They’re calling it ‘The Road To Zero’ – it’s a new initiative that aims to reduce the number of traffic deaths to 0 within the next 30 years. And the DOT says they hope to achieve that goal spending only $3 million.
During a conference held by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to introduce the Road to Zero campaign, DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx laid out the objectives for the program, saying “our vision is simple – zero fatalities on our roads.”
As NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said, “zero deaths is more than just a worthy goal. It is the only acceptable goal.”
But regardless of how worthy or acceptable that goal may be, the question remains just how the DOT plans to accomplish it.
The answer is surprisingly simple – spend $1 million a year for the next three years to let other people figure it out.
It’s not to say that the DOT plans to do nothing; the 4Es (Education, Engineer, Enforcement, and Emergency Medical Services) will be on the DOT’s list. The coalition plans to focus at first on old strategies such as improving seat belt use, installing rumble strips, promoting truck safety, and changing driver behavior. But as Deborah Hersman, president and CEO of the National Safety Council points out, it will take one more ingredient to make the recipe come together, “new technologies.”
It is not clear if concrete steps will be taken to further these technologies other than giving out $1 million a year for the next three years to provide grants to organizations which are working on improving traffic safety.
One thing is clear though, the DOT expects that in order to reach their safety goals, drivers may have to take a back seat to technology. According to Foxx, automated vehicle technologies “may prove to be a road safety game changer.”
“Reaching zero deaths will be difficult, will take time and will require significant effort from all of us but it is the only acceptable vision,” said FHWA deputy administrator, David Kim. “We’re not at zero yet, but by working together, the day will come when there are no fatalities on the nation’s roadways, sidewalks or bicycle paths.”
Source: gobytrucknews, truckinginfo, nhtsa
Rufus Crank says
I want to point out that, first…The only thing that ever breaks down on my truck is the technology, second, the more technology there is on the road the more likely it is that someone will hack the system and lock our roads down with stranded vehicles. If china,or russia don’t do it,then a ransom hacker will.
Kevin Williams says
Exactly. If they lock the roads down, that will be the only way to have 0 fatalities
kyonna says
Maybe just maybe education to the general public may help? Hmmmm…naw that’s wishful thinking. Plain and simple, this new breed of drivers don’t care what’s going on around them, even if you spend a billion in the next 3 years, it takes EVERYONE to make an effort. But there are so many factors to accidents and fatalities, you have to consider tire blowouts, faulty “technology”, people on their phones driving distracted, etc… how are people going to figure this out?
Jason Kane says
Thank you. I came here to say pretty much the same thing.
Roger says
People in Hell want ice water too. I’m willing to bet the Devil will give in to their request long before we have zero fatalities on American roadways.
Luke six twentyfour says
Zero deaths; are they talking for one day? If they are talking a year, these people have completely flipped their lid. They can say “Hi” to the Mad Hatter on their trip, because they are in wonderland. Speaking of wonder, I wonder how clowns like this get a job like that? Guess that’s why I only drive truck… my brain still works.
The only way they will come close to reducing road deaths to zero is to regulate trucking to the point that no one wants to do the job and there are far less trucks on the road. At that point, freight rates will increase to the point that our economy tumbles and no one can afford gas, or even a car. With only 25% of the cars and trucks on the road, their goal may be achievable.
Oh, wait a minute…. I think they’re working on that.
Stop the insanity says
They are putting speed limiters on trucks… and not doing anything to reduce the speed of cars…and they expect things to change? Things are only going to get worse. Keep over-regulating trucks, making things more and more difficult. You think fatalities are high now? And you think there is a driver shortage now? They haven’t seen anything yet. After all, a good majority of the problems stem from 4-wheelers(people) driving like asshats.
Jason Kane says
Exactly. Except for one thing. You said things are “going” to get worse. Things already have gotten worse.
Stanley Shughart says
Here’s an idea. Let natural selection take its course now we rid of stupid. And problem solved! That’s works just as well as what they have planned
Jason Kane says
Precisely! “Road deaths” are just natural selection at work. Let it be.
Subrogation says
The Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights and Constitution of The United States says nothing regarding “prior felons or legal disputes”. It’s a totally unconstitutional law being enforced and nobody has the integrity to admit it.
Joe says
What’s the second amendment have to do with this?
Bill says
Lol. I think he means the 4th.
Larry says
This is a joke. The only way to get to 0 deaths is to take everyone off the road. Everyone…
Misti says
Even if they took all motorized Vehicles off theroads, and went back to horse and buggy or just plain riding a horse there would still be Road deaths. It’s not only the motorized vehicles that are causing deats it’s been happening throughout history, there are Road deaths with cars, horse, horse and buggy, bikes, heck even trikes. People get on the road and they died.
Tim says
The reason technology continues to advance (and it will…) while political discourse and/or decision-making continues to flatline or worse, is because (a) it has the hard sciences under its hood and (b) enough wisdom persists in sane governments to support it. When it comes to technological advancement, capital investment is a drop in the bucket compared to public support.
Seventy-one years ago the whole human population of the world (except for a few tribal communities here and there) got slammed in the face with technology’s power. It’s still with us, and—here’s my value judgement finally—that’s a *good* thing. Drivers don’t “have to” take a backseat, they “get to.”
Ryan says
The only way to eliminate deaths on our roads is to eliminate the roads. Otherwise, it’s not possible.
phatkhat says
Right. Even if we went back to horse-and-buggy days, there would be runaway horses, LOL.
shoji says
Funny!
Don says
TRAINING! The average driver in the United States receives zero training. Would you want an untrained surgeon to operate on you? Well trained drivers is key plus the commitment to take irresponsible drivers off the road permanently. Technology must work correctly in the first place. Second, it must be maintained. Third, there must be enough skilled technicians to do the job.
Dave B. says
Hope you are including the nasty 4 wheelers who think THEY own the road in the average driver context.
Flynn says
Nobody knows how to drive. Four wheelers are in such a flippin hurry, i do 64 mph, and i get passed by everyone. Big trucks, and four wheelers. The rigs usually hittin 68-70. Four-wheelers are flyin about 80-90. Now u tell me where this problem lies. A couple weeks ago, i was 3 seconds of havin a four-wheeler underneath my truck. He couldn’t wait to pass he pulled out in front of me. U want 0 accdents….pull four-wheelers off the road. Period.
Rick Mitchell says
And Trucks. I’ve driven for more years than most, not as many as others. I trust no truck, or car.
royce says
Even though tech is flawed ,kinks in an automated (or nearly automated) system are far better than blood on the highway!
It’s not simple, but it can be done.
First overdevelop the secondary highway system to match the Eisenhower interstate system. Some of this work has already been accomplished.
Second, move leisure, travel entertainment vehicles off of the interstate and onto secondary highways. Exempt the hubs around major cities.
Third, bring automated vehicles online even if they are not fully developed and use them in commerce alongside manned vehicles.
Many upgrades to the Eisenhower interstate will be necessary, such as a roof over the sisters in wyoming. The reason I point this out is because there isn’t an unmanned machine on this planet that can safely traverse that area without crashing. When a white out happens there you have two choices, park before you got there or grit your teeth and pray. Unfortunately, a driver never knows what will happen there in advance. It can go from roses to the stuff they grow in faster than you can say it.
My main point is that commercial traffic must be separated from private traffic in order to facilitate the objective of zero death on the highway.
Please send my million dollar grant to the “jacked up ,jacked over ,drivers foundation” in care of Royce Dressel. Thank you for your time.
Vanessa says
It just makes me so infuriated that the government always wants to blame the dot drivers, not the careless mass of America that make this job a living hell. Maybe stop handing out tickets and taking away licenses to the careless.
Vanessa says
Start taking away*
Mike says
The best change that could be made is increase of individual driver responsibility. Drivers of cars require more responsibility than they currently have – to the point they wouldn’t consider texting while driving or other unsafe driving practices. Education would be the first step, then enforcement. DUI and other really stupid driver faults would make a huge betterment of everyone’s safety if corrected. This process has greatly improved with truck drivers and their companies. Auto drivers and bikers need to be held more accountable than they currently are. Just as truckers are ever increasing their training, so should auto driver be required to increase their training and awareness to keep their licenses. The reversing of bad or unsafe driving would solve most of it.
Wes says
Never going to happen every day more and more people are on the already congested roads. Road rage is getting worse and even w automated systems they are only as smart as the person who programs them and they make mistakes themselves
EZ mule says
I’ll believe it when I see it. Especially when developers lie. Like how many die because of their air bags; which is emplaced because of crunch zones; which is made because automobiles are made lighter to improve fuel economy. Even thou scientist & inventors have developed stronger engines that gets extremely well fuel economy.
Andrew H says
More magnet helicopters. They fly around and find distracted drivers and politely remove them from the roadway. Maybe after being flung into the grass a few times, they’ll get the point and get off their phones while driving.
Brian Shanabrough says
1. Gov’t creates a problem.(real or imagined)
2. Gov’t (attempts to)find a solution to the problem
more laws ,more gov’t departments and higher taxes.
Randy Farrell says
Sorry DOT but human life isn’t immortal. We get to thinking life is ever lasting and it’s not. People die daily just by stepping out their front door and your expecting zero deaths on roads by 2046. I hate to break it to you dear but unless you force people into a bubble utopia world, that will never happen. Natural selection will ALWAYS over rule anything you try to do. This is not to say that I want people to die, I just think having a zero death expectation is a very in realistic expectation. People die, it’s in our nature. The only way to get rid of auto deaths completely would be to outlaw personal transportation and either have only public transportation or go back to a pre industrial era form of transportation. How typical of DOT as well to make the rule and expect everyone else to figure out how to make it happen and actually work efficiently.
Kraft K says
I do my work on my truck. I open the hood, I know exactly whet to look for and I don’t have to tend of thousands of property equipment to do it. I’ll stick with my older stuff. Oh, how does the DOT plan to fix the dumb drivers or the ones that just don’t want to live?
MrBigR504 says
Yeah and people in hell want ice water! But thats not gonna happen either!
Kelly says
Nothing happens in places that don’t exist currently.
Steve D. says
Reduce speed limit for all vehicles to 35 mph. Problem solved.
Doug Story says
You mean REQUIRE all vehicles to have electronic speed controls that prevent driving faster than 35?
If driving across Texas at 55 mph was a career versus a trip, how what that work at 35 mph?
MrYowler says
People will still die at 35mph. Old age will take a few. Some damned fool will be picking his nose with a pencil when he gets hit head-on by someone else, also going 35 miles per hour, for a total of 70mph when the pencil get shoved into his brain.
The only way to prevent transportation-related deaths, is to eliminate transportation. Just as the only path to world peace is global extinction. It’s a lovely goal, until you actually consider implementing the measures necessary to make it achievable.
Doug Story says
If the DOT wants zero deaths, they NEED to start educating idiots driving four wheelers about how NOT to change lanes in front of a fully loaded truck just before a traffic signal (especially one that’s RED)!!!
Joe trucker says
Road deaths are part of natures population control. It’s already crowded in America as it is, due to our “open door” policy. Imagine, in a perfect situation that, people quit drinking and driving, sleeping while driving, having medical issues while driving, eating, talking, texting, changing clothes, reading, doing make-up, and having sex (manually or with another human) while driving, how crowded the roads would be then. It would be like packing a 100 people into an elevator headed to the 10 floor……it’s a plum waste of our hard earned dollars.
I say make people read, write, and understand English language first.
Adam Hill says
I have a good idea to help but why help for free. When these guys make millions making laws and don’t drive or actually help us out.
Matt says
Just a way to pull more tax dollars.
Bill says
Until you illuminate 4 wheelers zig zagging in and out while texting and drunk drivers (more cars) you aren’t addressing the real problem. Let us not forget 80% of all accidents is through no fault of the truck driver. With as much congestion as we have on the roads it is simply unrealistic to expect 0 deaths. That’s like the NFL commissioner coming out with a goal of 0 injuries by 2020. It’s just not realistic. When guys are going at it in the NFL you have to expect injuries. It’s not what we want but we live in reality not Disneyland.
DKS says
If you “illuminate” them, wouldn’t that blind them? Sure, everyone could see them better, but a blind driver is worse….Sorry, twisted sense of humor…we all need a smile every now and then.
Kevin says
LOLOLOLOL Best I can do..!!!
John says
Hey drivers, consider doing what I did. I run a triaxle coal bucket in pa, last year I bought a dash cam that records when I drive and stores the previous fifteen minutes at all times. I’ve managed to get two four wheeler drivers arrested in the past year after I showed troopers accidents that I had recorded. The troopers were dumbfounded when I stopped and said hey I have that wreck on video. Accountability’s a b****.
eugene ezell says
its simple, just have everyone sell their cars and trucks. no traffic no accidents.
please send me my million dollars please.
Bryan says
Let’s make a different highway system where all the trucks are separate from cars. Then you will be able to truely tell who’s at fault with fatalities. Make a highway were nothing but the trucks are driving and cars not aloud . Hell this is where it comes down to along time ago when the highway system was first built and WHY it was built.
John says
It’s called the Interstate system. That’s what our intetstate system was originally designed for (interstate commerce) but auto’s have taken advantage of access to it to get around the country and wahlah, you have cars and trucks running together on our highways.
John says
There’s one thing no amount of money will cure and that’s STUPIDITY! In 20 yrs of running over the road, I’ve seen it almost every day by people driving both cars and trucks. Factor in the fact that machines break and electronics fail causing truly unavoidable accidents that are just that, an ACCIDENT and you have 0 chance of having no fatalities on our roads. Just won’t happen!!
Animal16365 says
That goal is impossible given today’s society. Of they want zero deaths. Then get all cars and trucks of all roads. No amount of technology, safety or any other gizmo will not eliminate Lloyd deaths on the road. I applaud them for there effort to try. But you got to be realistic.