflect the harm done to our drivers and passengers but vulnerable pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists who are disproportionately harmed on our roads. Also over represented in these tragedies are black, hispanic and native americans as well as americans living in rural areas. We need a strong and comprehensive response to date we will discuss a holistic safe Systems Approach to addressing the roadway safety crisis. How we could implement that approach all across our country. Safe system approach ensures all aspects of our roadways account for inevitable human error. It emphasized building multiple layers of protection so that even when mistakes are made, death and injury are unlikely. Thisdi framework focuses on five key categories, safer peeper and behaviors,ar safer vehicles, sar speeds, safer roads, and improving the post crash care. I believe emerging technologies are going to play an Important Role in this endeavor. New interventions from Digital Infrastructure that improves crash response to predictive roadad maintenance active traffc management are absolutely essential to achieving safe system goals that also includes the safe Accountable Development and testing and deployment of Autonomous Vehicles which can help us reduce serious injurieso and deaths on our roadways. I expect our Witnesses Today to discuss the principles and data behind the safe Systems Approach as well as how we can better support communities implementing these solutions on the ground. Weve already made important progressta. Congress won key steps towards supporting safety with the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021. All grants for local, regional tribal communities to prevent roadway deaths and injuries using a safe Systems Approach requires them to measure their success along the way. Bipartisan infrastructure also first piece of legislation to establish requirements for complete street standards. These ensure our roadways can safely accommodate all traffic that includes a vulnerable road users like pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and people with disabilities as well elderly. Finally with the help of michigander the bipartisan infrastructure law included honoring the family legacy to terminate drunk driving act a requirement for the inclusion of Impaired DrivingPrevention Technology in our vehicles. Today we will learn more about the challenges and the opportunities thesemi provisions are posing for communities on the ground. The bipartisan infrastructure law was just the beginning theres still so muches more we can and we must do in order to address this crisis. Our witnesses will also help us examine what solutions need to come next. I would like to thank each of you for being here today and for the expertise with which you are going to share this committee. For all you do each and every date to make our streets and our highways safer. I would now invite rankingine member young for any opening remarks that you have. Will thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank all of our witnesses for joining us today to discuss a topic of paramount importance. Roadway safety in the United States. Today ig want to highlight our nations alarming roadway fatality and crash statistics. Discuss significance of innovation in enhancing roadway safety. Callmi attention to the importat role the tried and true Infrastructure Investments play in keeping our roads safe. Every year thousands of lives are tragically cut short due to vehicle crashes. In 2023 alone nearly 41000 people lost their lives on american roads. This statistic does not just a number it represents parents, children, friends and colleagues whose absence leaves a void in their families andnd communitie. Additionally millions of crashes occur annually leading to severe injuries substantial economic losses. Thesead staggering figures underscore the urgent need for Innovative Solutions to make our roads safer. Hope we all come together in a bipartisan basis to prioritize human lives over political and parochial interest, we can significantly Leverage Technology to create safer roadways for everyone. One of the most promising areas of technological innovation lies in the development of Autonomous Vehicles. Which have the potential to revolutionize roadway safety. Unlike human drivers, Autonomous Vehicles do not get distracted, tired, or impaired. They can react to hazards more quickly and make split second decisions ace on vast amounts of data that no human could process. Widespread adoption of Autonomous Vehicles can reduce traffic fatalities by up to 90 potentially saving tens of thousands of lives each year in the United States. This technology is not just futuristic, it is a tangible solution that can transform how we think about road safety massively reduce the number of deaths on our roadways every year. The benefits of innovation to extend beyond Autonomous Vehicles. Another critical poem of it safer ecosystem. Intelligent Traffic Signals could adjuster realtime to notraffic conditions. Minimizing the likelihood of accidents. Connected Vehicle Technology allows cars to communicate with each other and with infrastructure. Providing drivers with realtime information about Road Conditions, hazards in traffic patterns. This interconnected network can significantly enhance Situational Awareness and reduce the risk of coalitions. Furthermore Public Education and awareness campaigns are essential to ensuring the drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and other road users can understand and embrace these new technologies. Public acceptance and trust are crucial for the successful integration of Innovative Solutions into our daily lives it. Public awareness and education efforts are vital to addressing certain longstanding roadway safety issues in a costeffective way. Not the least of which is one any parent should be extremely concerned about. That is school bus safety. Specifically related to illegal schoolbus passings. School bus safetyt should be te top of our list when it comes to roadway safety and unfortunately is not receive the attention it deserves. Estimates show more than 43 million violations occur during every 180 day school year. My stop for school buses acts with german peters co lead with me was signed into law and 2021 directed the department of transportation to review Illegal Passing laws and potential Technological Solutions along with developing a Public Safety messaging campaign. But with all of these things said Public Safety campaigns technological innovation on their own or not enough. We must focus on improving our roadway infrastructure to improve safety. This includes maintaining road quality focusing federal funding to leverage state, local and private funding for Infrastructure Projects that will vastly improve roadway safety. Indiana is home tog over 97000 miles of public roadways and as the crossroads of america hoosiers rely heavily on transportation infrastructure. In evansville, indiana ive been working hard for years to secure federal funding for the eye 69 ohio remote crossing project to fill a crucial gap in the nations transportation infrastructure ascu it links i 9 between indiana and kentucky over the ohioo river. This type of project will mitigate Traffic Congestion improve overall roadway safety significantly leverage nonfederal dollars is where federal infrastructure dollars should be focused. While these statistics arent roadway fatalities and crashes are alarming, they serve a powerful motivator for change by embracing technological innovation and investing in infrastructure. We have the opportunity Autonomous Vehicles, smart infrastructure holds immense potential to save lives andgn prevent injuries. Let us commit to supporting all of the above approach to approaching roadway Safety Innovations but working together to create safer roads for everyone. Think it mr. Chairman for. Thank you greg member young jon with a Ranking Member of the full committee consider cruise you are reckoned as for opening remarks. Four to 4090 people die on roads in the United States. I expect we will hear that number multiple times today. That is a tragic number especially for all those who lost loved ones. Therean are many reasons that go into this. One is lackal of adequate infrastructure. Lack of sufficient space. It creates more traffic. Unfortunately Biden Administration has consistently failed has consistently failed to prioritize infrastructure and instead the Biden Administration has allowed itself to be distracted by political pet projects things like bike lanes and things like the allegation that are racist roads we need to be worried about. Instead of focusing on the important task of building more roads. On this committee and proud to have led thest way on multiple pieces a Bipartisan Legislation that have been signed into law to expand our critical infrastructure. I 14, a new interstate that will run from the Permian Basin in texas, east all the way to the atlantic ocean. That legislation introduced with raphael were not comic democrat who serves on this committee and cruzuz warnock passed unanimousy it was signed into law. Its critically needed throughout east texas in each of the states that i 14 will run through, all the way to the atlantic ocean. Likewise i was the lead author of desolate i 27 reports to plains core door that bill was introduced with ben wright lujan and other democrat, another member of this committee. I 27 will run from laredo, texas up north through west texas up to the panhandle of texas comeit up into new mexico ultimately ill be up into canada. It will be a major artery for north, south trade and commerce. Just like i 14 will be a major artery for east west trade and commerce. Likewise as lead author of legislation to build and expand for new bridges from south texas to mexico across the rio grande river. Bridges been delayed by bureaucratic roadblocks put up by the Biden Administration. Repeatedly a way to the secretary of transportation the secretary of state asked them to stop the bureaucratic roadblocks. They refused to do so. They were delayed three, four, five years as i author legislation streamlining the permitting of that bridges. That legislation was signed into law. In december of last are the result will produce tens of thousands of highpaying jobs in texas and billions of dollars of trade and commerce between commerce and mexico. Infrastructure is one critical way to protect safety. Another way is Public Safety. And sadly disparaging Law Enforcement and learning less enforcement of Traffic Safety when lead to more traffic crashes. That makes sense if you think the police are not going to enforce laws and people are going to be more likely to break the laws. He in his written testimony for todays hearing, mr. Nelson notes that quote rising traffic fatalities are correlated with drops in the enforcement of lifesaving Traffic Safety laws. Parts of the country as much as 50 for dangerous activity like speeding or Impaired Driving. An articlele from october 2023 titled quote the decline in Police Traffic stops is killing people, points out cities like seattle, new york city and st. Louis saw traffic stops decline and saw a significant increase in traffic fatalities. Previous research is drawing a link between declines in Traffic Enforcement and accidents. Another notable issue is drugged driving for 2022 Research Paper found from 2009 until 2019, legalization of Recreational Marijuana was quote associated 6. 5 increase in injury crash rates. A2. 3 increase in fatal crash rates. And yes, the Biden Administration rather than working our family safe on the roadways, has instead decreed it will reclassify it marijuana from a schedule one substance to mischedule three. The American Trucking association quickly followed this news with a letter highlighting the rescheduling marijuana without explicit allowance for a test for its use would createis confusion and result in serious safety impacts to safety sensitive industries. I look forward to hearing from the witnesses on each of these topics. Our first witness is sam. He serves as a chief of infrastructure for the city of tndetroit under mayor mike doug and he is responsible for leading the citys infrastructure and Transportation Priorities collaborative state and federal partners, executing majorhe projects and overseeing grant funding. Is it nba and a masters in urban planning from the university of michigan. Welcome please proceed with your opening comments. Good afternoon chair campbell, karen peters, Ranking Member young and greg member cruz number to the senates have given i am humbled at the opportunity to appear to at this important hearing to represent city of detroit in the state of Michigan Transportation official proud detroit motorcycles husband and father brought him here detroit has the unenviable position of having the second highest traffic fatality rate third highest rate formo pedestrians in the country. Last year alone we lost 13032 lives to traffic violence and 40990 People Killed nationwide. Our Street Network was built for city of nearly 2 million people, almost three times our current population. Like many urban areas and nationwide overbuilt streets arcreates a perfect scenario for speeding, dangerous driving and treacherous conditions for our most vulnerable residents trying to catch the bus or cross the ilstreet on foot. With the passage of the ia j8 we had an opportunity to make real change on the streets with new programs like safe streets for all. Weve been extremely fortunate to receive two grants totaling 49. 6 million across 2022 and 2023. The first regret allows us to make systematic Infrastructure Improvements across 30 miles of city jurisdiction, roads under high injury network. Basically roads of the highest rate of crashes resulting in injuries a second grant focuses on high crash intersection your transit stops were data shows most of our pedestrians are getting hit. Many of these intersections are either partially or fully under county or state jurisdiction require close collaboration with the parties to even be able to apply. Last week in partnership with michigan dot we submitted another reque