Governors Highway Safety Association Statement Before the Senate Commerce Committee

5/22/2003

From: Jonathan Adkins of the Governors Highway Safety Association, 202-789-0942

WASHINGTON, May 22 -- The following is a summary of the statement of Kathryn Swanson, chair of the Governors Highway Safety Association before the Senate Commerce Committee:

Kathryn Swanson is the Chair of the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), the national nonprofit association representing State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs). GHSA members administer federal highway safety grant programs that address the behavior of drivers and other road users.

Since the enactment of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), the motor vehicle fatality rate has dropped to the lowest on record and related injuries have been reduced as well. However, total fatalities, including impaired driving fatalities, are beginning to climb upward. If states are to continue to address the problem of motor vehicle-related deaths and injuries in an effective manner, they need additional resources, data tools, and research.

GHSA recommends that Congress should continue the budgetary firewalls around behavioral highway safety programs. The firewalls have ensured that highway safety grant funding is stable and reliable. This has helped states better plan their programs from year to year.

Congress also should ensure that states maintain their ability to determine how highway safety funding is spent within their own jurisdictions. The performance-based approach to federal highway safety grant funding has allowed states to perform data-driven problem identification and target available funding to the biggest problem areas. If states do not perform, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) currently has the ability to work with the states and develop improvement plans. NHTSA has other management tools at its disposal as well, and GHSA is working with the agency to develop criteria so that the tools can be applied more consistently. GHSA would strongly oppose a return to federal micro-management of the states' programs that occurred before the performance-based approach was implemented.

GHSA also recommends that Congress consolidate the behavioral highway safety grant programs into one large Section 402 program with two tiers. The first tier would provide occupant protection incentives for states that improve their safety belt use rate or enact a primary belt law. It would be based largely on the successful Section 157 basic grant program. A portion of the funds would be earmarked for low performing states. The second tier would be for impaired driving. States would have to meet a number of specific criteria, just as they do under the current 410 program. The new consolidated program would be funded, at a minimum, at $500 million.

Another area that should be addressed in the next reauthorization is state crash-related data systems. GHSA recommends that a $50 million data incentive grant program should be authorized to help states implement their traffic records strategic plans that were developed under the current 411 program. Without improvements to their data systems, states will have to rely on incomplete, inaccurate and untimely data upon which to base their programs.

GHSA recommends that additional funding should be authorized for highway safety research as well. Particular emphasis should be placed on crash causation and on the effectiveness of safety countermeasures. GHSA recommends that driver and pedestrian research should be increased from $7 million a year to $15-$25 million a year.

The federal lobbying restrictions are another area that needs to be revised in the next reauthorization. TEA-21 restrictions are counterproductive. States are encouraged to enact specific legislation in order to receive federal incentive grants or avoid federal penalties and sanctions, yet current law prohibits them from lobbying on behalf of safety legislation. Congress needs to reexamine and loosen these restrictions.

Swanson's complete statement is available online at http://www.statehighwaysafety.org.

------ The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) is a nonprofit association representing the highway safety offices of states, territories, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Indian Nation. Its members are appointed by their Governors to administer federal and state highway safety funds and implement state highway safety plans. Prior to September 2002, GHSA was known as the National Association of Governors' Highway Safety Representatives (NAGHSR). For more information, contact Jonathan Adkins at 202-789-0942, e-mail jadkins@statehighwaysafety.org or visit http://www.statehighwaysafety.org.