In 2006, more than 42,600 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes. Overall, this represents a 1.5 percent increase in the number of fatalities from 1997 to 2006, although the fatality rate—fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT)—declined by approximately 14 percent, from 1.65 in 1997 to 1.41 in 2006 (see fig. 1). Through SAFETEA-LU, Congress authorized nearly $2.2 billion for 4 years, from fiscal years 2006 through 2009, for seven programs to provide safety grants to assist states in their efforts to reduce traffic fatalities (see table 1). This represents an increase of $172 million annually from the authorization levels under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). States’ highway safety offices use these funds to reimburse selected state and local organizations—nonprofit organizations, universities, hospitals, and law enforcement agencies—for conducting traffic safety improvement activities that have been approved by the state. Two of these grant programs—State and Community Highway Safety and Occupant Protection—were largely unchanged by SAFETEA-LU. The State and Community Highway Safety grant provides highway safety funds for states through a formula based on each state’s population and public road miles. All states are eligible to receive this grant after submitting a performance plan that establishes goals and performance measures to improve highway safety in the state, as well as a highway safety plan that describes activities to achieve those goals. The Occupant Protection grant provides incentive funds for states to adopt and implement programs to reduce deaths and injuries from riding “unrestrained” or “improperly restrained.” To be eligible for this grant, states must meet four out of six criteria, some of which are also criteria for other safety incentive grants. One of these criteria is to pass a safety belt law providing for primary enforcement, which allows law enforcement officers to stop a driver for not wearing a safety belt. Transportation safety experts generally consider primary safety belt laws to be the most effective countermeasure to prevent traffic fatalities and injuries to vehicle occupants, and states with primary enforcement laws generally have lower fatality rates than states that do not have such laws. States are required to provide matching funds for both grants; the state share required for the State and Community Highway Safety grant is at least 20 percent of the total program cost, while the state share for the Occupant Protection grant is at least 25 percent for the first and second years (beginning in 2003), 50 percent for the third and fourth years, and 75 percent for the fifth and sixth years. The remaining five grant programs—Safety Belt Use, Child Safety and Child Booster Seat Use, Alcohol Impaired Driving Countermeasures, Motorcyclist Safety, and State Traffic Safety Information Systems Improvement—were modified or added by SAFETEA-LU. States’ ability to qualify for grants is exclusively determined by whether they meet the statutory grant qualification criteria established by SAFETEA-LU. Safety Belt Use: This one-time grant encourages states to enact and directly enforce safety belt use laws. States can use grant funds for a range of highway safety activities, including public education programs or construction to improve a hazardous roadway. To be awarded a grant, a state can qualify in one of three ways: Enact a primary safety belt law after January 1, 2003, and certify that the law is enacted and will be enforced; these “new law states” receive priority in the award process and are awarded a one-time grant equal to 475 percent of the amount they were apportioned for their fiscal year 2003 State and Community Highway Safety grant. Beginning in fiscal year 2008, certify that the state has achieved at least an 85 percent safety belt use rate in the two preceding calendar years. If a state does not meet either of the first two criteria, and if funds remain after grants have been awarded to all states meeting those criteria, states that had a primary safety belt law in effect prior to 2003, and certify the law is enacted and being enforced are eligible to receive a one-time grant equal to 200 percent of the amount they were apportioned for their fiscal year 2003 State and Community Highway Safety grant. In addition, NHTSA will allocate any grant funds remaining available on July 1, 2009, among all states that have in effect and are enforcing a primary safety belt law for all passenger motor vehicles as of that date. These funds will be allocated among the states in accordance with the formula used to determine the amount of the State and Community Highway Safety grant. The Safety Belt Use grant program authorized in SAFETEA-LU includes more stringent criteria than the corresponding TEA-21 incentive grant, which awarded grants to states based solely on improvements in safety belt use rates. Congress authorized $500 million over 5 years for the safety belt incentive grant authorized in TEA-21 and $498 million over 4 years for the program authorized in SAFETEA-LU. There are no requirements for state matching funds. Child Safety and Child Booster Seat Use (Child Safety and Booster Seat): This grant is designed to encourage states to enact and enforce booster seat laws. These grant funds may be used only for child restraint programs, including programs to enforce laws or train child safety professionals and parents on the proper use of child safety and booster seats. Up to 50 percent of the funds that a state receives under this grant may be used to purchase and distribute child restraints—both child safety and booster seats—for low-income families. To qualify for this grant, states must enact and enforce a law requiring any child riding in a passenger motor vehicle who is under the age of 8 to be secured in an appropriate child restraint system, unless the child weighs more than 65 pounds or is 4 feet 9 inches or taller. Similar to the Safety Belt Use grant program, the criteria for the Child Safety and Booster Seat grant program adopted in the wake of SAFETEA-LU are more stringent than the corresponding pre-SAFETEA-LU grant program; states had to apply and then use the grant for child passenger protection education activities. Congress authorized $15 million for the child passenger protection education grant under TEA-21 and $25 million for the Child Safety and Booster Seat grant under SAFETEA-LU. States are also required to provide matching funds of at least 25 percent during the first 3 years and 50 percent during the fourth year. Alcohol Impaired Driving Countermeasures (Impaired Driving): This grant is designed to encourage states to implement enforcement, education, training, and other countermeasure activities to reduce alcohol- impaired driving. States can use the grant to implement these activities, such as training for law enforcement officers and advertising and educational campaigns that publicize sobriety checkpoints. States may also purchase equipment—such as blood alcohol content (BAC) testing devices—to assist officers in enforcement activities. States can qualify to receive this grant in three ways: (1) achieving an alcohol-related fatality rate of 0.5 or less per 100 million VMT, (2) being 1 of the 10 states with the highest alcohol-related fatality rate, or (3) meeting a minimum number of the eight programmatic criteria—three in fiscal year 2006, four in fiscal year 2007, and five in fiscal years 2008 and 2009. The programmatic criteria are as follows: Implement a program to conduct high-visibility enforcement campaigns using checkpoints or saturation patrols, along with paid and earned media; Implement a program to educate judges and prosecutors about prosecuting and adjudicating offenders; Implement a program to increase the rate of BAC testing of drivers involved in fatal crashes; Enact legislation imposing stronger sanctions or additional penalties for high-risk drivers whose BAC is 0.15 or more; Implement a program to rehabilitate repeat or high-risk offenders or refer them to a state-sanctioned DWI court; Develop a strategy to prevent underage drivers from obtaining alcoholic beverages and to prevent persons of any age from making alcoholic beverages available to persons under 21; Implement a program to suspend or revoke licenses for drivers who were apprehended while driving under the influence; or Implement a “self-sustaining impaired driving prevention program” in which a significant portion of DWI fines or surcharges collected are returned to communities for activities to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. While the Impaired Driving grants authorized by SAFETEA-LU are similar to the impaired driving grants authorized in TEA-21, the number of criteria a state must meet differs. Specifically, states had to meet more criteria for the TEA-21 grants, but the SAFETEA-LU grant criteria are more stringent. For example, the TEA-21 criteria required states to implement programs, whereas the SAFETEA-LU criteria may include legislative requirements. SAFETEA-LU more than doubled the funding—from $219.5 million to $515 million—authorized for the Impaired Driving grant program. States are also required to provide matching funds of at least 25 percent the first and second years and 50 percent the third and fourth years. Motorcyclist Safety: SAFETEA-LU established a new incentive grant program to encourage states to adopt and implement programs to reduce the number of crashes involving motorcyclists. To be eligible to receive this grant, a state must meet one of six criteria in the first fiscal year and two of the criteria in the second and subsequent years. The criteria are as follows: Implement a statewide training program for motorcycle riders; Implement a program to promote motorcyclist awareness; Achieve a reduction in fatalities and crashes involving motorcycles in Implement a statewide impaired-driving program, including measures to reduce impaired motorcycle operation; Achieve a reduction in fatalities and crashes involving impaired motorcyclists in the preceding year; or Use all fees collected from motorcyclists—such as motorcycle licensing and registration—for motorcycle programs.