Statement by Cathy Chase, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates), on Dangerous and Deadly Amendments to H.R. 4820 (U.S. Department of Transportation Funding Bill)
(Washington, D.C. | November 8, 2023) In an appalling move, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to adopt several dangerous and deadly amendments to H.R. 4820, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) funding bill (THUD). The inclusion of these anti-safety measures (Amendments 49, 52, 53, 54, and 71) effectively ignores the public health emergency occurring on our nation’s roadways and is a painful missive to families who have lost loved ones to and injured survivors of preventable traffic crashes. At a time of historically high crash fatalities (42,939 in 2021), we must push ahead with commonsense requirements for automatic emergency braking (AEB) for trucks and ensure the U.S. DOT has the resources to promulgate rules and achieve its safety mission. The U.S. simply cannot afford to put traffic safety efforts in reverse by defunding the implementation of mandates passed two years ago in a bipartisan fashion.
Advocates commends Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) for speaking in passionate opposition to misguided anti-safety measures on the House floor and helping to defeat the amendment (60) to defund rulemaking for impaired driving prevention technology.
More information about the amendments to H.R. 4820 that Advocates opposes can be found here.