Join the SAFETEA Coalition!
This year, one
of the major actions of Congress will be to reauthorize the
multi-billion dollar surface transportation funding bill, the
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century or TEA-21. Because it is essential
that highway and auto safety be at the forefront of congressional
debate on this bill, Advocates has formed a grassroots "SAFETEA
Coalition."
The SAFETEA Coalition has over
100 members at the federal, state and local level working
together to promote
legislation to reduce the nearly 43,000 fatalities and 3 million
injuries that occur annually as a result of motor vehicle crashes.
Committee hearings
already have begun and special interest groups are lobbying
Members of Congress with their legislative proposals. Join today!
“SAFETEA” Priorities:
- Pass federal
legislation requiring states to enact a standard safety belt
use law within a specified time limit (i.e. 3 years) or be
penalized a certain percentage of federal-aid highway dollars.
This approach is similar to federal legislation Congress has
passed in previous years resulting in states passing laws
establishing a .08% blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level
and a 21-year-old minimum drinking age.
- Increase funding
for federal highway and auto safety programs.
- Support retention
and stronger enforcement of impaired driving laws and programs.
- Improve
motor vehicle safety and consumer information by upgrading
safety standards such as roof crush and issuing new standards
to prevent rollover crashes, address vehicle compatibility/aggressivity,
and protect children in and around vehicles.
- Oppose special
interest provisions jeopardizing truck and bus safety such
as increasing the size and weight of trucks permitted on our
federal roads, allowing 18-20 year olds to obtain a commercial
drivers license (CDL), and expanding the number of continuous
and cumulative driving hours of commercial truck and bus drivers.
- Enhance safety
and security by improving the transportation of hazardous
materials.
- Allow states
and local governments to use innovative technologies to improve
highway and auto safety through better enforcement of traffic
laws.
