essentially promote his writing career. stewart, despite his sinister appearance did give him a job and he became a clerk in stewart's office for at that time that was not unusual this senate only met a few months out of the year. they often hired reporters and correspondents as clerks for those in a mutual beneficial experience for both of them. he did not prove to be a particular good citizen employee progress betty with her book seen. sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span q and a. q&a and all of our podcast on pn the free c-span now app. ♪ c-span is your unfiltered view of government. funded by these television companies and more including buckeye broadband. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ buckeye broadband support c-span is a public service along these other television providers were giving a front row seat to democracy. next, testimony on roadway safety before a senate commerce, science and transportation subcommittee. from transportation policy advocates and local officials. they discuss roadway fatalities, infrastructure needs, pedestrian safety and the integration of autonomous vehicles. this is an hour and 40 minutes.

[background noises] the subcommittee will come to order. today the subcommittee for surface transportation, maritime, freight imports will examine the roadway safety crisis. these solutions we must implement and responsive. boots would like to thank my ranking member, senator young as well as chert cantwell and member crews for their help in convening this very important hearing. every day unfortunately more than 100 americans lose their lives on our roads. if trends continue what we expect more than 40000 fatalities this year. hundreds of thousands of serious

injuries. that means thousands of families are going to be torn apart by preventable crashes. those families deserve our recognition as we work to address this problem. let us buy like to enter into the record statements made by victims families who haven't havewritten it to this committeo urge further action on roadway safety. that objection those letters will be entered into the record. also dedicate today's discussion to them as these families know all too well safety situation on our roads or constitutes a consl crisis. in 2021 national highway safety traffic administration estimate the u.s. had the higher number of fatalities since 2005. unfortunately the trend has not significantly improved over the past two years. according to the most recent estimates roadway deaths remain elevated with only a 3% reduction in 2023.

these numbers do not reflect the harm done to our drivers and passengers but vulnerable pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists who are disproportionately harmed on our roads. also over represented in these tragedies are black, hispanic and native americans as well as americans living in rural areas. we need a strong and comprehensive response to date we will discuss a holistic safe systems approach to addressing the roadway safety crisis. how we could implement that approach all across our country. safe system approach ensures all aspects of our roadways account for inevitable human error. it emphasized building multiple layers of protection so that even when mistakes are made, death and injury are unlikely. thisdi framework focuses on five key categories, safer peeper and behaviors,ar safer vehicles, sar speeds, safer roads, and

improving the post crash care. i believe emerging technologies are going to play an important role in this endeavor. new interventions from digital infrastructure that improves crash response to predictive roadad maintenance active traffc management are absolutely essential to achieving safe system goals that also includes the safe accountable development and testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles which can help us reduce serious injurieso and deaths on our roadways. i expect our witnesses today to discuss the principles and data behind the safe systems approach as well as how we can better support communities implementing these solutions on the ground. we've already made important progressta. congress won key steps towards supporting safety with the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021.

all grants for local, regional tribal communities to prevent roadway deaths and injuries using a safe systems approach requires them to measure their success along the way. bipartisan infrastructure also first piece of legislation to establish requirements for complete street standards. these ensure our roadways can safely accommodate all traffic that includes a vulnerable road users like pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and people with disabilities as well elderly. finally with the help of michigander the bipartisan infrastructure law included honoring the family legacy to terminate drunk driving act a requirement for the inclusion of impaired driving prevention technology in our vehicles. today we will learn more about the challenges and the opportunities thesemi provisions are posing for communities on the ground. the bipartisan infrastructure

law was just the beginning there's still so muches more we can and we must do in order to address this crisis. our witnesses will also help us examine what solutions need to come next. i would like to thank each of you for being here today and for the expertise with which you are going to share this committee. for all you do each and every date to make our streets and our highways safer. i would now invite rankingine member young for any opening remarks that you have. >> will thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank all of our witnesses for joining us today to discuss a topic of paramount importance. roadway safety in the united states. today ig want to highlight our nation's alarming roadway fatality and crash statistics. discuss significance of innovation in enhancing roadway safety. callmi attention to the importat role the tried and true

infrastructure investments play in keeping our roads safe. every year thousands of lives are tragically cut short due to vehicle crashes. in 2023 alone nearly 41000 people lost their lives on american roads. this statistic does not just a number it represents parents, children, friends and colleagues whose absence leaves a void in their families andnd communitie. additionally millions of crashes occur annually leading to severe injuries substantial economic losses. thesead staggering figures underscore the urgent need for innovative solutions to make our roads safer. hope we all come together in a bipartisan basis to prioritize human lives over political and parochial interest, we can significantly leverage technology to create safer roadways for everyone. one of the most promising areas

of technological innovation lies in the development of autonomous vehicles. which have the potential to revolutionize roadway safety. unlike human drivers, autonomous vehicles do not get distracted, tired, or impaired. they can react to hazards more quickly and make split second decisions ace on vast amounts of data that no human could process. widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles can reduce traffic fatalities by up to 90% potentially saving tens of thousands of lives each year in the united states. this technology is not just futuristic, it is a tangible solution that can transform how we think about road safety massively reduce the number of deaths on our roadways every year. the benefits of innovation to extend beyond autonomous vehicles. another critical poem of it safer ecosystem. intelligent traffic signals

could adjuster real-time to notraffic conditions. minimizing the likelihood of accidents. connected vehicle technology allows cars to communicate with each other and with infrastructure. providing drivers with real-time information about road conditions, hazards in traffic patterns. this interconnected network can significantly enhance situational awareness and reduce the risk of coalitions. furthermore public education and awareness campaigns are essential to ensuring the drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and other road users can understand and embrace these new technologies. public acceptance and trust are crucial for the successful integration of innovative solutions into our daily lives it. public awareness and education efforts are vital to addressing certain long-standing roadway safety issues in a cost-effective way. not the least of which is one

any parent should be extremely concerned about. that is school bus safety. specifically related to illegal schoolbus passings. school bus safetyt should be te top of our list when it comes to roadway safety and unfortunately is not receive the attention it deserves. estimates show more than 43 million violations occur during every 180 day school year. my stop for school buses acts with german peters co- lead with me was signed into law and 2021 directed the department of transportation to review illegal passing laws and potential technological solutions along with developing a public safety messaging campaign. but with all of these things said public safety campaigns technological innovation on their own or not enough. we must focus on improving our roadway infrastructure to improve safety. this includes maintaining road quality focusing federal funding

to leverage state, local and private funding for infrastructure projects that will vastly improve roadway safety. indiana is home tog over 97000 miles of public roadways and as the crossroads of america hoosiers rely heavily on transportation infrastructure. in evansville, indiana i've been working hard for years to secure federal funding for the eye 69 ohio remote crossing project to fill a crucial gap in the nation's transportation infrastructure ascu it links i 9 between indiana and kentucky over the ohioo river. this type of project will mitigate traffic congestion improve overall roadway safety significantly leverage nonfederal dollars is where federal infrastructure dollars should be focused. while these statistics aren't roadway fatalities and crashes are alarming, they serve a powerful motivator for change by embracing technological innovation and investing in

infrastructure. we have the opportunity autonomous vehicles, smart infrastructure holds immense potential to save lives andgn prevent injuries. let us commit to supporting all of the above approach to approaching roadway safety innovations but working together to create safer roads for everyone. think it mr. chairman for. >> thank you greg member young jon with a ranking member of the full committee consider cruise you are reckoned as for opening remarks. four to 4090 people die on roads in the united states. i expect we will hear that number multiple times today. that is a tragic number especially for all those who lost loved ones. therean are many reasons that go into this. one is lackal of adequate

infrastructure. lack of sufficient space. it creates more traffic. unfortunately biden administration has consistently failed has consistently failed to prioritize infrastructure and instead the biden administration has allowed itself to be distracted by political pet projects things like bike lanes and things like the allegation that are racist roads we need to be worried about. instead of focusing on the important task of building more roads. on this committee and proud to have led thest way on multiple pieces a bipartisan legislation that have been signed into law to expand our critical infrastructure. i 14, a new interstate that will run from the permian basin in texas, east all the way to the

atlantic ocean. that legislation introduced with raphael were not comic democrat who serves on this committee and cruzuz warnock passed unanimousy it was signed into law. it's critically needed throughout east texas in each of the states that i 14 will run through, all the way to the atlantic ocean. likewise i was the lead author of desolate i 27 reports to plains core door that bill was introduced with ben wright lujan and other democrat, another member of this committee. i 27 will run from laredo, texas up north through west texas up to the panhandle of texas comeit up into new mexico ultimately i'll be up into canada. it will be a major artery for north, south trade and commerce. just like i 14 will be a major artery for east/west trade and

commerce. likewise as lead author of legislation to build and expand for new bridges from south texas to mexico across the rio grande river. bridges been delayed by bureaucratic roadblocks put up by the biden administration. repeatedly a way to the secretary of transportation the secretary of state asked them to stop the bureaucratic roadblocks. they refused to do so. they were delayed three, four, five years as i author legislation streamlining the permitting of that bridges. that legislation was signed into law. in december of last are the result will produce tens of thousands of high-paying jobs in texas and billions of dollars of trade and commerce between commerce and mexico. infrastructure is one critical way to protect safety. another way is public safety.

and sadly disparaging law enforcement and learning less enforcement of traffic safety when lead to more traffic crashes. that makes sense if you think the police are not going to enforce laws and people are going to be more likely to break the laws.he in his written testimony for today's hearing, mr. nelson notes that quote rising traffic fatalities are correlated with drops in the enforcement of lifesaving traffic safety laws. parts of the country as much as 50% for dangerous activity like speeding or impaired driving. an articlele from october 2023 titled quote the decline in police traffic stops is killing people, points out cities like seattle, new york city and st. louis saw traffic stops

decline and saw a significant increase in traffic fatalities. previous research is drawing a link between declines in traffic enforcement and accidents. another notable issue is drugged driving for 2022 research paper found from 2009 until 2019, legalization of recreational marijuana was quote associated 6.5% increase in injury crash rates. a2.3% increase in fatal crash rates. and yes, the biden administration rather than working our family safe on the roadways, has instead decreed it will reclassify it marijuana from a schedule one substance to mischedule three. the american trucking association quickly followed this news with a letter highlighting the rescheduling marijuana without explicit allowance for a test for its use

would createis confusion and result in serious safety impacts to safety sensitive industries. i look forward to hearing from the witnesses on each of these topics. >> our first witness is sam. he serves as a chief of infrastructure for the city of tndetroit under mayor mike doug and he is responsible for leading the city's infrastructure and transportation priorities collaborative state and federal partners, executing majorhe projects and overseeing grant funding. is it nba and a masters in urban planning from the university of michigan. welcome please proceed with your opening comments. >> good afternoon chair campbell, karen peters, ranking member young and greg member cruz number to the senate's have given i am humbled at the opportunity to appear to at this important hearing to represent city of detroit in the state of michigan transportation official proud detroit motorcycles

husband and father brought him here detroit has the unenviable position of having the second highest traffic fatality rate third highest rate formo pedestrians in the country. last year alone we lost 13032 lives to traffic violence and 40990 people killed nationwide. our street network was built for city of nearly 2 million people, almost three times our current population. like many urban areas and nationwide overbuilt streets arcreates a perfect scenario for speeding, dangerous driving and treacherous conditions for our most vulnerable residents trying to catch the bus or cross the ilstreet on foot. with the passage of the ia j8 we had an opportunity to make real change on the streets with new programs like safe streets for all. we've been extremely fortunate to receive two grants totaling $49.6 million across 2022 and 2023. the first regret allows us to make systematic infrastructure improvements across 30 miles of city jurisdiction, roads under

high injury network. basically roads of the highest rate of crashes resulting in injuries a second grant focuses on high crash intersection your transit stops were data shows most of our pedestrians are getting hit. many of these intersections are either partially or fully under county or state jurisdiction require close collaboration with the parties to even be able to apply. last week in partnership with michigan dot we submitted another request to break this time for a pilot for safety county measures are most dangerous world way. at least the part within detroit is one of the most dangerous roadways in the state for drivers and pedestrians alike. it is the perfect example of the road safety challenges the city of detroit other cities across the country face. it's 89 lane surface or chill straight cut to the heart of detroit's east side not far from where i live. it is been unchanged since 1956 and street car stopped running in the city while the posted speed isde 30 miles or the actul

speeds aregn likely closer to 6. i say it likely because we are discouraged from completing a speed steady-state lot would require the speed limit to them be updated to the 85th percentile of prevailing speech which is not exactly the name of safety. since 2017, 8-mile stretch of road is that water 59 pedestrian or cyclist involved crashes, 45 fatalities nearly 1200 injury crashes. these are not the result of drunk drivers of people texting but rather the result that no longer meets the needs of the population that it claims to serve. it's also one of the busiest bus of transit corridors in your state multiple sections a marked crosswalk for at least half a mile. it may not seemed like a lot but one gets off the bus after long day at work and needs to get to their house and the neighborhod on the other side of the street we asked them to walk more than a mile to avoid crossing 100 feet at unprotected location. 100 feet is wider than some sections of 395. unsurprisingly people do not do

this and take theirle lives into their hands on a daily basis. the date it reflects this with 33 pedestrian fatalities or serious injuries occurring at these on signalized and unmarked crossings but despite all this there's little city could have that our state dot, since it is their roadway for years of a worker safety dot to figure out a planit for roads like this ony to be given outdated vehicle sensor design criteria, maintenance obligations we place on the city lack of funding as obstacles to finish us from addressing these fatalities. the program has created an opportunity for cities to seek funding to address safety challenges are larger to door corridors it's dependent on not just have the funding available but also having continued cooperation dot county road agencies that historically have done little to prioritize safety or funding in urban areas have little incentive from the federal government to do so. however there is more and you yo to changeic this. the updates to the manual for

uniform on traffic control devices basically the bible for traffic design if you're unfamiliar with the acronym r8 welcome start the pending complete streets and legislation have thent potential to provide terminus fudge local governments he search at safety l mr. projects. as i closed today i request you to consider how he lives can be saved by funding programs like safe streets for all we seek to reduce fatalities and serious injuries on a roadways is critical of dedicated safety funding that does not have to compete with maintaining roads and bridges. we've gotten used to not treating streets of public spaces but only as ways to move traffic. at 40090 or 90 people were killed annually in any other setting they would rightfully be public outraget and demand for immediate change. we have normally see traffic violence we see in her streets as accidents that just happened rather than crashes that can be avoided. as stewards of the space of responsibility at all levels to change that it make the space is safe for the people that use

them. hyper should the work of the subcommittee the committee as a whole this important subject with thank you again for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of the city of detroit and local governments across the country. thankmm you. mr. krassenstein played second when this is laura chase present ceo of the intelligent transportation society of america. she currently serves as an advisor at united states department ofs transportationen transforming transportation advisory committee for to help the department navigate how to incorporate advanced technology safety and responsibility into our transportation system. ms. chase, thank you for being here today. you may proceed with the opening remarks. >> thank you, thank you chairman peter ranking member young full ranking of recruits members of the subcommittee appreciated the opportunity to speak on this important topic of roadway safety. in addition to the roles chairman peters just mention i'm also a mother of three children including two teenage drivers with the topic of transportation

safety is near to my heart. every facet of my life is the opportunity to make transportation savory kids going to school, parents returning help a routine trip to the grocery store does not end in tragedy. america is a nonprofit association for over 30 years has been at the forefront of bringing together government industry and research. to advance our vision of better future transformed by technology and innovation. when that safer, greener, smarter for all. status quo addressing them think we have always and will yield only incremental results. mindset shift to more than 40000 transportation fatalities each year. we should embrace ave comprehensive all of the above approach to improving safety in a roadways. which includes fully leveraging these solutions include digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, communications and automation are not just nice to have it. they are essential to improving

safety in achieving our goals of vision zero. spends billions of dollars every year on transportation infrastructure that we do not seat meaningful progress on lowering traffic fatalities. of the 673 billion in spending in the eye i ja, only a hundred million for deployment totaling around one tenth of 1% even though technology investments can provide more cost effective solutions clearly the amount of funding directed towards transportation technology is inadequate. the u.s. needs to adopt a proactive approach to improving safety. rather than the opt in standard approach of reacting to tragic events that could have been prevented. to be proactive we must move from focusing solely on physical assets such as roads, bridges, guardrails and speed bumps to harnessing the power of innovation data and technology to improve f safety. fully deploying a layered approach both physical and digital infrastructure assets is

the way we will achieve the vision zero per technology provides the opportunity to proactively address safety and myriad of ways that that intersections come on highways and congestion urban environments and rural areas. digitaloa infrastructure and artificial intelligence can recognize and predict dangerous conditions are previously unidentified good helping road users and transportation agencies addressing situations ahead of time. communications are a drivers and other road users with more information about hazardous conditions around them or impending collision keep things beyond their line of sight if it gives them more time to react and make better decisions and improve safety automation is of the proactive solution to enhance safety. technologies are already responding to driver action or in action to correct vehicle position, brake for pedestrians and more technology can make static infrastructure dynamic such as changing speed limits in the event of contraction or adverse weather.

or extending traffic signals in real time when a pedestrian is in accra costs crosswalk needs more time technology can makes is from a reactive system to a proactive system that addresses issues before they result in a death. the good news isgy we can do moe today to integrate technology into our programs to ensure these tools being developed right here in the u.s. are also deployed here at home to improve safety. this includes finalizing u.s. dot national deployment plan to help advanced lifesaving technology at speed and scale. it also includes prioritizing technology into the safe systems approach complete street, the new car assessment program of otheru.s. dot policies and guid. and prioritizingg technology deployment under other discretionary grants such as safe streets and roads for all. gucongress has an opportunity to reimagine the future of transportation technology when it re- authorizes surface transportation programs in 2026. this includes incorporating technology at every step in the

process from planning, to construction come into operation. rethinking how we approach technology from policy, to funding, to procurement. needat substantial funding for technology that's incorporate at the beginning of a project's lifecycle. we mustfu also update our polics and best practices for procuring new kinds of technology and software. american innovation continues to lead the world have the opportunity to harness its innovation in the community's orbit live, work, play to realize better safety outcomes for all. as a mother along for the day do not had to say to my children call me when you get there safely. we can make that day reality faster by leveraging technology in a a more holistic way. thank you for the opportunity to appear today at forger questions. >> think it ms. chase. our third witness is jake nelson serves as a traffic safety advocacy and research director at the american automobile association probably known as aaa. mr. nelson epidemiologist who applies research in the sciences of public health to aaa public

policy development. mr. nelson was an undergraduate or if the university of michigan. graduate degrees in public health and public policy from george washington and the university of chicago. mr. nelson, welcome to the committee. you may proceed with the opening remarks per. >> thank you chairman peters rank member young to the opportunity to testify today. in a time i have owed to focus on a few key points of the more detailed testimony submitted for the record. by the spike in highway deaths and what we can do about it? here's a aaa research has uncovered about what's happening on our roadways and to whom. sincey the pandemic speeding, drunk driving at 96 safety belts account for most of the increase in traffic deaths. post covered spike in fatalities isem predominately had disadvantaged populations particularly people with no education beyond high school in black and hispanicc populations. urban traffic deaths have increased by 66% since 2013

which is a major implications for pedestrians and cyclists who are more concentrated in urban areas. since 2013 pedestrian drafts it has increased 81% in urban areas and drop 10% in rural areas this shift in traffic has happened mostly on urban and suburban arterial roads. these are typically multilane meeting -- high-speed and high-volume roads are really designed to quickly move vehicles in and out of cities. to date their use has changed people live, work, shop all along these roads. a note on enforcement. you would from senator cruz traffic spiked in the u.s. at the same time the citations for dangerous behaviors like speeding and drunk driving have dropped it by as much as 50% in some parts of the nation but we know labor shortages across a profession negative perceptions of law enforcement or factors here. research is crystal clear. when perceived risk of apprehension for breaking laws or drops, we see risk-taking behaviors go up. aaa survey research found most of drivers reduce their driving

through the pandemic a small portion increase their driving. i purge a bit riskier than average even after accounting for their age, their gender and how much they drive. thnationally drivers submit to o engaging more regularly and behaviors like speeding, red light running, driving within an hour of using cannabis. most alarming was a 24% increase inmu self-reported drunk drivin. the bottom line is highly visible enforcement of traffic laws tied to things like speeding and impaired driving ussaves lives. if we enhance the trust between police and the communities they serve and protect we said a much better chance of police confident enforcing lifesaving laws with strong community support. what got us to this point will not move us closer clearly to te smartest five key recommendations help move the needle. i encourage the committee's consideration of all five part of focus on three. first, support for law enforcement. congress could increase funding for states this section 1906

racial profiling grant program. and establish you a center of accidents for equitable traffic enforcement per aaa believes key limiting factor to state-level demand for existing funding is the lack of guidance and technical support available to them to properly standardize, and interpret traffic stop data. also to effectively collaborate with law enforcement agencies to address inequities illuminated by these data without impeding nondriving related crime. we all benefit from makingll traffic enforcement more equitable using police resources more efficiently. maximizing road safety. number two, require better coordination treat state and local governments when determining changes to a maximum posted speed limits at higher speed. aaa research speeding related crashes jump on surrounding roadways when speed limits are raised in highway segments. stronger coordination would allow local road authorities to

prepare for the spillover effects and protect pedestrians and bicyclists who are more concentrated near arterials and roads. number three, over implementation. will fail to issue a final rule by the congressionally mandated. congress can ensure mpr m by that same deadline november 15 of this year. onset penetrates the passenger vehicle fleet will save an estimated 10,000 lives annually. make it the single most effective countermeasure to safety belt. the challenges before you are not easy. it is time to lean and on what is working and pursue opportunities to maximize the potential good. that's how we can sprint a set of crawl towards making saving lives of the roadways thank you for the opportunity to testify look forger questions. >> thinking mr. nelson a fourth s witness is doctor laura is the

codirector of the university of north carolina highway safety research center. she serves as codirector for the pedestrian and bicycle information center as well as director of the collaborative science center for road safety. whose mission is to advance transportation safety through a multidisciplinary system based approach. dr. sandt is a phd in epidemiology from unc chapel hill school of global healthad with a concentration in injury prevention. she holds a masters in regionaly planning from chapel hill with a concentration in transportation and land-use. thank you for being here today you can proceed with your opening remarks. correct thankni you chairman peters, ranking member young distinguished norms of the committee thank you for the opportunity to speak today i am codirector of how it safety research center at the university of north carolina at chapel hill. as an epidemiologist of the background and transportation planning my guiding light is to improve theai well-being of our

communities to the prevention of roadway injuries and fatalities. it's a tragic to see that roadway fatality rate in the u.s. has been steadily increasing since 2010 moving in the opposite direction of other high income nations for traffic injuries now require millions of emergency department visits each year. create significant burdens for families, healthcare providers, employers and the broader community our economy and public health depend on people and families arriving safely at their jobs and schools. returning safely to their homes and communities each day. roadway crashes are preventable. we have many available tools and practices that can be applied to improve safety. the safe system approach is one such practice that focuses on five key objectives. save your people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speed, and post crash care. key to its effectiveness is the safe system approach plus the clear focus of the primary

mechanism of injury and roadway crashes. kinetic energy above the human tolerance level. kinetic energy can seemed like an abstract term. everyone knows what excess kinetic energy looks like on our roads but we know it we see picturesne of vehicles torn in half from a t-bone crash. we know we see pedestrians literally knocked out of their shoes and thrown hundreds of feet from the site of impact. we know a lot about how speed is playing a role in a road safety crisis. the more prone we become to making errors of the marked time and distance we need to respond to a hazard and avoid a crash. most importantly we know higher speed in concert with larger vehicles piercing among pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles and construction workers whose bodies are simply not designed to withstand impact speed above 20 miles per hour.

fortunately research indicates even a relatively small changes in speed can improve safety for all users significantly. cut the number of fatal crashes by 30%. significant step towards our goal of zero. many well-established treatments can be applied to help naturally cute drivers to adopt context appropriate speed. many states and local agencies have created ambitious management plans and will progress is being made, there remains a critical need to build local capacity and political will pay to enhance cross sector coordination, streamlined delivery of speed management tools, and ensures space inappropriate speeds are inherently baked into a roadway design, operation and maintenance practices. opportunities exist for vehicle design and technologies to help us reduce the kinetic energy in our system. standard practice in other

countries. we need to be ready and willing to play global innovation to also save lives in the u.s. we improve our safety plan and infrastructure test out new technologies, must further invest and modernizing our data system. we cannot manage what we don't measure and we need data to be timely, accurate, consistent, accessible and complete. sustained funding and dedicated coordinating unit establish clear performance metrics related to speed management to show accountability we adopt new technologies we need better data related to usage compliance and failures.. to help us understand and improve their safety performance in public acceptance. new safer system which people can make mistakes to make at home on our roads focus on addressing kinetic energy offers

tremendous promise for creating a transportation system safer people of all ages and abilities. university researchers are well-positioned to support this work in collaboration with the many partners dedicated to community safety and well-being. thank you for your time and leadership. i welcome the discussion on this critical issue sue. >> thank you dr. sandt our fifth is the autonomous vehicle association.an association represents more than 20 of that leading companies developing autonomous vehicle technologies. it's good you have it with the committee here you may proceed with your opening remarks. >> the german people ranking member young grimsley subcommittee it's an honor test testify to project as a former staffer for senate commerce committee. written testimony provides details of the unacceptable number ofpr fatalities and injuries on u.s. roads. i want to spend my time this afternoon talking about solutions. specifically how thomas can help address the nation crisis but

was once an aspiration of our country is now reality. the day autonomous vehicles are here and last smothered visit with driven milling 70 million@the smiles on u.s. public roads is equivalent to 293 roundtrips to the moon. autonomous vehicles complain important role in addressing roadway safety. our countryno has hit a wall producing roadway deaths it is a wall built on human behavior like speeding and impaired or distracted driving. these humann heirs of the oval woman because of the more than 40000 deaths on our roads. fortunately av's to not engage in any of these behaviors it's essential to find what we are referring to will be saved as honda's vehicles. there is not vehicles using driver assist features we increasingly see rolled out on the roads. driver assist technology the human driver must constantly engage to take over at a moments notice. with truly autonomous vehicle see him has no responsibility for the driving task. autonomous driving is in marriage between hardware and software deliver sensitivities

capabilities and reaction times well beyond that of a human driver. the sensors on an av get the vehicle three and 60-degree view to detect, track, react to objects and people even when hidden from human perception due to other vehicles, buildings and obstructions. particulate relevant to this hearing is how av's are specifically developed to detect vulnerable road users such as motorcycles, pedestrians, cyclists and construction workers. safely respond to their unique behavior. we've all been in situations where a pedestrian steps off a curb was not visible due to a parked car or motorcycle is lane splitting an approach from behind was undetected until he split second before the motorcycle and by. now, imagine a world of vehicles do not human limitations because they can see through objects a few hundred meters in every direction including the on the vehicle's headlights. this is the promise of autonomous vehicles to america's vulnerable users. industry recognizes new technology to most americans strongly committed to building

public trust essential to their as acceptance public trust must be earned and maintained by the industry. to achieve thatly objection last month announced its trust principles. through this invention to the transparent interaction of government officials in the public, deep engagement with law enforcement first responders, upholding the highest cybersecurity privacy standards. thomas vehicles are very much in american success story. our country can and must lead this area globally. we need the support of policymakers. i want to turn to a couple of policy recommendations that will help industry address the word weight safety crisis. federal leadership on av is imperative. competitor countries are moving forward of policy frameworks states are increasingly taken the lead on av policy. twenty-five u.s. states now have av deployment statutes are welcoming the technology. encourage federal action in a

couple of areas. first, congress should act on federal legislation like the av start act from senators peter and soon. our industry is incredibly grateful to both senators for that long senate leadership av policy and that recognition technology will help make our roads safer. organization was especially excited to see av specifically called out by the bipartisan senate ai working group that's led by senator schumer, rounds, heinrich and young. the working group encourage community action on federal framework that testing and deployment av's across all modes of transportation noted this is particular important and strategiccompetitors like the ce communist party are acting. second, av industry is industrie strong interest in the department of transportation on how av's can increase safety on american roads. we need action from dot in key areas. for example an issue proposed rule av step program which was first announced in july 2023. av present opportunity to

reimagine vehicles are designed and promote safety and accessibility. according to the step will encourage deployment of next-generation vehicles open up a wealth of data to help make progress toward establishing an effective governance structure for autonomous technology. another example were dot should take immediatey. action is by granting the still pending industry exemption requests that will allow av trucks use alternative warning devices to signal when a vehicle stopped on thern roadside. thank you again for the opportunity to testify look fortunate questions you may have for. >> thank you mr. farrah. mr. krassenstein i want to thant you again for being here and thank you for all the great work you are doing in the city of detroit spirit as you mentioned in your opening comments, unfortunately detroit has historically struggle with high numbers of roadway injuries and deaths. especially when the black community. my question for you, sir, can

you speak to the importance of safe streets for all funding in the city ofwa detroit in terms f enabling various safety interventions that would spotherwise not simply be possible? and two, can you speak to how detroit is addressing some of the socioeconomic and racial disparities in roadway safety using this grant program? >> thank you for that question chairman. so, for the first part of the question on the importance of safe streets for all program the program is vitally important for cities like detroit within that thecity limits we have 3100 mils of road or some us under our jurisdiction minute advert yard shirt larger as their most dangerous as are not safe streets roll program gives us a dedicated funding stream we do not need to worry about making the hard choices between state of good report and saving lives and safety projects. this gives us the opportunity to have dedicated funding to just focus on safety on street sets have been overbuilt and detroit

and frankly have had way too manyst crashes, injuries and fatalities to the second part of yoursa question on how we are addressing socioeconomic factors into this, that's a frequent work we do on everything from which it roads we pave to where we do safety projects and handle interventions. we are proud to bee taken very equity basedw approach quester public works teams in our planning and developing teams and how we engage neighborhood groups looking at commercial core doors and looking at the data as well but we do try to take a very balancedit approach with where we make those types of investments throughout the city. >> thank you. mrs. chase in addition to serving as chair of this subcommittee am also the founder and share in the senate motorcycle caucus. i am an avid motorcyclist myself ensure that with the number of my colleagues here may is motorcycle safety a month where we raise awareness of motorcycle fatalities. motorcyclists unfortunately parish on our roads at a rate 22

times the rate of motor vehicle occupants. so my question for you is, what sort of technology interventions are most likely to benefit motorcyclists as well as other vulnerable road users? how can we get those up and running as quickly as possible? >> thank you for the question, chairman. probably the most effective safety technology will be for motorcyclists. these technologies as you know provide situational awareness to both drivers of cars, motorcyclists and other road users to alert them in drivers or the users of the vehicles of impending collisions or hazards that go beyond our line of sight so the drivers can make better decisions, and avoid a crash and improve safety on the roads this is really critical when your talk about motorcycles or other road users who do not have the

vehicle. it would be the top technology solution for there are also technology solutions being developed by bmw and bosch were very active in the motorcycle safety space. what we call networked and digital alerting. relearning of may be other key information of the roadway conditions. things have not essentially be a safety of life issue but could beat really critical information to a motorcyclist or a cyclist. and so those solutions are being developed by those companies. in addition the american motorcyclist association was a part and has been a part of a larger coalition for many years now. supporting scale deployment of these technologies so that we can in fact protect not only drivers but also motorcycles, bicycles and others using our

system. >> thank you. mr. farrah as you know i strongly believe in support av's.d i believe they can play a major role in achieving our goals of preventing road weight fatalities and i appreciate you mention the bill that i'm working on with senator thune. but in order for that to be the case, self driving vehicles and developers need to gain a keyal public trust, as you mentioned with the acceptance and ensure there is a transition for effective workers with this new technology buried the committee is in receipt of some letters from unions representing workers who work in and around vehicles that share their priorities and concerns with self driving cars. that objection i will be entering those into the record. but mr. farrah how are you and your members working with transportation workers, affected communities in the public to build trust and transparency? what do you think the best approaches to dealing with this challenge as the industry continues to develop?

an unfortunate incidents will inevitablyon occur. that something you need to be thinking about her book senator, thank you very much a question appreciate again your leadership. as i mentioned in my opening statement recent industry initiative was the release of our trust principles one of the things it really comes through in that document is that we are articulating a very strong belief we need to have incredible amount of local engagement for this means prior to companies going into cities, speaking with local leaders with law enforcement, with public -- first responders. with leaders whether in labor and other walks of life it is very important we beat meeting people where they are by explaining what our intentions are how it is we can increase safety. how we can help with supply change and challenge is how we can assist city leaders with accessibility opportunities and what not. it's very, very localized operation is something we are very proud of is something industry is devoted a significant amount of resources toward.

>> thank you up we are in the process of voting right now i'm going to go votedu real quickly bring going to hand the chair over i think i will to the ranking member i will go vote and be back to really view progress great, works for me. thank you, chairman. mr. farrah thank you for that reply. thank you also for mentioning ai roadmap that senators arounds, , myself, heinrich and schumer released last week. and that bipartisan a roadmap we encourage committees to continue their work on developing a federal framework for testing and deployment of its autonomous vehicles but we highlight is particularly critical and strategic competitors most notably the chinese communist partyy continue to race ahead ad attempt to shape the vision of this technology. just yesterday in fact that uk

av act became law. they will have driverless cars on their roads within two years says current reporting. so mr. farrah where does the u.s. stand in the global competition to your mind? and what are other countries doing differently in support of innovation and deployment? quick senator, thank you very much for the question for the way i think about this is that over the course of the last dozen or so years event incredible american success story bringing thomas driving tour it is. but the reality is this is gonna notice by many countries who also want to have safer roads they want to have more accessibility than want of supply chain benefits. so they are racing to keep up and certainly china is one of those countries. while our country right now are firmly in the lead have the best companies in the world of the deepest capital markets we are headed in technological innovation but we are struggling when it comes to public policy but we each have a federal

framework put in place that supports thein development of thomas vehicles proving of action on legislation such as av start we have action on rules the department transportation. the federal government is behind or allowed the states or they take a lot of action in recent years. >> it is incumbent upon us to listen to these and to act after duly stating the facts and consulting with all stakeholders. we haven't been involved in such consultation and preparing for action for some period of time. i does seemed like at the uk is prepared to go ahead it seems like we ought to be. especially seeing as we are leading and evading many of these technology areas is not consistent with your assessment of where the technology is? quick senator yes we have said the best countries that companies know what we need to be sure of a policy framework to support those going forward.

>> mr. farrah to move on to another important topic that many of you touched on in your opening remarks i will get to many of you. nearly 41000 people diedd on our roads last year. that is a massive massive number. i was trying to contextualize this number because i believe this goes under report at least as compared to other sort of disasters that afflicts families and communities. cdc reports every year the number of u.s. murders involving a firearm is half that number. it is half that number. i actually think it was completely accurate when secretary buttigieg recently said human drivers are not just problematic. they are murderous. again he was talking with the ae opportunity cost for not adopting the latest technologies

but they are murderous we've been bathed in this level of carnage all our liveshe he put more pointedly more graphically than i think i would but nonetheless can you tell us mr. farrah how a visa will decrease the number of fatalities and share any projections on how significantly it will decrease by your estimates? quick senator i appreciate the question. i think the reality is we have been desensitized this as a country put us on except those going to take committee hearings like this going to action of the federal and state level to be able to address this paid for our part in industry the development of autonomous vehicles will be one of the sweetest solutions that is out there where the reality is that human behavior driving the deaths and other types of crashes that we are seeing. autonomous vehicles do not suffer from the human frailties they do not text while they try drive in. they do not drive distracted but we do not have to accept any longer at least types of human

conditions that are there but we will continue to see autonomous vehicles roll out deliberately and american communities that is great news and our expectation is correspondingly will seal a reduction in crashes. the something when you federal partners on. >> we have got to lay a predicate of trust in order to enable that to happen. i absolutely understand i'm going to recognize senator klobuchar. we will get back to our other tr witnesses. >> thank you very much mr. chair, thank you. it is a wonderful to be here with all of you. i think you know i have cared a lot about this issue for quite a while starting out with when i was a prosecutor and we had to change our law and minnesota for repeat felons are driving with repeat dwis we x-rayed a guy who i think at 17to dws he told the

officer he moved to minnesota we do not have enhanced penalties when colorado did. that was good evidence for me. but then when i got here i started doing a lot of work on distracted driving. our transportation system in minnesota is consistently one of the best in the country think number four for transportationna infrastructure. yet we still have so many fatalities due to driving. untry number four for transportation infrastructure and we have so many fatalities due to driving. many fatalities due to driving. >> we speak to how infrastructure investments in rural areas like broadband can improve safety in our transportation system. finish. >> thank you for the question, senator. yes, rural communities do face the brunt of traffic fatalities. we have seen there are significants positive impacts from technologies like ada

systems, in particular lane keep, which in iowa lane departure is one of the leading causes of crashes in rural areas. so these advanced driver a assist systems, level two partial automation to assist drivers staying in their lane, not crossing the median strip, is actually a critical safety intervention. in addition, in the physical world you know many other rural states do put rumble strips to help drivers understand, right, with a response when they might be drifting from the lane. and with regard to be broadband -- to broadband, communications really the back with bone of transportation in the 211st century. it will continue to become even more important as we move forward and incorporate more advanced technologies into our system. and reallyy at its base level what it allows us to do is to transmit and share critical information in various different ways to road users. and that is key. and we need to be investing in

that backbone of broadband and the communications infrastructure as a part of our transportation prapg programs and funding. >> thank you. thank you. what i was referencing before on this directed driving, it takes just five seconds to drive acrossen an entire football field, i say with my friend here, senator young, he and i -- we once competed on a strike isings-indianapolis game --it vikings. i think the vikings had the biggest comeback in the history of the nfl, but it especially happens, okay? so almost as good as the timber wolves against colorado this week. but the football -- so to get more seriousus here, five secons to drive across a football field at 55 mile-per-hour. five seconds. in 2022 when you think about people who are looking at their phone, looking away, in 2022, over 330 people died -- 3300

people died in accidents involving distracted divers. one girl's dad is a huge advocate, when the driver of the car she was riding in reached to grab something in a backseat, and this happens over and over again of and your testimony notes how almost 3% of all drivers are looking at or using their hand held device. in their view, how important can these technologies be for combating distracted driving? >> senator, thank you very much for sharing the information you just did. it's something that's happening nationwide and happening every single day. i think distracted driving is a huge national problem, this is something that our expectations is with autonomous if vehicles we can very much help to address that because the reality is that the autoon the mouse driving system does not get distracted, and you don't have to have the situation where for many people the temptation is to look at it when they're going a certain

period -- speed, and we all know what ends up happening. we're trying to row move that human error -- remove that human error from the equation and allow technology too help drive down those deaths. >> while at the same time enforcing the laws we have on the books, i will add. because not everyone's going to be doing that. is and so it just, it is really a balance. to me, you've gotted to do both things. we've tried to put a lot of incentives in place for getting laws passed to help on distracted driving. and going way back to secretary lahood, actually. so thank you very much for your work. and with that, i will turn it back to you -- >> welsh thank you, senator klobuchar. i'll recognize senator cap toe now. >> thank you, senator. here's the one thing i haven't heard, i haven't heard one person mention the increased

weight of an electric vehicle. the president has said e that by 2030 we are going to have 50 to % of our cars are going to be electric vehicles, so i just did somewe brief stuff on my phone here. a gmc hummer ev weighs 9,000 pounds. the battery itself weighs 39000 pounds. 29000 -- 29000 pounds there's a study out there that says baseline fatality possibility increases 47% for every 11,000 pounds added -- 1,000 pounds added to a car. soud we can't regulate or we cat legislate if we reach these goals, which are doubtful, but going in that direction. if we're look at heavier vehicles, this has been brought to my attention by our own west virginia d.o.t., can the guardrails withstand the impact?

dr. zant said when you talked about fatality, it's mass versus velocitiment or you are slowing down, and if you've been in an electric car, those things get up and go pretty doggone fast. what are we going to do about this? and does anybody have suggestions? i'll just start with ms. chace. >> thank you for the question, senator. i do think it is a question that we have to address collectively as we move forward. and our north star is safety. and while we appreciate the significant climate impacts of transportation and we understand that we need to move to a more sustainable transportation system, we need to be prioritizing safety. as i mentioned in my opening remarks and my written testimony, we belief in a more proif act a we've -- proactive approach. and part of that means preventing crashes before they and happen as opposed to mitigating the impact. obviously, we need to do both.

but if we take a proactive approach to prevent the stent from happening, america believes we canme leverage our technology tools in the best possible way. >> mr. nelson? >> thank you for the question, senator.t at aaa we support consumer choice on what kind of -- >> not really debating everything verys -- >> understood. >> i'm saying these are heavier vehicles that are going to reresult in more fatalities ask isan we're talking about safety. >>ing understood. you're speaking our language, because we've been giving a lot of thought to the potential safety implications of proliferating pa passenger vehicle fleet involving evs, and you highlighted issues about stopping distance, how quickly these vehicles can reach higher speeds, potential keg rah aation of the built infrastructure. just think of a parking garage full of evs -- >> right. yeah, the collapse in new york city. >> right. and then just size and weight issues -- >> [inaudible] solutions here to how we're going to -- >> well, i don't know we have solutions yet because we don't

have a high penetration of evs in the u.s. need fleet. but certainly, you know, we should be a approaching this as a ors first, do no harm as a policy move, and we haven't seen much effort into thinking through how to to proactively implications on our infrastructure but also on safety. we've seen no action. >> i just think it would be smart to be talking about thisve right now in terms of these types of vehicles, because if any of the goals are actually met, this is going to be a large a part of our fleet. doctor, do you have a comment? >> yes. thankk you, senator. yes, as i've spoken about in my earlier remarks, kinetic energy is a -- >> right. >> -- times velocity squared. so the mass is a critical factor but also the speed at which these vehicles can travel. a lot of the tools we have in our existing tool belt are to address the speed side of the equation. >> okay. >> with all of our infrastructure investment, we

have opportunities for a loft the built environment to address speed if management, to create safe and appropriate speeds for different vehicle types in different contexts. we also have some technologies on the vehicular side as well related to intelligence -- intelligent speed assistance and intelligent speed if supportive devices. >> so i'm not being confrontational here, i'm just clarifying on myself, so that means you would have governors in your specific vehicle that wouldn't let you go a certain mileage or a certain speed? i mean, i know there have been buildouts that say certain trucks shouldn't go more than -- semis shouldn't go more than 70 miles an hour if that's the posted speed limit. is that what you're talking about there? when you talk about technology? >> there are technologies that exist if on large truck fleets, yes -- >> right. >> also a what we're seeing in other countries is intelligent speed if adaptation system -- >> what is that?

>> it can provide warnings the drivers when they're over the speed, or they could actually address the pressure that needs to be applied to accelerate a vehicle to give sort of a physical if feedback to the driver so that they don't continue to accelerate over the rate of the posted speed. >> but they're doing that now n europe? >> they are. >> and there av over there, west virginia has a great av law that we passed, but i'm wondering what you see in the future -- i might be out of time. i actually am. because we havein a vote, i betr go. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator fischer, recognized for yourth with questions. >> thank you, senator peters. senator cap focuser i have an answer to your with question., >> oh, good. >> you were asking has there been any if testing that's gone on about a accident cans and the safety there. last year the university of nebraska conducted a first of its kind crash assessment. they crashed an all-electric pickup truck against the

standard highway guardrail to investigate the efficacy of current safety measures in light of the increased presence of heavier evs. during the test this ev plowedded through the guardrail and traveled into the opposite lane of traffic. in january a group of engineers warned that increasing e verys' weight combined with reduced structural design requirements will result in reduced infrastructure safety especially for parking structures. so testing has been done. i assume there'll be more done in the future. you brought up also with trucks and the weight of trucks their batteries, obviously, are much, much a heavier than 3-4,000 pounds. so, yeah, there are a lot of research needs to be done there. >> [inaudible] >> right. let's see. ms. chace. a recent nhtsa report found that 20 of the u.s. population lived -- 20% -- lived in rural

communities. and senator klobuchar addressed in this about a rural areas account for about a 40 percent of all traffic fatalities. say is, holds the second highest ratio of rural to urban fatality rates in this country. you mentioned that rural areas have rumble bars. we do, you know, on our highways in nebraska have a number of those on every highway. you mentioned technology. you mentioned some infrastructure changes that in the near term do you have any ideas on cup grades that -- on upgrades that we could see for infrastructure that a maybe could have some big safety gains there? i mean, it's very, very concerning. we see that the continued growth and the percentage. thank you -- >> thank you for the question, senator. i do think that rural areas, we

know that they can benefit from vehicle to everything technologies, and this is technology that a public agency can deploy today, and there are grants available today through the infrastructure law to acces- [inaudible]te but they can deploy these roadside units to be able to communicate with fleets and then other drivers if they're deployed in the vehicle. they can provide, you know, cursory warning alerts, weather warning alerts. we've seen great success in the wyoming using primarily weather warning alerts because the freight corridor there has such spot weather impacts -- >> [inaudible] >> uh-huh, and wind and a risk of semis tipping over. and, actually, they have a lot of data that shows there's been a significant reduction in crashes.

so i think that that's an important technology to be deploying and investing in today understanding that some of the safety benefitsha will come, you know,th immediately, and more wl come in the long term. as this technology gets deployed more youan big withoutously throughout the system. >> thankat you. mr. melson, i was interested to see that in your testimony you said that rising traffic fatalities correlate with drops in the enforcement of life saving traffic safety laws. and wow noted that citations for duis and other types of dangerous driving have decreased by as much as 50% for some reason. i notice that you attributed much of this to the staffing challenges that law enforcement agencies are facing right now, and i have a bill that i hope the president will be signing. it recently pass the senate and the -- a passed the senate and the house, and it addresses that staffing concern.

it also contains a new gao study to assess the law enforcement staff thing crisis at departments nationwide, and this includes the impacts this issue is having on public safety. do you believe that traffic pea fatalities should be among the public safety impacts that my bill, hopefully soon law, that study should evaluate9? is that something that once we get this signed we can recommend that that be included? that stud evaluate? is that something that we can recommend be included? >> absolutely. we need to underscore the important role that law enforcement plays in enforcing

lifesaving laws. the research is crystal clear that when risk apprehension goes down, risk-taking behaviors go up. there was a survey of law enforcement agencies nationwide confirming the concerns with staffing shortages and tied it to the negative perception of law enforcement throughout the united states. one of the ways that we can address that is to offer more support to law enforcement accessing better data to increase transparency in the communities that they serve and protect. >> can i have my staff reach out to you for information on that? and more ideas that we can help only help guide where the committee will be looking out where that study will be going? >> senator, we would love that. >> a second round. there are more members on their

way here. senator ray has to vote so he will ask questions now. >> think do you the amazing witnesses. i have learned a lot today. one of the things that i am struck by is not only the ability to save lives, but also the amazing impact they can have on changing the quality of life on countless individuals who rely on friends, family, and others to drive them around their communities. how will the development of evs impact the disabled, the blind, the elderly, and others that are unable to drive. >> thank you for the question. this is something near and dear to my heart. we work with many organizations in the spaces that you mentioned. how these will be transformative for their communities, you mentioned the

elderly. my grandmother has not driven in more than 10 years. she has sons and daughters that live locally that can take her to places. many do not have those situations. they have lost the liberation that comes with being able to drive. you talked about the visually impaired. it's important to note that there are massive amounts of underemployment and unemployment in the blind community because they cannot get to as many occupations. you look at organizations like the national federation of the blind that looks towards autonomous vehicles to move around more freely and have that independence that so many people take for granted. >> thank you. ms. chase, i will turn to you in recognition of the fact that neither congress or the executive branch have provided

regulatory standards for deploying autonomous vehicles. i would like to get your perspective on the impact that the lack of a clear federal standard has on local governments. >> thank you for the question. are state and local public agencies have expressed continued frustration with in action because what it has done, it has transferred the risk and responsibility for assessing these safety systems to the state and locality. there is great desire from the community public and private sector, to move forward with the ev safety framework that was mentioned earlier. >> thank you. i will turn for my final question to to dr. sandt. this type of infrastructure

has been around for generations. my dear mother lives in a town that is known as the roundabout capital of the world. carmel indiana. they have installed 150 roundabouts over the last 30 years. the city's population has quadrupled during that time. the conversion of roundabouts has resulted in a 47% reduction in injury crashes overall. and a 90% reduction in fatalities. the amount of time saved in 2020 was five days or 120 hours per motorist. roundabouts provide for the increased flow without stopping. can you talk about the safety benefits of roundabouts that improve roadway safety and increase efficiency in the

transportation network? >> thank you, senator young. it is fantastic to hear the success stories we have had in indiana. roundabouts are part of the success stories that we can claim with the speed management tools. with roundabouts, we see the research pointing to an 80% reduction in fatal injury crashes. the key is that they really do reduce conflict points at those intersections where injuries can be severe. they reduce the approach speed. they reduce delay at intersections. they can have benefits beyond safety. what is fantastic about the roundabouts we see in the united states, they have versatility of design in different contexts. in school zones in wisconsin, kansas, they worked with the

freight community to make roundabouts work for the trucking industry. and they are a tool for safety and mobility. thank you for sharing your story. >> thank you very much, dr., for speaking to that question. the chairman is captivated by my inquiries related to roundabouts. you can access a 30 minute tutorial on roundabouts, where the former mayor talks at great length about the safety benefits, about the fuel benefits, they are cheaper to maintain. we are preaching the gospel. thank you. >> we will tune in. mr. nelson, i have a question for both of you.

if each of you could speak to the improvements we can make to the safe streets for all grant program to improve the community's ability to make the most of them. i would love to have your input on how we can make them better. >> thank you for the question, senator. this targets communities. one of the benefits of that is if we are serious about driving , the number of fatalities to zero, we have to follow the data. it will tell a story pretty quick we that it is in lower income underserved communities. one of the benefits of bringing these kinds of funds to the local community is addressing the population that is bearing the brunt of the safety problem.

we can engage in public engagement and participation. this is more than just a listening session of local residents, it is about making sure that they understand what the safety and countermeasure solutions available to them. the input on which countermeasures they would welcome most into the community should be adopted and implemented to the outcome of that project. how we will build demand and support for these investments or those in the communities. we can foster more investments like this in the future. >> very good. >> thank you for the question, chairman. i will start with the safe streets for all program.

the design for benefiting local governments is very important. i'm happy that the program exists. changes we would make to the program going forward, a couple of things come to mind. how do we incentivize collaboration between cities and other jurisdiction owners that might not be eligible to apply. there are larger roads that they own. the state d.o.t. is not able to participate in the program. that is a good thing. where we need to be creative, they also own the most dangerous streets. knowing they are not eligible and there is still a requirement where cities can justify spending their dollars on someone else's roadway, we need to be creative about how we address those roads that fall outside of the purview unless you are applying upon

another jurisdiction. next is whether or not, i would look carefully at the implementation funding and the demonstration project funding. both are incredible and valuable. as more communities go forward and have safety action plans, it's important to have flexibility in how those dollars can be spent to allow more safety measures to be tried out. between two of those, there is opportunity to do a little bit of fine tweaking to an overall gray program. >> thank you. dr. sandt, you discussed taking a public health approach to roadway safety. if you can explain exactly what you mean by a public health approach when it comes to how we improve data collection as well as education related to roadway safety. >> thank you for that question.

the approach is very compatible with what we have been talking about with the safes if the approach. to prevent and reduce the likelihood of injury or any other negative health outcome. another important parallel is in public health, we follow the so she oh ecological framework. individual behaviors stem and often are influenced by a broader social environment and a broader physical environment. we can change human health and human behavior by recognizing the systems that people are operating and looking at the social and physical environments. taking a holistic view, it is very much aligned with the approach that public health

practitioners used for other health issues. with respect to your question around data, the public health community offers tremendous resources and knowledge around how we can improve the injury data systems. there are complementary data sources including the trauma registries, ems data, that can supplement the data that we collect from law enforcement officers. we also see examples of timeliness in data collection within the public health community. and opportunities to link that data and understand the nature of risk. with respect to the question about communications, public health does a fantastic job in many ways of engaging the community and having strong messaging around health communications and health behaviors. that is a great opportunity to

coordinate and build partnerships with the transportation community as well. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman, very much. we have learned a lot about how technology can make cars safer. we do not just need safe cars, we need safe streets for drivers and pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit riders. just look at the numbers. 1994, 21% of people killed in motor vehicle accidents were outside the vehicle. in 2022, the number rose to 36% of those killed outside the vehicle. the death toll tells a similar story. in 2022 the number was 7500 people.

that is why i introduced the complete streets act. the bill mandates that all construction along dangerous roads must include complete streets like bicycle and pedestrian paths. detroit works hard to include design elements in its road structure. do you agree that we must prioritize at the federal level in order to make roads safer? >> thank you, senator, for your question and support on road safety and complete streets. absolutely. for any street design, having a complete street is critically important. the right solution is not to put bike lanes on every single street but you have solutions that are appropriate for the road. looking at things to slow down traffic to allow pedestrians to cross safer. or it could just be having painted crosswalks so that

pedestrians can cross the street. there is a variety of countermeasures that can be used. anything we can do to support safer streets including streets that receive federal funding, that is extremely valuable. >> i would like to look at another important topic. automakers are including new software in vehicles that can assist drivers with accelerating, breaking and turning and these are only designed for use under certain road conditions. with an alert driver behind the wheel. these features are especially dangerous when automakers give them misleading names that lull drivers into a false sense of security. the worst offender is tesla. who has created an autopilot mode that should be called semi pilate. in your view, do tesla drivers

understand the autopilot mode can be operated on certain roads and require active driver engagement and they can push the button and go to sleep? >> thank you very much for the question. as i mentioned in the opening statement, it is imperative that we distinguish between actual autonomous vehicles operating at level four. the human in the vehicle has no responsibility for the driving task. it is imperative that the driver understands. they need to be prepared to pull over at a moments notice. >> thank you.

>> by contrast these automated features on times vehicles are not designed to be operated in other road conditions such as dangerous, winding roads with cross traffic.

you represent many manufacturers who are testing full autonomous vehicles. can does vehicles operate outside their operational driving domain? >> thank you for the question. the state of the technology right now is our members are operating at level iv. meaning that they are confined it to an operational design domain that is a set of safety limitations put on the vehicle whether geographic. right now they remain within the odd. that can be something like the city of san francisco or phoenix or scottsdale or a stretch of highway for things like autonomous trucking, and that is where we are from a technology perspective. we will make sure we roll it out safely. >> should they engage in be able to operate outside of their operational design domain? >> i cannot speak to the driver assisting features in terms of

what the state of the technology is. i can only speak to level for technology where they are now. >> my view is there is no reason that driving features like autopilot should be operating outside of their operational design domain. thank you for this hearing the. and thank all of the witnesses for their expert testimony. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to start by thanking you for highlighting the importance in your testimony. i was proud to work with a bipartisan coalition of colleagues and gary peters who is also a champion for road safety to get this landmark revision included in the law. once implemented based on statistics that we see across

the country's as many as 10,000 lives a year could be saved by the inclusion of this technology. over the past few years i have been encouraged to see industry partners stand up and become a part of the solution to get impaired driving technology in vehicles. leicester general motors ceo said that technology to passively detect alcohol in cars exists and that it's coming soon. at ces this year they introduced the latest test car with no safety technology providing the number of interior sensing technologies to detect driver impairment. since the president signed the law and to act in 2021 how has the technology available on the market changed? >> thank you for the question. before i respond to your questions i want to thank you and your colleagues for getting it over the finish line. relative to your question about how technology has evolved

since implementation. these technologies existed already before it became law, but certainly the halls making it into the legislation has spurred innovation. there is no question that technology to make this happen whether it be just alcohol or the passive detection plus vehicle monitoring are combined together. all of those options exist right now. they are already working on ways to implement it and issuing its finals was the only way we are going to make sure we stop allowing 37 people to die on our roads in crashes every day that it is delayed. >> let me ask you a follow-up to that but why is is so important they issued the notice of public rulemaking by november 2024? >> i think every day we delay that we allow 37 people to die on our roads and. it is a life or death

situation. >> i appreciate that. having now have sat in many vehicles including the test vehicles they were showing be one of the largest suppliers to gm if i am not mistaken. it was impressive to see what people have already developed and to positively on the number of patents that have been filed as well as american major suppliers is encouraging. that was one of the goals of this to encourage the market to respond to providing solutions as well, so thank you very much for that as well. i appreciate you highlighting the importance of another key technology and transportation. safety. a future innovations in transportation safety rely on technology like broadband to keep drivers in vulnerable road users safe. >> thank you for the question. the answer is there is more than one way to communicate, so broadband is a key solution, but there is also a dedicated spectrum for safety critical

collision avoidance and also wireless communication options and particularly with advances in five you technology and others there are many ways to communicate course safety information to road users. broadband is a key backbone of our system but not the only way to communicate. >> is brought been needed for wireless towers to work? >> broadband is needed for ubiquitous communication and infrastructure. >> i am not trying to be cute, but the way i understand the tower they divide to depend on there is the tower and it has antennas and provides a canopy to cover things of that nature. the hardwire to that tower.

that is a necessity, correct? >> i cannot speak to the exact specifications of what is needed. >> let me go on then put the reason i am asking the question. let me ask the question the way that you answered. if there is no connectivity in rural communities is that going to prevent some of the benefits to accessing future roadway safety technologies? if they do not have wireless. no broadband or canopy. and a rural community do they get the benefit from the same technologies available in a big city that has robust connectivity with wireless providers or broadband canopies built by folks in the community? >> those technologies need to be prioritized in rural areas for sure for more reasons than just transportation safety. there is significant economic and other benefits that have from coming that type of connectivity . the solutions will enhance some of the more modern technological advances in transportation safety, but there are solutions even right now there is an example of an a.i. based sensor and solution being

used on an individual reservation who does not have the connectivity. they are able to actually track and understand dangerous situations and such using this contained solution that is not dependent on a broadband connection, so i would say there are additional ways to bring those solutions to rural communities, but i agree that broadband connectivity and cellular connectivity building that is important. >> i do not disagree that whether it is other sensors participating with some a.i. sensor capability and a hard drive is going to outgrow the community. the problem is all of the other bells and whistles that require

internet access or wireless access. if there is no connectivity in the community than they do not get that in people living in rural communities deserve the same safety but is going to be in a vehicle in the biggest cities in america. that is the point i was trying to make. because of the question they were asking with the level iii vehicles. if i am correct with these things when it is a level iii in will alert you if your hands are not at a certain stage. even with a tesla sensor session is turned off. you have to use your hands the whole time until you turn off the car and all the rest. is that correct? >> yes.

we represent truly autonomous vehicle. >> i will save my question for someone else. the question i have is it is my understanding now for folks that have level iii cars. there are some people in nodding yes. you attach this thing to the steering wheel and it thinks your hand is on it. someone found a loophole. >> this earring is now

adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] if. >> on saturday president biden will be in new york t give the commencement address to the u.s. military academy at west point. it'll be his third commencement

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