IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 545 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives to reduce traffic 
fatalities to zero by 2050. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 22, 2023 
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. DAVID 
SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. 
ESPAILLAT, Mr. TRONE, Mr. COHEN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. TONKO, Ms. 
MENG, Ms. TITUS, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Mr. 
GARCI´A of Illinois) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives 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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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, rep-
resenting a 22-percent increase in the last 5 years; 
Whereas, according to NHTSA, the number of pedestrian fa-
talities increased by 53 percent from 2012 to 2021; 
Whereas, according to the National Complete Streets Coali-
tion 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 peo-
ple; 
Whereas, according to NHTSA, a total of 961 bicyclists were 
killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2021, rep-
resenting a 32 percent increase in the last 10 years; 
Whereas independent research in 2015 found that motor ve-
hicle 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 occu-
pant fatalities in 2021; 
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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 pas-
senger 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 tech-
nologies were made standard on all vehicles, saving ap-
proximately 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-in-
come neighborhoods experiencing more than twice as 
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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, includ-
ing through taking into account all aspects of the trans-
portation environment and not requiring a single actor to 
be responsible for traffic safety: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) commits to advancing policies that will end 
roadway fatalities by 2050; 
(2) calls on Congress and the Department of 
Transportation to commit to working together to 
achieve zero roadway fatalities by the year 2050; 
(3) supports efforts to address disparities and 
other equity-related issues related to transportation 
safety; 
(4) calls on the Department of Transportation, 
and the agencies within the Department of Trans-
portation, to improve data gathering and tracking of 
traffic crashes and other issues related to transpor-
tation safety; 
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(5) calls on the Department of Transportation, 
and the agencies within the Department of Trans-
portation, to commit to the implementation of prov-
en countermeasures and interventions to prioritize 
transportation safety; 
(6) recognizes the need for a safe system ap-
proach to transportation in the United States to im-
prove access, safety, and mobility; and 
(7) supports the use of the term ‘‘crash’’, in-
stead of ‘‘accident’’, when describing traffic inci-
dents and encourages all agencies of the Federal 
Government to use this term. 
Æ 
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