III 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 274 

Expressing the sense of the Senate to reduce traffic fatalities to zero by 

2050. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 22, 2023 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. KING, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 

Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. FETTERMAN, and Ms. 

SMITH) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate to reduce traffic fatalities 

to zero by 2050. 

Whereas roadway fatalities kill tens of thousands of people in 

the United States each year; 

Whereas, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration (referred to in this preamble as 

‘‘NHTSA’’), 42,939 lives were lost in motor vehicle 

crashes in 2021 and all of the deaths were preventable; 

Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention, traffic crashes are a leading cause of death 

for people ages 1 to 54 and kill more than 100 people 

every day; 


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•SRES 274 IS 

Whereas, according to NHTSA, alcohol-impaired driving 

crashes are a leading killer on the roadways of the 

United States, with 13,384 lives lost to alcohol-impaired 

driving in 2021; 

Whereas, according to NHTSA, 3,522 people died in motor 

vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers in 2021; 

Whereas, according to NHTSA, 7,388 pedestrians were killed 

in traffic crashes in the United States in 2021, representing a 22 percent increase in the last 5 years; 

Whereas, according to NHTSA, the number of pedestrian fatalities increased by 53 percent from 2012 to 2021; 

Whereas, according to the National Complete Streets Coalition at Smart Growth America, the pedestrian fatality 

rate compared to that of White, non-Hispanic people in 

the United States is— 

(1) 220 percent higher for American Indian and 

Alaska Native people; 

(2) 100 percent higher for Black people; and 

(3) 20 percent higher for Hispanic and Latinx people; 

Whereas, according to NHTSA, a total of 961 bicyclists were 

killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2021, representing a 32 percent increase in the last 10 years; 

Whereas independent research in 2015 found that motor vehicle crash death rates were as much as 4.3 times greater 

for those at the bottom of the education spectrum than 

those at the top; 

Whereas, according to NHTSA, motorcycles represented only 

3 percent of all registered vehicles, but accounted for 14 

percent of all traffic fatalities and 17 percent of all occupant fatalities in 2021; 


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•SRES 274 IS 

Whereas, according to NHTSA, in 2021, 40 percent of motor 

vehicle traffic fatalities occurred on rural roads, despite 

only 32 percent of miles traveled occurring on rural 

roads; 

Whereas, according to NHTSA, seatbelts prevented 14,653 

fatalities and 450,000 serious injuries in 2019, saving 

$93,000,000,000 in medical care, lost productivity, and 

other injury-related costs; 

Whereas, according to NHTSA, in 2021, 50 percent of passenger vehicle occupants who died in a motor vehicle 

crash were unrestrained, while 85 percent of occupants 

who survived a motor vehicle crash were restrained; 

Whereas the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, 

and Medicine cite that approximately 40 percent of crash 

fatalities initially survived the impact but later died, 

highlighting the importance of improving post-crash care; 

Whereas, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway 

Safety, increasing speed limits over the last 25 years 

have led to approximately 37,000 deaths; 

Whereas, according to NHTSA, speeding accounted for 29 

percent of all traffic fatalities in 2021; 

Whereas, according to Consumer Reports, existing safety 

technologies could cut road fatalities in half if such technologies were made standard on all vehicles, saving approximately 20,000 lives annually; 

Whereas roadway fatalities and injuries rose during the 

COVID–19 pandemic and remain a persistent cause of 

death in the United States; 

Whereas a deep history of inequalities in the United States 

continues to impact transportation systems, with low-income neighborhoods experiencing more than twice as 


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•SRES 274 IS 

many pedestrian fatalities as neighborhoods with the 

highest incomes, according to the National Complete 

Streets Coalition at Smart Growth America; 

Whereas roadway fatalities disproportionately affect people of 

color and underserved communities and there must be an 

effort to collect better data to understand these impacts; 

Whereas too many families in the United States have been 

personally affected by preventable crashes; and 

Whereas a data-driven safe systems approach is proven to be 

effective at reducing traffic fatalities and injuries, including through taking into account all aspects of the transportation environment and not requiring a single actor to 

be responsible for traffic safety: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) commits to advancing policies that will end 

3 roadway fatalities by 2050; 

4 (2) calls on Congress and the Department of 

5 Transportation to commit to working together to 

6 achieve zero roadway fatalities by the year 2050; 

7 (3) supports efforts to address disparities and 

8 other equity-related issues related to transportation 

9 safety; 

10 (4) calls on the Department of Transportation, 

11 and the agencies within the Department of Trans12 portation, to improve data gathering and tracking of 

13 traffic crashes and other issues related to transpor14 tation safety; 


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•SRES 274 IS 

1 (5) calls on the Department of Transportation, 

2 and the agencies within the Department of Trans3 portation, to commit to the implementation of prov4 en countermeasures and interventions to prioritize 

5 transportation safety; 

6 (6) recognizes the need for a safe system ap7 proach to transportation in the United States to im8 prove access, safety, and mobility; and 

9 (7) supports the use of the term ‘‘crash’’, in10 stead of ‘‘accident’’, when describing traffic inci11 dents and encourages all agencies of the Federal 

12 Government to use this term. 

Æ 


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