With recently released estimates showing that traffic fatalities in the nation reached a 16-year high in 2021, the U.S. Department of Transportation unveiled its National Roadway Safety Strategy with money from last year's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
DOT referred to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's data that found an estimated 42,915 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2021, a 10.5% increase over the estimated 38,824 fatalities in 2020.
"We face a crisis on America’s roadways that we must address together," DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in the May 17 DOT news release. "With our National Roadway Safety Strategy and the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are taking critical steps to help reverse this devastating trend and save lives on our roadways."
In response to these numbers, the DOT and NHTSA are funding multiple projects to promote road safety, according to the release. Road safety improvement programs are also receiving additional funding in order to make roads safer for drivers.
The National Roadway Safety Strategy adopts a "safe system approach and builds multiple layers of protection with safer roads, safer people, safer vehicles, safer speeds and better post-crash care," the news release said.
