The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) applauds the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on releasing recommendations today aimed at reducing speed and speeding-related deaths and injuries on our nation's roadways. According to the NTSB, more than 112,000 people died in speeding-related crashes in the United States from 2005 to 2014, averaging more than 10,000 deaths annually. This is on par with the number of drunk driving fatalities during the same period, the NTSB reported, yet receives far less attention.
In their recommendations, available here, the NTSB calls for a concerted effort to develop and implement a program to increase public awareness of speeding as a national traffic safety issue; modernization of the traditional practices used to set speed limits to include explicit consideration of factors such as crash experience, pedestrian and bicyclist usage, and roadway and roadside development characteristics; increased use of automated speed enforcement and updated guidelines on implementing automated speed enforcement systems; and establishing national level programs to incentivize state and local speed management activities.
"ITE began implementing a Vision Zero initiative in 2016, and a core element of Vision Zero programs is reducing speed," said ITE President Shawn Leight. "Reducing speed-related fatalities and serious injuries is an important and complex issue, and how we design and operate our roadways are key elements in making progress in driving the currently unacceptable numbers down."
"ITE looks forward to working with other safety stakeholders, including the Federal Highway Administration, to advance these important NTSB recommendations," said Jeff Paniati, ITE's Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer. "ITE has a long history of developing technical products in this area, on subjects such as setting speed limits, achieving target speeds, context sensitive design, self- enforcing roadways, and traffic calming. We will continue to focus on developing the tools that our members need to address these and other speed-related issues."
