PRESS RELEASE
Roadway Safety Foundation Announces Roadway Safety Hazard Report
25 February 1997
Safety Group Drawing Attention to Effect of Road Conditions on Highway Fatalities; George Washington Parkway Collision Cited
Important New Report Will Be Released; Spokesmen Available
A report identifying major roadway safety hazards -- including some
low-cost, easily implemented solutions -- will be released on Capitol Hill
Wednesday, February 26, by the Roadway Safety Foundation (RSF). With federal
data linking 30% of fatal crashes to road design and conditions, the RSF wants
these factors considered along with driver behavior and vehicle design when
traffic accidents are investigated and corrective actions adopted.
The report will provide state and local officials with a greater
understanding of the safety issues they face and general guidance on how they
might be best addressed. Counter measures suggested by RSF would reduce the
possibility of head-on collisions like the one this weekend on the George
Washington Memorial Parkway which killed two motorists. Nationwide
implementation of the counter measures could help in reducing the estimated
14,000 fatalities caused by roadside hazards or poor road design and
conditions. Despite increased seat belt use, fewer drunk drivers and safer
cars on the road, U.S. highway fatalities rose in 1993, 1994 and 1995 to an
annual level of nearly 42,000. Over the same period, the Department of
Transportation reported that America's road conditions worsened from under
investment.
The report's release coincides with congressional hearings on
reauthorization of surface transportation legislation. RSF will call for
increased funding of highway safety programs and greater emphasis on the
roadway related aspects of safety. At the same time, The Road Information
Program (TRIP) will release an analysis of accident data showing that more
than 77 percent of all fatal accidents in 1995 occurred on two-lane roads
carrying only 51 percent of total traffic.
Copies of both reports will become available at noon Wednesday, February
26 in Room 406 of the Dirkson Senate Office Building, immediately following a
hearing by the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Accepting the report on behalf of the government will be Anthony R. Kane,
executive director of the Federal Highway Administration who also serves on
RSF's Board of Trustees. RSF officials available to answer questions will be
William D. Fay, RSF Trustee and President of the American Highway Users
Alliance; Joseph Groner of Allstate Insurance Company and a member of the
Advisory Committee; and Kathryn Hoffman, executive director. Available to
answer questions on the TRIP data will be Frank Moretti, director of research.
CONTACT: Bill Hickman or Cheryl Uram, of the Roadway Safety Foundation,
202-857-1200.
SOURCE Roadway Safety Foundation