6. Drivers, vehicles, and travel increase more than expected.-Not only have these factors been increasing every year, but they have reached totals generally not expected until later years, thus placing additional burdens on facilities and programs. 7. Business, travel, and accident rate cycles are up.-Motor vehicle travel moves in cycles, apparently being influenced by the business cycle. And as travel moves up, deaths move up even more. With the current business cycle the longest and most vigorous since World War II, the effect on vehicle travel has remained strong. Both gross national product and travel have pushed further above their trend lines than in any other period since the end of World War II. Favorable factors Partially offsetting the adverse effects of the factors listed above has been the favorable effects of such factors as the following: 1. Seat belts.-This equipment does save lives, and when fully used could reduce fatalities by 5,000 a year. Limited use in 1965 saved about 750 lives. 2. Vehicle design features.-Better door locks, padding and recessing, and other vehicle safety features are saving lives, too. 3. Limited access highways.-Lower fatality rates on these highways, as well as on older highways relieved of traffic saved about 5,000 lives in 1964, and probably as many in 1965. 4. Spot improvement projects.-Reports on completed projects indicate significant reductions in accidents and costs. In addition, the savings which result from fewer accidents pay for the cost of the improvements, often in a year or two. 5. Safety education.-Young drivers who have had driver education are involved in fewer accidents, and are cited for fewer violations than those who have not had driver education. Circumstances of the accidents A factor in most motor vehicle accidents is improper driving of one kind or another. This does not mean that improper driving alone is responsible for accidents; often improper driving-intentional or unintentional-combines with vehicle and/or roadway deficiencies to produce an accident potential situation that is difficult to resolve safely. Driving too fast for conditions (which also includes relatively slow speeds in congested areas, on slippery roads, etc.) is the principal circumstance in fatal accidents in both urban and rural areas. Right-of-way errors, including failure to yield and disregard of signs and signals, is the most important circumstance in injury and property damage accidents in urban areas, and the second most important circumstance in rural areas. Knowledge of the importance of these circumstances, and others such as improper overtaking, following too closely, etc., will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of preventive efforts. Directional analysis of accidents Pre Knowing the frequency of different types of accidents is not enough. ventive action requires more specific information, such as the location of the accident and the movement of the vehicle. For example, knowing that twovehicle accidents result in more fatalities than any other type of accident provides nothing on which to build an accident prevention program. But by knowing the location of these accidents, and by knowing the movement of the vehicles in these locations at the time of the accident, education, engineering, and enforcement efforts can be brought to bear in a specific approach to the problem. Future trends By 1975, traffic volume is expected to be about 50 percent greater than it was in 1965; a third more vehicles will be competing for use of the streets and highways; nearly 25 percent more people will be fighting for their motoring "rights." Congestion will increase, but not in major traffic areas, because efforts will be continued to promote the "free" flow of traffic. So the potential for fatal accidents will increase as traffic increases. Where congestion cannot be controlled, and in many urban areas this will be the case, the potential for injury and propperty damage accidents will increase. The rising proportion of young drivers will continue each year through the 1970's, and traffic records will be influenced more and more each year by their experience. Currently the trend is toward larger "small" cars and this will be a plus factor in the accident picture, except if a serious business recession should occur, small, economy cars probably will increase in popularity, and this would be a minus factor. As previously stated, the Nation's economy currently is the most prosperous in history. Periods of adjustment would be normal, and these should affect traffic in a manner favorable to accident experience. Summary The rising pressure of people, machines, and travel will continue to burden facilities and safety programs in the years ahead. Easy solutions to the problem will not work. They haven't worked in the past, they won't work in the future. The problem must be dealt with honsetly, realistically, and courageously, as indicated by sound statistical analysis and research. Mr. PYLE. This brings us to an 18-point program which the National Safety Council believes can be so activated as to reduce the Nation's traffic accident fatalities by at least half and thus save approximately 25,000 lives each year. There is nothing easy, cheap, or quick about this approach, and the reason is very simple. There is no such thing as an easy, cheap, quick answer to our traffic safety problems. This does not make the situation hopeless by any means, but it does make major demands on all concerned if the gains that can be achieved through this 18-point program are to be realized. I shall summarize each point in the program, then discuss each recommendation in limited detail. NSC'S 18-POINT PROGRAM FOR TRAFFIC SAFETY—SUMMARY 1. National policy 1. Action program for highway safety. The Congress should adopt as national policy the principles embodied in the action program for highway safety. 2. Federal responsibility. The Federal Government should assume its proper responsibility, with all levels of government and the private sector, in meeting the additional $1 billion needed annually to effectuate the action program, and this subcommittee should coordinate the development of a unified policy on the scope of such Federal responsibility. II. The highway 3. Federal highway grants.-The Congress should consider the urgent needs of all streets and highways, including the rural and urban tributary systems, in enacting further programs of grants for highway construction. 4. Highway spot-improvement program.-The States, cities, and counties should accelerate their spot-improvement programs to eliminate high-accident locations, and Federal incentives should be increased. III. The motor vehicle 5. Accelerated industry action.-The automobile industry should, by industrywide procedures, accelerate the engineering and design of safer vehicles, and should consult periodically with the Secretary of Commerce and the General Services Administrator to assist these Federal officials in the performance of their statutory duties. 6. Safety standards for Federal vehicles.-The Federal Government should fully utilize its authority under Public Law 88-515, otherwise known as the Roberts bill, to establish progressively higher standards for all necessary safety devices on the motor vehicles which it purchases, and thus give leadership to the entire Nation. 7. Accident investigation teams.-The Congress should direct Federal departments and agencies to establish, on an experimental basis, automotive accident investigation teams, under appropriate standards, to investigate the causes of highway accidents involving motor vehicles under their control, in order to enable the Federal Government more effectively to carry out its obligations under Public Law 88-515. 8. Tires.-Motor vehicle manufacturers should provide, as standard equipment on new passenger-carrying vehicles, tires which are safe at maximum loads and legal speeds. Manufacturers of replacement tires should enable dealers and purchasers to know whether such tires are equal to the original equipment. 9. Uniform State safety standards.-The Congress should appropriate sufficient funds to the Vehicle Equipment Safety Commission (established under congressionally approved interstate compact), to accelerate development of uniform State safety standards, and at the same time authorize the Secretary of Commerce to require specified periodic reports from the Commission. 10. State vehicle inspection programs.-All the States should establish effective motor vehicle inspection programs, and the Federal Government should move to assist in this development as necessary, after joint consultation with the States. IV. The driver 11. Drinking drivers.-There is need for a strong public education and public support program to cope with the problem of the drinking driver, and the National Safety Council, the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Medical Association should activate their already planned campaign as quickly as possible. 12. Driver education.-All the States should establish fully effective programs of driver education and training of driver education teachers, and the Federal Government should move to assist in this development as necessary, after joint consultation with the States. 13. Driver improvement.-The Federal Government should provide a driver improvement course to all military and civilian personnel who drive motor vehicles. Bureau of Reclamation, Salt Lake City, Utah (116). U.S. Army Electronic Proving Ground, Fort Huachuca (1707). U.S. Army Engineer District, Vicksburg, Miss. (0). U.S. Naval Radio Station, Puerto Rico (52). U.S. Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, R.I. (0). U.S. Naval Base, Newport, R.I. (0). U.S. Marine Corps, Camp Lejeune (0). 92d Strategic Aerospace Wing, Fairchild Air Force Base (361). V. Factfinding 14. Increased Federal support for accident research.-The Congress should increase its financial support for intensified programs, both governmental and nongovernmental, covering all aspects of traffic safety research, and should establish properly oriented accident research facilities in both the U.S. Public Health Service and the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads. 15. Improvement of accident records and statistics.-State and local governments should develop more effective systems of accident records and statistics through the National Safety Council's traffic accident data project, and the Federal Government should aid by augmenting present funding of research and development grants to States and other agencies. VI. The Federal structure 16. Congressional review of national policy.-The Congress and this subcommittee should maintain a continuous review of the national policy on traffic safety and provide continuing public demonstration of the urgent need for coping with the problem. 17. Coordination among Federal agencies.-The President should transfer the Interdepartmental Highway Safety Board to the Executive Office and vest it with nonpreemptive coordination of Federal traffic safety activities and general oversight of the national policy established by the Congress. VII. The voluntary sector 18. Strengthening voluntary safety organizations.-The private sector of the American economy must substantially increase its financial sponsorship of voluntary safety organizations to meet the immediate and long-range need for more public support of, and better technical service to, approved traffic safety programs. It is understood that these 18 recommendations for the subcommittee's special attention do not constitute the sum total of all that is necessary to achieve the highest possible level of traffic safety. Consequently, we are attaching, as appendix No. 84, a list of some of the other problems and programs which need study and corrective action. (The appendix follows:) EXHIBIT 84 ADDITIONAL HIGHWAY SAFETY PROBLEMS AND PROGRAMS It is understood that the 18 recommendations for the subcommittee's special attention do not constitute the sum total of all that is necessary to achieve the highest level of traffic safety. Basically, the action program and the priority needs constitute statements of problem and program areas. The following list of some of the other problems and programs which need study and corrective action is submitted simply as additional information and comment. Some of these topics are commonly overlooked in routine appraisals of traffic safety. Others are emerging problems. Responsibilities range over the full spectrum of public and private agencies. 1. Comprehensive State needs studies A comprehensive study should be made of all functions of the State relating to highway safety. Only four States have undertaken such studies since 1962 (California, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Arizona). This complex problem of building an effective program embodying and coordinating the numerous State functions controlling the vehicle, driver, and highway needs legislative and executive leadership in every State. Federal funds have been made available for the initial studies and should be provided immediately to every State so that this type of comprehensive study could be completed at the earliest possible date. 2. Economics of accidents and prevention The council commissioned Stanford Research Institute to prepare a report, "A General Framework for Analysis of the Costs of Traffic, Home, and Public Accidents," and a preliminary draft is now available to be used in securing the funds necessary for a full-scale study of this important aspect of accidents and prevention costs. Funding of additional research is critical if we are to know accurately who bears the burden of accident costs, who finances prevention work, and what benefits are returned from investments in prevention and who gets them. The dynamic economic models portrayed in the report hold considerable potential for building public and industrial support for the tax budgets needed to finance highway safety improvements, if we can fund collection of the data on some good case histories. 3. Action program correlation with safety A variety of research projects and "before-and-after" comparisons have been conducted to determine effectiveness of items in the action program. More such studies are needed. Also needed is measurement of the effectiveness of the action program as a whole. Case studies existed, but not overall statistical evaluations. Due to the complexity of the problem itself and the program, this task is very difficult. Some programs, such as good courts, are difficult to measure statistically. However, the council has, for some time, had a multiple regression study project of the effects of safety activities. Since only part time could be given to the project, its progress has been slow. A summary of several years' findings is now ready for publication. Its preface reports: "The principal finding was that the major portion of the differences in accident experience is associated with differences in the nonprogram factors, particularly vehicle density, kind of travel, age of the population, and weather. However, when the fatality experience was adjusted for the nonprogram factors, there were literally dozens of program activities that were significantly associated with the death rates." This type of analysis should be continued and greatly expanded in a systems study center. 4. Major systems center (s) The subcommittee has heard a variety of testimonies as to the need for a systems approach and systems research center. Various groups have proposed centers. The subcommittee chairman has introduced in the Congressional Record an exposition of the systems approach to this problem. It seems abundantly clear that funding of $10 to $20 million per year for perhaps a 5-year period could produce results quite in scale with the $8 billion cost of not doing more. 5. Special emphasis effort of cities and counties This effort by the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and the International City Managers' Association was briefly alluded to in prior hearings (Hearings, pt. I, p. 136). The first bulletin in this program is self-explanatory and is attached. Every Federal agency concerned with traffic, most especially Commerce, Health, Education, and Welfare, Defense, Agriculture, and Interstate Commerce Commission, should use its channels to build interest and support for this program. 6. Inventory of federally administered areas The Defense Department, Park Service, Forest Service, Atomic Energy Commission, TVA, NASA, and many other Federal agencies administer traffic safety responsibilities for Federal areas. Many have done fine work in applying standard programs, such as applying the "Manual on Uniform Control Devices," and have supplied traffic engineering and other services as budgets permit. However, there has been no systematic inventory and evaluation of such programs (except for the District of Columbia). |