Washington — The United States’ top road safety agency on Tuesday unveiled the “most extensive and comprehensive behavioral traffic safety program” in its history.
The initiative from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, called Pathways to Safer Streets, will focus on the leading causes of U.S. road deaths: impairment, speeding, distraction and lack of seat belt use.
“To reach our goal of zero deaths, we have to be willing to change the way we do business,” NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said. Morrison made that comment in a Sunday keynote address to the 2026 Lifesavers Conference on Road Safety, where he first announced the new program.
“We have to break down the silos that have traditionally kept us apart, because while each of your individual missions are critically important, right now, too often, we are operating like separate lanes of traffic when we could be more effective functioning as a single coordinated system,” he added.
Traffic fatalities in the United States totaled about 36,640 last year, per preliminary government data. That figure represents a fourth straight annual decline and marked a return to 2019 death levels after a pandemic-era surge in risky driving behaviors.
The new P2SS program, according to NHTSA, will set out on eight pathways to reduce road deaths further, including re-engaging law enforcement officials, combating impaired driving and maximizing occupant protection through stricter seatbelt enforcement at night and in rural areas.
The Trump administration had already emphasized the role of law enforcement in traffic safety over the past year. The new effort will continue that emphasis by adding a summit to align federal and local efforts and additional support for data-sharing across law enforcement departments and road planning agencies.
To address speeding, NHTSA said it will encourage harsh enforcement on the most egregious offenders, including support for significant fines and jail time. “We aren’t interested in a ‘gotcha’ approach for the average driver. Instead, we are laser-focused on the drivers who treat our public roads like racetracks,” Morrison said Sunday.
NHTSA’s new safety efforts, according to Morrison, will rely on technologies ranging from school bus stop-arm cameras, to speed interlock devices, to “AI-powered enforcement aids.”
The administrator did not specify what kinds of artificial intelligence devices he was referring to. NHTSA also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how much the P2SS program would cost.
Morrison and NHTSA’s language on the new program is similar to that of past transportation safety officials who also launched “comprehensive” efforts to bring down road deaths.
Under the Biden administration, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg launched the National Roadway Safety Strategy in January 2022.
“We cannot tolerate the continuing crisis of roadway deaths in America. These deaths are preventable, and that’s why we’re launching the National Roadway Safety Strategy today — a bold, comprehensive plan, with significant new funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” he said at the time.
That plan similarly pledged to work across different levels of government to get results, though it focused less on law enforcement and more on infrastructure improvements.
gschwab@detroitnews.com
@GrantSchwab
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Trump administration, NHTSA unveil ‘extensive’ plan to cut road deaths
Reporting by Grant Schwab, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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