Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is vowing to help stem a rising U.S. epidemic of car fatalities.
Buttigieg is pushing a broad-based government strategy released Thursday aimed at limiting the speed of cars and redesigning roads to better protect bicyclists and pedestrians. The strategy will also try and boost car safety features such as automatic emergency braking.
Buttigieg says he envisions cities and states taking interim steps with federal support. Buttigieg indicated that new federal data being released next week will show another spike in traffic fatalities through the third quarter of 2021. The transportation secretary calls the magnitude of deaths unacceptable.
“It doesn’t look good, and I continue to be extremely concerned about the trend,” Buttigieg said Thursday, the Associated Press reported.
Over the next two years, Buttigieg says, the U.S. Department of Transportation will offer guidance, along with $5 billion in grants to states, to try and lower speed limits and design roads in a safer way, with dedicated bus and bike lanes and better lighting and crosswalks.
