dr. rosekind. we look forward to your testimony. >> members of the committee it's an honor to appear before you today as a nominee. i would like to thank president obama for the nomination secretary fox for his rep support. before i begin let me introduce special people joining me today. my wife is here. she always provides unwavering support and has been enriching my life for 30 years. her son darren and his new bride are viewing for minneapolis and her daughter eve is watching from baltimore. my mother maryland and brother-in-law are viewing at home in the san francisco bay area my family is a remarkable gift in the concerts were such a guy. professionally former ntsb chairman deborah hersman and my colleagues many of them here today have been tremendous partners passionate about enhancing transportation safety. nhtsa touches our lives in some ways every day. as drivers passengers pedestrians and bicyclists nasa's mission is to help keep all the safe as we move about on our nation's roadways. the

dr. rosekind with nhtsa. it's a sad state of affairs when the airbag manufacturers have now refused nhtsa's request to do a nationwide recall of airbags that are killing people. says a lot about where we are in this country right now and how your agency is viewed. it's become fairly clear to me the hearings we have had on the ignition switches that gm in the takei the hearings and i think it's really important that you keep that at the top of your list in terms of priorities. if you are not feared and respected then you cannot do a good job policing the safety of automobiles in this country. you have to be feared and respected in our bank nhtsa is theodore respected at this poi point. let's talk about the budget. it has been flat line for over a decade. keep in mind what has been going on a technology of this decade. keep in mind how automobiles have changed over the decades that yet the budget for nhtsa has been flatlined particularly in the area where you need to keep up with this technology. and once again

dr. rosekind, we focused on the need for a national recall. don't know of any scientific evidence for auuéw regional rec with respect to air bags. do you? >> i appreciate that question because it highlights trying to be evidence based and driving. i think that's an excellent question and, frankly, that's part of my understanding better, the defect recall system and what criteria they used. >> but with all your knowledge -- and you are a distinguished scientist, you don't know of any evidence or facts that would justify a regional recall. >> no. >> do you know of any evidence that would justify a recall directed at the driver's side but not thed i have only seen what you've seen, including things today. >> let me turn to another piece of legislation. you know, at the end of the day, senator mccaskill is absolutely right about the resource challenges that this agency faces. but, even an agency fully and abundantly resourced will be ineffective if it lax teeth, if the penalties are ineffective. right now the $35 million cap on penalties for 72bzn

dr. rosekind to if confirmed to look to see if we are!i want to -- it's all about transparency. if you want to come back to the enforcement side a little more i would be happy to do that late?ç specifically to your question, i think the -- i'm -- at the same ÷ a lot of this in the public sphere but a lot of us don't realize how severe the situation is. hearing about in the office of defect investigation, nine only 16 are actual investigators who go out in the field. i think what you're highlighting, it's not just about the individual personnel about thhe technology.ersonnel what computer@"ç systems and ot kinds of technology solutions do we have to process, evaluate, identify and connect the dots when you're getting 75,000 complaints every year. you want those complaints? every voice should count. we need to increase not just the people but also]t?ç the technol. budget wise, there has been a lot of focus on personnel. to be considered how an upgrade needs to help us deal not just withvñ those complaints. >> if you are not hiring the kind

dr. rosekind? >> in your understanding of the data, give me the numbers. pick whatever year you want. do not say, the data suggests -- how many drives drowsy driving crashes? >> based on the estimates of the prevalence that i consider credible as well as the most recent statistics on the number of crashes in the united states annually, conservatively, 400,000 police-reported crashes each year involve drowsy driving as at least a contributing factor. over 100,000, i would estimate, approximately 115,000 crashes involving injuries involve drowsy driving, and at least 5000 are killed every year in crashes involving drowsy driving. >> thank you for being so direct about that. you identified a variety of different shortcomings in methodological approaches. if you were going to create a program that would accurately define the program in an ongoing manner, what would that program look like? >> ideally, if every vehicle on the road, or at least a large sample on an ongoing basis, were equipped with sophisticated collection equipment, including cameras, it would give us insight into the cause

dr. rosekind if confirmed to really for the first time in a decade look to see if we are taking this job seriously in light of the resources we are committing to it. >> senator mccaskill thank you for the question. it's all about transparency and those hearings have been critical for the american people to understand what's going on. .. connect the dots when you are getting 75,000 complaints every year. you want those complaints. every voice should count. we we need to increase the people and technology. i think that that entire system needs to be considering how an upgrade will help us deal not just with those complaints but the other beta sources to determine where we are seeing feedback early. >> it is just the kinds of people. if you are not hiring the kinds of engineers that these automakers would want to hire away from you because of their incredible competence and capability, you can't regulate an industry if you don't no the right kind of questions to ask. you don't no what you need to no if you don't have the same training and competence as the engineers you are going head-to-he

dr. rosekind? >> mr. tefft, i'll ask you the hardest question first. ready? in your understanding of all the data and limitations, et cetera, give me the numbers. so pick whatever year you want, and don't say the data suggests, just if we're trying to characterize the scope of the problem, annually how many drowsy driving crashes, how many lives are lost, how many injuries? >> based on the most conservative estimates of the prevalence, the most recent statistics on the number of crashes, injuries and deaths in the united states annually, i think conservatively, at least 400,000 police reported crashes each year involve drowsy driving as at least a contributing factor. over 100,000 i would estimate -- approximately 115,000 crashes resulting in injuries involved in drowsy driving. and at least 5,000 people are killed each year in crashes involving a drowsy driver. >> great. thank you very much for being so direct about that. with all the caveats acknowledged. the second thing is, you identify a variety of different shortcomings in the methodological proemapproa

dr. rosekind? >> mr. teft, i'm asking you the hardest question first. ready? in your understanding of all the data and limitations, et cetera, give me the numbers. so pick whatever year you want and don't say the data suggests. if we're trying to characterize the scope of the problem annually, how many drive drowsy driving crashes, how many lives lost, how many injuries? >> based on the most conservative estimates of prevalence that consider credible and most recent statistics on number of crashes and injuries and deaths in the united states annually i think conservatively at least 400,000 police reported crashes each year involve drowsy driving as at least a contributing factor. over 100,000 i would estimate, approximately 115,000 crashes resulting in injuries involved drowsy driving and, at least 5,000 people are killed each year in crashes involving a drowsy driver. >> great. thank you very much for being so direct about that. with all the caveats acknowledged. second thing is you identified a variety of different shortcomings in the different methodologica