Missouri Highway Safety Director Dr. Leanna Depue
NHTSA Regional Administrator David Manning and Georgia Highway Safety Director Bob Dallas
The U.S. launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety symbol and tag and discussions on the planned U.S. contribution to the Decade, entitled Toward Zero Deaths, took place in America’s Heartland recently. Road safety leaders appointed by each U.S. State’s Governor met during the National Association of Women Highway Safety Leaders (NAWHSL) and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) conferences in Kansas City.
Although the number of Americans killed on the roads have declined markedly in recent years, falling from 43,000 in 2006 to 34,000 in 2009, American leaders are not satisfied and are urging adoption of a national highway safety plan called “Toward Zero Deaths.” Inspired by Sweden’s Vision Zero, the multidisciplinary strategy mirrors the worldwide Five Pillar Plan for the Decade of Action (1. Building Management Capacity, 2. Encouraging Safer User Behavior, 3. Building Safer Roads, 4. Building Safer Vehicles, and 5. Improving Post Crash Care). It involves diverse stakeholders from highway infrastructure, law enforcement, driver education, emergency medical services (EMS), public health, research, and safety culture to implement high-payoff strategies for reducing highway fatalities.
Dr. Bella Dinh-Zarr, FIA Foundation Road Safety Director and Make Roads Safe North American Director, a keynote speaker at the NAWHSL meeting, presented the Decade of Action five pillar plan and the new symbol, saying, “You should remember that it started here – with all of you. You were one of the first U.S. bodies to pass a resolution for global road safety and to join the Make Roads Safe campaign. Now, a few years later, we are together again to acknowledge a successful campaign and start the work of the Decade of Action for Road Safety through efforts such as Toward Zero Deaths.” She then presented the Decade tags to State and Federal leaders. NAWHSL representatives discussed immediate actions such as passing state and local resolutions for the Decade of Action, supporting key safety legislation and policies, and involving youth in a wide variety of programs.
At the Governors Highway Safety Association meeting, Dr. Tony Kane of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) presented the Toward Zero Deaths strategy as the U.S.’s contribution to the Decade of Action. Toward Zero Deaths is spearheaded by AASHTO, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), the Commercial Vehicle Safety Association (CVSA), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Association of County Engineers (NACE), and the National Association of State EMS Officers (NASEMSO). Six states — Idaho, Minnesota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and West Virginia — have already adopted statewide versions of the Zero Deaths program. Others like Washington DC, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Iowa, New Hampshire are also implementing similar plans.