Rhode Island Tops For Highway Safety Laws
WASHINGTON, DC – Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) has released the 2018 edition of the Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws, an annual report that rates all 50 states and the District of Columbia on the enactment of 16 proven-effective traffic safety laws to reduce motor vehicle crashes, deaths and injuries.
Advocates is an alliance of consumer, medical, public health, and safety groups and insurance companies and agents that have been working together to make America’s roads safer since 1989.
Each state and DC received an overall grade of Green (Good), Yellow (Caution) or Red (Danger), based on the number of the 16 traffic safety laws enacted in five categories: Occupant Protection, Child Passenger Safety, Teen Driving, Impaired Driving, and Distracted Driving.
With 13 out of 16 recommended laws on the books, Rhode Island earned the top Green rating. Other Green states are: Delaware, Oregon, Washington, California, Louisiana, and the District of Columbia.
States earning a Red rating lag seriously behind in the adoption of these optimal laws. South Dakota, having adopted just two of 16 safety laws, tops this year’s worst performing list. Other states with a red rating are: Wyoming, Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Florida, Nebraska, Virginia, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Vermont.
Overall, the report card found 407 missing highway safety laws nationwide. As state legislative sessions are convening across the country this month, Advocates called on lawmakers to use the report as their roadmap this year to these 16 lifesaving laws to increase the use of seat belts, child safety belts, motorcycle helmets, to prevent distracted and impaired driving, and to provide greater safeguards for teen drivers.
“We urge state lawmakers to seize this opportunity to close safety gaps that put everyone at risk and make passage of these laws a top legislative priority this year.” Alan Maness, Vice President of Federal Affairs for State Farm Insurance and an Advocates Board Member. “The mounting toll of fatalities, injuries, and costs should be a major wake-up call to lawmakers at all levels of government. The problems we are facing are clear but so are the solutions. We are committed to supporting the passage of laws that will reduce death and injury on our roadways.”
The 2018 report also highlights the need for advanced motor vehicle technologies in all cars. Automakers and technology company executives have been promoting autonomous vehicles (AVs), also known as driverless cars, as a panacea for traffic fatalities. However, they admit the technology is many years away from a safe mass deployment. Meanwhile, lifesaving equipment exists today that can save lives, prevent debilitating injuries, and eliminate billions in costs to society. These include collision avoidance systems and automated speed and red-light enforcement, as well as the means to improve large truck and rear seat safety.
“Advocates has spent decades fighting for vehicle safety technology and we too believe driverless cars have the potential to one day make our roads a dramatically safer place,” said Advocates President Cathy Chase. “Yet, in the meantime, nearly 100 people are killed and 6,500 more are injured in crashes on average every day. This comes with a significant economic burden equivalent to every person in our country paying an annual “Crash Tax” of $784. Including loss of life, pain, and lower quality of life, our society shoulders $836 billion in costs a year.
“Our country is approaching nine years without a single death caused by a commercial aviation crash. Yet, today, we can’t go 15 minutes without a motor vehicle crash fatality,” said Jackie Gillan, President Emeritus of Advocates. “The most promising and pragmatic strategy is adopting safety laws and advancing safety technologies, as highlighted in the Roadmap Report.”
In 2017, states enacted a combined total of 13 traffic safety laws that met the Roadmap Report criteria, leaving 407 dangerous gaps in state laws across the nation:
- Primary Enforcement of Seat Belts: 16 states lack an optimal primary enforcement seat belt law for front seat passengers, while 31 states need an optimal primary enforcement seat belt law for rear seat passengers.
- All-Rider Motorcycle Helmet Law: 31 states need an optimal all-rider motorcycle helmet law.
- Rear Facing Through Age Two: 41 states and DC are missing a rear facing through age two child protection law.
- Booster Seats: 35 states and DC need an optimal booster seat law.
- Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) for teen drivers: 192 GDL laws need to be adopted to ensure the safety of novice drivers. No state has all six optimal provisions of a GDL law.
- Impaired Driving: 32 important impaired driving laws covering all-offender ignition interlocks, child endangerment, and open containers are needed.
- All-Driver Text Messaging Restriction: seven states need an optimal all-driver texting ban.
- Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) Cell Phone Restriction: 19 states and DC lack optimal laws restricting cell phone use for teen drivers.
The 16 optimal laws recommended and rated by the safety and insurance alliance are backed by rigorous scientific studies and data analysis, as well as decades of real-world experience. State legislative action is critical to combat the 8.4 percent increase in 2015 and another 5.6 percent jump in 2016 in highway fatalities. Preliminary figures for the first half of 2017 show no substantial reversal to 37,461 fatalities in 2016.
Georges Benjamin, M.D., Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, said, “As with any public health crisis, we look for solutions that are proven effective. The Roadmap Report is a prescription for remedies that every state should use now to save lives and curb costs. A doctor would never withhold an effective treatment that could save a life or mitigate an injury. Similarly, legislators should not delay in adopting these proven cures to for a public health and safety crisis that occurs every day on our roadways.”
Also participating in the unveiling of the 2018 report were:
- Janette Fennell, Founder and President of KidsAndCars.org, and Advocates’ Consumer Co-Chair.
- Colleen Sheehey-Church, National President of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), whose 18-year-old son, Dustin, died in a car driven by a drunk driver in Connecticut.
- Melissa Wandall, President of the National Coalition for Safer Roads, and Founder of the Mark Wandall Foundation. Melissa’s husband Mark was killed by a red-light runner in her home state of Florida.
The 2018 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws report, speaker statements, handouts, and webcast of news conference are available online at SafeRoads.org
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