II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2496 

To direct the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration 

to implement certain recommendations of the National Transportation 

Safety Board relating to pedestrian safety, bicyclist safety, and speedingrelated crashes involving passenger vehicles, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 28, 2021 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration and the Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration to implement certain recommendations of the National Transportation Safety 

Board relating to pedestrian safety, bicyclist safety, and 

speeding-related crashes involving passenger vehicles, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vulnerable Road Users 

3 Safety Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF MICROMOBILITY VEHICLE. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act, the term ‘‘micro6 mobility vehicle’’ means a vehicle that— 

7 (1) weighs not more than 150 pounds; and 

8 (2) is designed primarily— 

9 (A) for human transport; and 

10 (B) to be used— 

11 (i) on paved roadways; or 

12 (ii) if the vehicle weighs 100 pounds 

13 or less, on paths. 

14 (b) EXCLUSION.—In this Act, the term ‘‘micro15 mobility vehicle’’ does not include a manned or unmanned 

16 passenger vehicle. 

17 SEC. 3. PEDESTRIAN SAFETY. 

18 (a) PEDESTRIAN SAFETY MEASURES.— 

19 (1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection 

20 is to direct the Administrator of the National High21 way Traffic Safety Administration and the Adminis22 trator of the Federal Highway Administration to im23 plement certain recommendations in the Special In24 vestigation Report of the National Transportation 

25 Safety Board on pedestrian safety, adopted on Sep26 tember 25, 2018. 


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1 (2) DEFINITION OF AUTOMATED PEDESTRIAN

2 SAFETY SYSTEM.—In this subsection, the term 

3 ‘‘automated pedestrian safety system’’ means a vehi4 cle-based pedestrian- and bicyclist-detection system 

5 that alerts drivers of potential vehicle-pedestrian or 

6 vehicle-cyclist crashes and applies automatic emer7 gency braking to prevent such crashes. 

8 (3) NHTSA.—The Secretary of Transpor9 tation, acting through the Administrator of the Na10 tional Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 

11 shall— 

12 (A) not later than 2 years after the date 

13 of enactment of this Act— 

14 (i) revise section 571.108 of title 49, 

15 Code of Federal Regulations (relating to 

16 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 

17 Number 108) (or successor regulations)— 

18 (I) to include performance-based 

19 standards for vehicle headlamp sys20 tems— 

21 (aa) to ensure that 

22 headlamps are correctly aimed on 

23 the road; and 

24 (bb) requiring those systems 

25 to be tested on-vehicle to account 


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1 for headlamp height and lighting 

2 performance; and 

3 (II) to allow the use of adaptive 

4 headlamp systems; 

5 (ii) issue a final rule to establish min6 imum performance standards for adaptive 

7 driving beam headlamp systems; and 

8 (iii) issue a final rule that— 

9 (I) establishes standards for the 

10 hood and bumper areas of motor vehi11 cles, including passenger cars, multi12 purpose passenger vehicles, trucks, 

13 and buses with a gross vehicle weight 

14 rating of 10,000 pounds or less, to re15 duce the number of injuries and fa16 talities suffered by pedestrians, 

17 bicyclists, and users of micromobility 

18 vehicles who are struck by those 

19 motor vehicles; and 

20 (II) considers the protection of 

21 vulnerable pedestrian populations, in22 cluding individuals with disabilities, 

23 children, and older adults; and 

24 (B) not later than 1 year after the date of 

25 enactment of this Act— 


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1 (i) develop performance test criteria 

2 for use by manufacturers in evaluating the 

3 extent to which automated pedestrian safe4 ty systems in light vehicles prevent or miti5 gate pedestrian injury; 

6 (ii) issue a final decision notice that— 

7 (I) incorporates automated pe8 destrian safety systems, including pe9 destrian automatic emergency braking 

10 systems and other passive safety sys11 tems, into the New Car Assessment 

12 Program of the National Highway 

13 Traffic Safety Administration; and 

14 (II) establishes— 

15 (aa) a minimum perform16 ance standard for automated pe17 destrian safety systems in ac18 cordance with the changes to the 

19 New Car Assessment Program 

20 described in subclause (I); and 

21 (bb) a compliance date with 

22 respect to those changes; 

23 (iii) establish a detailed crash data set 

24 that covers all pedestrian, bicyclist, and 

25 micromobility vehicle user events and repVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2496.IS S2496

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1 resents the current and complete range of 

2 crash types, including nonfatal injury 

3 crashes, disaggregated by demographic 

4 characteristics, including race, age, dis5 ability, status, and sex of the victims— 

6 (I) for analysis by States and 

7 units of local government; and 

8 (II) to model and simulate pedes9 trian collision avoidance systems; 

10 (iv) establish methods that States and 

11 metropolitan planning organizations (as 

12 defined in section 134 of title 23, United 

13 States Code) may use— 

14 (I) to collect pedestrian, bicyclist, 

15 and micromobility vehicle user event 

16 data; and 

17 (II) to define a common frame18 work that allows that data to be com19 bined; and 

20 (v) coordinate with the Director of the 

21 Centers for Disease Control and Preven22 tion to develop and implement a plan for 

23 States to combine highway crash data and 

24 injury health data to produce a national 

25 database of pedestrian injuries and fataliVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2496.IS S2496

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1 ties, disaggregated by demographic charac2 teristics, including race, age, disability sta3 tus, and sex of the victims. 

4 (4) FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION.—Not 

5 later than 18 months after the date of enactment of 

6 this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Highway 

7 Administration shall develop standard definitions 

8 and establish methods that States, metropolitan 

9 planning organizations (as defined in section 134 of 

10 title 23, United States Code), Federal land manage11 ment agencies, and Tribal governments that receive 

12 funding under the tribal transportation program 

13 under section 202 of title 23, United States Code, 

14 shall use to annually collect and publish pedestrian 

15 exposure data that includes— 

16 (A) the percentage of pedestrian fatalities 

17 that occurred, by State, on roadways in each 

18 State that are owned and operated by the 

19 State, a Federal land management agency, or a 

20 Tribal government that receives funding under 

21 the tribal transportation program under section 

22 202 of title 23, United States Code, as com23 pared to locally-owned and operated roadways 

24 in the State; 


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1 (B) the owner and operator of the roadway 

2 where each pedestrian fatality described in sub3 paragraph (A) occurred; 

4 (C) the design speed, target speed (where 

5 available), and operating speed of the roadway 

6 where each pedestrian fatality described in sub7 paragraph (A) occurred; 

8 (D) each of the performance measures— 

9 (i) described in section 490.207 of 

10 title 23, Code of Federal Regulations (or 

11 successor regulations); and 

12 (ii) not described in any of subpara13 graphs (A) through (C); 

14 (E)(i) the number of fatalities (as defined 

15 in section 490.205 of title 23, Code of Federal 

16 Regulations (or successor regulations)) in which 

17 the person suffering fatal injuries was using a 

18 bicycle or micromobility vehicle at the time of 

19 the motor vehicle crash; and 

20 (ii) a description of the bicycle or micro21 mobility vehicle; and 

22 (F)(i) the number of serious injuries (as 

23 defined in section 490.205 of title 23, Code of 

24 Federal Regulations (or successor regulations)) 

25 in which the person suffering a serious injury 


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1 was using a bicycle or micromobility vehicle at 

2 the time of the motor vehicle crash; and 

3 (ii) a description of the bicycle or micro4 mobility vehicle. 

5 (5) SPECIAL RULES.—Section 148(g) of title 

6 23, United States Code, is amended by adding at 

7 the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(3) PEDESTRIANS, BICYCLISTS, AND USERS OF

9 MICROMOBILITY VEHICLES.— 

10 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF MICROMOBILITY VE11 HICLE.—In this paragraph, the term ‘micro12 mobility vehicle’ has the meaning given the 

13 term in section 2 of the Vulnerable Road Users 

14 Safety Act. 

15 ‘‘(B) RULE.—If the rate of fatalities or se16 rious injuries for any of pedestrians, bicyclists, 

17 and users of micromobility vehicles in a State 

18 increases during the most recent 2-year period 

19 for which data are available, that State shall be 

20 required— 

21 ‘‘(i) to include in the subsequent State 

22 strategic highway safety plan of the State 

23 strategies to decrease those rates; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) to prioritize the implementation 

2 of any recommendations of the National 

3 Transportation Safety Board. 

4 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION.—Nothing in this para5 graph requires the Administrator of the Federal 

6 Highway Administration to revise the definition 

7 of the term ‘non-motorized serious injuries’ in 

8 section 490.205 of title 23, Code of Federal 

9 Regulations (or successor regulations).’’. 

10 (b) SPEEDING-RELATED CRASHES INVOLVING PAS11 SENGER VEHICLES.— 

12 (1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection 

13 is to direct the Administrator of the Federal High14 way Administration to implement, for roadways that 

15 are legally allowed to be used by or are likely to be 

16 used by pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable 

17 road users, certain recommendations in the report of 

18 the National Transportation Safety Board on reduc19 ing speeding-related crashes involving passenger ve20 hicles, adopted on July 25, 2017. 

21 (2) FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION.—Not 

22 later than 18 months after the date of enactment of 

23 this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Highway 

24 Administration shall revise the speed limits section 

25 of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices— 


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1 (A) to require the factors currently listed 

2 as optional for all engineering studies; 

3 (B) to require that an expert system such 

4 as USLIMITS2 be used as a validation tool; 

5 (C) to remove the guidance that speed lim6 its in speed zones should be within 5 mph of 

7 the 85th percentile speed; and 

8 (D) at a minimum, to incorporate relevant 

9 aspects of the safe system approach for urban 

10 roads to strengthen protection for vulnerable 

11 road users. 

12 SEC. 4. BICYCLIST SAFETY. 

13 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en14 hance the safety of bicyclists and other vulnerable road 

15 users by requiring the Administrator of the National 

16 Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Administrator 

17 of the Federal Highway Administration, and the Intel18 ligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office of 

19 the Department of Transportation to implement certain 

20 recommendations of the National Transportation Safety 

21 Board identified in the Safety Research Report entitled 

22 ‘‘Bicyclist Safety on US Roadways: Crash Risks and 

23 Countermeasures’’, adopted on November 5, 2019. 

24 (b) NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINIS25 TRATION.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2496.IS S2496

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1 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation, acting 

2 through the Administrator of the National Highway Traf3 fic Safety Administration (referred to in this subsection 

4 as the ‘‘Secretary’’), shall— 

5 (1)(A) develop minimum performance standards 

6 for connected vehicle technology for all light vehicles 

7 and vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of not 

8 more than 26,000 pounds; 

9 (B) on development of the standards described 

10 in subparagraph (A), require connected vehicle tech11 nology to be installed on all newly manufactured 

12 highway vehicles beginning with the first model year 

13 that begins not less than 2 years after the effective 

14 date of the final rule establishing the minimum per15 formance standards; and 

16 (C) complete all rulemaking relating to con17 nected vehicle technology that is in progress as of 

18 the date of enactment of this Act; 

19 (2) require that newly manufactured truck trac20 tors with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 

21 26,000 pounds be equipped with a blind spot warn22 ing system to improve the ability of the driver of a 

23 tractor-trailer to detect— 

24 (A) passenger vehicles; and 


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1 (B) vulnerable road users, including pedes2 trians, bicyclists, users of micromobility vehi3 cles, and motorcyclists; 

4 (3) incorporate into the New Car Assessment 

5 Program of the National Highway Traffic Safety 

6 Administration tests to evaluate the ability of a new 

7 car to avoid crashes with bicyclists, users of micro8 mobility vehicles, and pedestrians; 

9 (4) expand the 5-star rating system of the New 

10 Car Assessment Program of the National Highway 

11 Traffic Safety Administration to include a scale that 

12 rates the performance of forward collision avoidance 

13 systems; 

14 (5) issue a final decision notice incorporating 

15 pedestrian, bicyclist, and micromobility vehicle user 

16 safety systems, including pedestrian, bicyclist, and 

17 micromobility vehicle user automatic emergency 

18 braking systems and other passive safety systems, 

19 into the New Car Assessment Program of the Na20 tional Highway Traffic Safety Administration; and 

21 (6) complete the development of performance 

22 standards for visibility enhancement systems— 

23 (A) to ensure that those systems improve 

24 driver visibility in blind spots; and 


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1 (B) to improve the ability of the driver of 

2 a single unit truck with a gross vehicle weight 

3 rating of more than 10,000 pounds to detect 

4 vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, 

5 bicyclists, users of micromobility vehicles, and 

6 motorcyclists, in the proximity of the truck. 

7 (c) FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION.—Not 

8 later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this 

9 Act, the Administrator of the Federal Highway Adminis10 tration shall— 

11 (1)(A) complete the development of methods to 

12 combine automated and traditional count with inno13 vative bicycle-counting approaches that capture bicy14 cling activity data generated by bicyclists and bike 

15 share operations; and 

16 (B) provide information about those methods to 

17 State departments of transportation; 

18 (2) update the list of proven safety counter19 measures published by the Federal Highway Admin20 istration to include separated bike lanes and multi21 use trails; and 

22 (3) include separated bike lanes and multi-use 

23 trails as innovations in the Every Day Counts initia24 tive under section 1444 of the FAST Act (23 U.S.C. 

25 101 note; Public Law 114–94). 


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1 (d) SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS IN PLANNING AND DE2 SIGN.—Section 217(g)(2) of title 23, United States Code, 

3 is amended, in the second sentence, by inserting ‘‘, sepa4 rated bicycle lanes and multi-use trails, and intersection 

5 safety treatments’’ after ‘‘street crossings’’. 

6 (e) INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS JOINT

7 PROGRAM OFFICE.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Intel10 ligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office 

11 of the Department of Transportation, in collabora12 tion with the Administrator of the National Highway 

13 Traffic Safety Administration and the Administrator 

14 of the Federal Highway Administration, shall ex15 pand vehicle-to-pedestrian research efforts to ensure 

16 that bicyclists and other vulnerable road users will 

17 be incorporated into the safe deployment of con18 nected vehicle systems. 

19 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 30 months after 

20 the date of enactment of this Act, the Intelligent 

21 Transportation Systems Joint Program Office of the 

22 Department of Transportation, in collaboration with 

23 the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic 

24 Safety Administration and the Administrator of the 

25 Federal Highway Administration, shall submit to 


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1 Congress and make publicly available a report on the 

2 findings of the research efforts described in para3 graph (1). 

Æ 


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