Transportation Research Board | Meet the Administrators: Views on Research and Innovation

Thanks, Owen. Good to be with everybody at TRB.

My colleague Peter Simshauser spoke earlier today about our ongoing AV-related activities and I’m opening tomorrow’s NHTSA panel, so I apologize in advance for any overlap.

At NHTSA, our mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, setting vehicle safety standards, and enforcement. With all aspects of our mission our action is data driven and evidence based. Every year, this country sees approximately six million police-reported crashes, millions of serious injuries, and tens of thousands of fatalities. We’re combatting a recent spike in fatalities coming from the pandemic, which saw an increase from the 36,000 traffic fatalities in 2019 to over 43,000 in 2021. We’ve had a few years of gradual decreases, with the decline steepening last year with a 6.4% decrease in the first nine months of the year.

National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day was last week, and traffic law enforcement is absolutely critical to improving traffic safety. We were pleased to see that traffic-related line-of-duty fatalities for law enforcement decreased last year by 23%. So, again, positive news and we’re gratified by last year’s progress. But there’s still far too many Americans and law enforcement officers losing their lives or being badly injured every year on our roads—we're still seeing more fatalities than prior to the pandemic. So we have a lot of work ahead to bring this level down and keep it down.

NHTSA tackles its mission through two primary areas of jurisdiction: behavioral safety and vehicle safety.

On the vehicle side, we were quite active last year. We published numerous research papers, several rulemakings, and public presentations on automated driving systems, advanced driver assistance systems, crashworthiness, electric vehicles, and cybersecurity—including at our public research days. We also published several reports responding to congressional mandates.

Of particular interest for me, we released specifications for the THOR 5th percentile female crash test dummy, documenting the design of the first advanced crash testing tool to improve female crash safety. The importance of this measurement tool is clear and emphasized by our recently released research showing that women are at higher risk of injury than men during vehicular crashes. According to the study, women have a statistically significant higher risk of injury than men in 26% of the 150 crash injury models, and women have a higher risk more frequently for moderate injuries. We’ll be discussing that tomorrow.

In addition to our FARS data mentioned previously, we also just released our 2024 Crash Investigation Sampling System, or CISS, report featuring nationally representative crash data from 40 collection sites, up from 32, and including non-motorists for the first time. Our NHTSA session tomorrow will include more on this, if you’re interested.

On the rulemaking side, we launched a successful Deregulatory Sprint that culminated in 14 proposed rules to remove obsolete and outdated regulations and directives. We took major steps on two big departmental priorities, to make vehicles more affordable and to unleash innovation in vehicle technology.

Last month we proposed a major overhaul of fuel economy standards for light duty vehicles model years 2022-2031, returning the program to conformance with statutory restrictions. Our proposal would result in gradual improvements to fuel economy while lowering new car costs by around $1,000, saving the American economy $109 billion over the next five years, and eliminating incentives that have a distorting effect on vehicle designs to meet less stringent targets.

To boost transportation innovation, we launched the Automated Vehicle Framework initiative, which streamlined and expanded our exemption programs in a way that preserves safety oversight—including providing eligibility for domestic developers.

We announced forthcoming proposals to modernize Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards related to windshields, gear shifters, and lighting and released our fourth and final volume of research providing technical translations of safety standards to apply to novel designs enabled by automated driving systems. Our second session tomorrow will conclude with a look at our ADS rulemaking, if you’d like to learn more.

Looking forward, I think it’s safe to say that 2026 is going to be a big year for AV policy on the federal level, with more actions on FMVSS, exemptions, and guidance documents for developers. Stay tuned!

For all the work we do on the vehicle safety side, we know that the vast majority of annual traffic fatalities involve poor driver decisions. Approximately 50% of fatalities involve people who choose not to wear a seat belt; approximately one-third of fatalities involve people who choose to use drugs or have an extra drink or two—increasingly both—and pick up the keys to drive while impaired; another third involve people who choose to drive above the speed limit—decreasing reaction times and dramatically increasing crash forces; and far too many fatalities—the data are not very reliable—choose to drive while distracted.

So, we’re pursuing a significant behavioral safety initiative to save more lives. We’re working hard to convince drivers to do the right thing, leveraging technologies, and spurring “encouragement” from our legal system. Most significantly, we’ve reengaged with law enforcement in a concerted way. We know that previous leaders pulled back their support for law enforcement, and we’re making crystal clear that we reject that approach. We’re sending a clear message that we support the men and women of law enforcement, and we fully endorse their getting back to vigorous traffic enforcement.

We’ve been working with Secretary Duffy on National Police Week activities, speaking at and meeting with numerous law enforcement organizations, restoring and upgrading grants and partnerships, and creating a new public service award to recognize exemplary traffic enforcement service. We’re also supporting greater use of our high-visibility enforcement campaigns, in partnership with local law enforcement, because enforcement coupled with education—think Drive Sober, Get Pulled Over—works. This year, our three main media buys led to an estimated four billion impressions and $11 million in added value. We’re also increasing training for state and local prosecutors and judges, and expanding public recognition of heroic traffic enforcement officers.

We’re also trying to save more lives after crashes occur. We know how critical post-crash care is to survival. Research shows that prehospital blood transfusion decreases mortality among trauma patients with severe bleeding by 37%. Included in the Safe Streets and Roads for All grants package released just before Christmas was $50 million for transfusion programs across the country, to be administered by NHTSA. These come on top of $30 million last year to support 25 transfusion demonstration projects under a partnership with the Department of War. Both steps mark significant expansions of transfusion programs under the Trump Administration which sees more aggressive post-crash care as central to bringing down elevated levels of traffic fatalities.

We’ve increased support for technologies to reduce repeat impaired driving and excessive speed offenses, use of mobile telematics to understand risks in real time, and tougher state laws. We’re increasing research into and support of oral fluid devices to test for the presence of marijuana, pushing to increase seatbelt use by funding increased nighttime belt enforcement, and promoting child booster seats. We’re using AI to help states better target risk areas with proven countermeasures and expanded our education campaigns’ reach through new partnerships. And we directed approximately $1 billion in highway safety grants to the states last year to fund activities ranging from law enforcement to toxicology labs to their own messaging campaigns. We just launched a modernized electronic grants management system to greatly improve efficiency. 

So there’s a lot going on at NHTSA. We’re working to save lives, make vehicles more affordable, and unleash innovation, so that we can help usher in what Secretary Duffy calls “the golden age of transportation.”

Thanks.