Statement by Cathy Chase, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates), on Anti-Safety Amendments to H.R. 4820 (Department of Transportation Funding Bill) which Will Endanger All Road Users
(Washington, D.C. | November 6, 2023) This week, the U.S. House of Representatives plans to consider several detrimental, dangerous and deadly amendments to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) funding bill (H.R. 4820). If adopted, every road user throughout the country will be further imperiled at a time when motor vehicle crash fatalities are at historic highs.
Nearly two years ago, our Nation’s leaders made progress toward enhancing traffic safety in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, Pub. L. 117-58) by requiring life-saving technologies in new vehicles that would tackle some of the major contributors to traffic fatalities and injuries. It would be a huge step in the wrong direction to now prevent the U.S. DOT from making the safety advances Congress, with bipartisan support, just required them to execute.
These mandates, including automatic emergency braking (AEB) and impaired driving prevention systems, which have the potential to prevent over 13,000 fatalities and 160,000 injuries annually, are under dire and direct threat (According to NHTSA 3,000 fatalities and 160,000 injuries could be addressed by AEB; impaired driving prevention systems could save 10,000+ per year, based on data from IIHS). We continue to urge members of the U.S. House of Representatives to oppose these amendments, and instead take action that will address the public health emergency on our roads.
The list of anti-safety amendments and provisions can be found here.