News

Read the latest news and announcements from traffic safety interest groups and about traffic safety topics here.

  • September 22nd, 2016

Vehicle Type Registrations – (MV1) Distribution % of National Autos 2,524,145 47.03% 2.22% Buses 5,397 0.10% 2.22% Trucks 2,721,534 50.71% 1.98% Total 5,251,076 Motorcycles 115,768 2.16% 1.38% Grand Total 5,366,844 100.00% 2.06% Area Fatally Injured in Vehicle Crashes (FI-20) Distribution % of National Rural 543 66.22% 3.28% Urban 272 33.17% 1.77% Unknown 5 0.61% .70% […]

  • September 20th, 2016

State and local highway agencies are implementing data-driven practices to successfully address roadway safety planning, implementation, and evaluation challenges. These practices have the capacity to reduce staff time, save money and other resources – with the goal of reducing roadway fatalities and serious injuries. The FHWA Office of Safety is collecting and making these practices […]

  • September 15th, 2016

The free rides in self-driving cars that Uber began offering in Pittsburgh Wednesday wouldn’t be allowed in California. In Michigan, legislators are considering changing a law that requires a safety driver to be behind the wheel of self-driving vehicles to handle unexpected or emergency situations. A Chicago alderman wants to ban them completely. And the […]

  • September 15th, 2016

In response to a national proposal to electronically limit the speed of semitrailers, some truck drivers are warning that, if enacted, it could cause more traffic issues and deadly crashes. The Associated Press reports around 150 “independent truckers” filed comments with the federal government against the proposal from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and […]

  • September 15th, 2016

Highway express lanes provide a faster trip for carpoolers, people who drive low-emission cars, and solo travelers who are willing to pay more. That’s the idea, anyway. But as Americans drive more miles than ever before, express lanes are facing a challenge: they are too popular. So many drivers of all kinds are using the […]

  • September 13th, 2016

Silicon Valley is creating a crash course in self-driving car technology to address a shortage of engineers with help from a startup in a different field: online education. Nearly every major tech company, car company and ride services company, it seems, is developing or partnering with developers of self-driving technology, from Google parent Alphabet Inc […]

  • September 9th, 2016

Passenger Travel Facts and Figures is a snapshot of the characteristics and trends of personal travel in the United States; the network over which passenger travel takes place; and the related economic, safety, and environmental aspects of passenger travel. An electronic version of this publication is available at www.bts.gov. Chapter 1 summarizes the basic demographic […]