As recently as two years ago, safety officials across the country were reeling from the sharp spike in traffic deaths during the pandemic, when lax enforcement and open highways created a dangerous recipe for drivers and pedestrians.
But as experts from across the country gather in Pittsburgh this week for the annual Governors Highway Safety Association’s annual meeting, that trend has abated somewhat and the group is no longer in that crisis mode, spokesman Adam Snider said.
“We’re excited to have the numbers moving in the right direction,” Snider said. “I think one of the big themes [of the conference] is building on the successes recently.”
At the peak of deaths in January 2022, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg released a “National Roadway Safety Strategy” designed to combat the shift from declining traffic deaths to the sharpest growth since officials began keeping statistics in the 1970s. That strategy called for education campaigns, improved road design and better emergency response to crashes, among other things.
The effort appears to be working as deaths have declined the past two years. The second Trump administration has gone after transportation programs designed to improve the environment or benefit poor neighborhoods, but so far there have been few changes in transportation safety efforts.
Now, Snider said, safety officials are looking at what programs and changes have been most successful and how they can use changing technology to make even more improvements.
The conference, which includes representatives from all 50 states, will feature a series of workshops Sunday through Wednesday at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown. They range from highly technical discussions such as “Telematics and Technology Tools for Safer Roads” and advances in driver assistance features in vehicles to using social media and other strategies to reach particular audiences with safety campaigns.
Tom Glass, chief of highway safety for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said his staff has been concentrating on reducing deaths related to distracted driving, impaired driving and rural crashes that involve vehicles leaving the roadway. He’s looking forward to learning how the state can use new technology to reduce road deaths.
Having the conference in Pittsburgh is a big benefit, Glass said. About 130 safety officials are attending from across the state, including 10 from his department.
“It allows us to spread out and attend as many of the sessions as we can,” he said.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.