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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 17 May 2022
Buttigieg sends $5B to cities for safety as road deaths soar

cons for pedestrian cross-
walks; new "safe routes"
via sidewalks or other pro-
tected pathways to school
or public transit in under-
served communities; and
other "quick build" road-
way changes designed
with community input.
Buttigieg was traveling to
Germany on Monday for
the International Transport
Forum to discuss the best
approaches to achieve
a U.N. goal of halving the
world's traffic deaths by
2030. Around 1.25 million
people are killed worldwide
on the road each year. The
U.S. has been mostly an out-
lier in seeing traffic deaths
climb during the pandemic
even with fewer cars on the
road, due in part to higher
U.S. rates of speeding and
not wearing seatbelts.
Michael Kelley, policy di-
rector for roadway safety
advocacy group BikeWalk-
KC in Kansas City, Missouri,
says he has been advo-
cating for biking and walk-
ing routes because his two
young daughters love to
Vice President Kamala Harris, right, next to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, speaks during a plenary session of the US-ASEAN explore outside but can't
Summit, Friday, May 13, 2022, at the State Department in Washington.
Associated Press do so safely since their
neighborhood lacks side-
By HOPE YEN reflecting continued risky Previewing the upcoming design, lower speed limits walks and sits near a high-
Associated Press driving that began with data, Steven Cliff, the act- and tougher car safety reg- way.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the coronavirus pandemic ing head of the National ulations. About $5 million to Kelley, who is Black, said
upcoming data show- in March 2020. Fatalities Highway Traffic Safety Ad- $6 million for the grants is communities can become
ing traffic deaths soaring, among pedestrians and ministration, told an event included in President Joe vibrant and more con-
the Biden administration cyclists have been rising last week the final figures Biden's infrastructure law. nected by fostering walk-
is steering $5 billion in fed- faster than those within ve- would show "alarming" in- Still, much of the federal able neighborhoods that
eral aid to cities and locali- hicles. creases for the full year of roadmap relies on cooper- allow the elderly who may
ties to address the growing Deaths also are dispropor- 2021. ation from cities and states, not readily drive, such as his
crisis by slowing down cars, tionately higher among Roadway deaths represent and it could take months if parents, to "age in place"
carving out bike paths and nonwhite, lower-income about 95% of all U.S. trans- not years to fully implement near a younger genera-
wider sidewalks and nudg- people, who are more like- portation deaths, at more with discernible results — tion, like his daughters, who
ing commuters to public ly to take public transit and than 38,000 in 2020. In 2021, too late to soothe 2022 increasingly "don't want or
transit. travel by foot or bike, as well data released so far has midterm voters unsettled need to drive" a car if there
Transportation Secretary as those in tribal and rural already shown U.S. traf- by this and other pandem- are other safe and afford-
Pete Buttigieg on Monday areas, where speeding can fic fatalities rising to 31,720 ic-related ills, such as rising able transportation options
announced the availability be common and seat belt through the third quarter, crime. available.
of money over five years use less frequent."We face the highest nine-month The latest U.S. guidance "Everyone deserves to be
under his department's a national crisis of fatalities period since 2006. Before Monday invites cities and able to walk, to bike, to
new Safe Streets & Roads and serious injuries on our 2020, the number of U.S. localities to sketch out safe- take transit, and for that
for All program. roadways, and these trag- traffic deaths had fallen for ty plans in their applica- to be the safe and easy
The aim will be to provide edies are preventable — so three straight years. tions for the federal grants, choice," Kelley said.
a direct infusion of federal as a nation we must work Cliff said a big chunk of fa- which are to be awarded Buttigieg stressed the ur-
cash to communities that urgently and collabora- talities have been occur- late this year. gency.
pledge to promote safety tively to save lives," Butti- ring for motorists who do It cites examples of good "I'm convinced that we can
for the multiple users of a gieg said. He said the mon- not buckle up and often projects as those that use this moment, this urgent
roadway, particularly pe- ey "will help communities during short car trips "down promise to transform a and troubling moment,
destrians and bicyclists, as large and small take action the street." high-crash roadway, such as a pivot point," he said.
well as motorists. to protect all Americans on The department's effort as by adding rumble strips "We are out to fund what-
Federal data being re- our roads." is part of a new national to slow cars or installing ever is going to go most
leased this week by the "We have become far too strategy, launched in Janu- speed cameras, which the directly toward reducing
Transportation Department accustomed to the loss of ary, to stem record increas- department says could crashes and saving lives so
is expected to show an- life and serious injuries hap- es in road fatalities with a provide more equitable we can change the trajec-
other big jump in U.S. traf- pening on our roadways," "safe system" approach enforcement than police tory of road safety in this
fic deaths through 2021, he said. that promotes better road traffic stops; flashing bea- decade."q