geoff: We're going to shift our
focus now to the rise of roadway
deaths, a problem that's worse
in the
U.S. Than in many other
developed countries.
One year ago, Los Angeles
resident Angelica Chavarria was
walking to church with her
husband, jemmy, and their son,
Zion.
>> I remember we did everything
perfectly.
We touched the blinkers, for the
lights.
Geoff: The family of three
waited at a marked crosswalk,
guided by a crossing guard.
When traffic stopped in both
directions, they all started to
walk.
>> So, everything was perfectly
fine for us to walk.
And I remember we had only
walked maybe a couple of steps,
and when I turned I just saw
this car coming towards us.
And the only thing that I said,
I remember that day, I just
said, "Jemmy."
I scream, "Jemmy."
Geoff: The approaching vehicle
did not stop.
Jemmy reacted quickly, shoving
his son to the sidewalk before
pushing Angelica out of harm's
way.
Jemmy was struck and killed.
The driver, who never stopped,
has yet to be identified.
>> And that for me, it's like,
you could have stopped, you
know, because my husband wasn't
an animal.
He wasn't even an animal.
You stop and you're like, oh, my
gosh, you know?
But this person didn't stop.
So that for me is like -- I just
pray every day.
Lord,.
Geoff: Pedestrian deaths in the
U.S. Have reached their highest
level in 40 years.
For some 25 years, pedestrian
fatalities were on a long
decline.
But in recent years, they're
back on the rise.
In 2021, there were nearly 7,500
pedestrian deaths, equivalent to
roughly 20 deaths per day.
It's a big part of a growing
problem.
Overall, roadway crashes are a
leading cause of death in the
U.S.
And even in the early days of
the pandemic, deaths continued
to increase.
In 2020, nearly 39,000 people
died in motor vehicle crashes, a
7% increase from the year
before.
By 2021, that number shot up to
nearly 43,000, a figure
comparable to the number of
lives lost to gun violence every
year.
>> We need to talk about roadway
deaths in America.
Geoff: Using funding from the
bipartisan infrastructure law,
transportation secretary Pete
buttigieg is spearheading the
allocation of $5 billion to
state and local governments
through a federal grant known as
"Safe streets and roads for all"
to try and prevent roadway
deaths.
A particular focus -- bicycle
fatalities, which have increased
a whopping 44% since 2010.
This past August, Daniel
langenkamp's wife, Sarah, was
hit by a truck driver while
riding her bike in Montgomery
county, Maryland.
>> My wife Sarah and I and our
boys had recently been evacuated
from Ukraine, where we were U.S.
Diplomats serving to help
Ukraine fight Russian
aggression, basically.
And so, Sarah had been attending
our boys' open house for the
beginning of the school year at
their school and had been riding
her bike back to our apartment
in bethesda.
And as she was riding along, a
truck turned right, apparently
without seeing her, and struck
her and crushed her.
Geoff: Since then, he's pushed
for more bike and pedestrian
safety measures at the local and
national level.
Part of the funding from the
"Safe streets and roads for all"
grant is going toward improving
streets his wife used to ride.
>> Behind every one of these
numbers, the 42,000 or so people
that have died this year or last
year, there are people like
Sarah, and we have to remember
that.
I think we all want a society
where those people are safe,
where riding a bike is not a
life and death decision.
Geoff: We're going to talk more
now about the new federal
initiative to improve road
safety.
Joining us now is transportation
secretary Pete buttigieg.
Mr. Secretary, welcome back to
the newshour.
Picking up where we left off,
his point that choosing to ride
a bike should not be a life and
death decision.
Roadway accidents are a leading
cause of death in this country
on par with gun violence.
Are you surprised there has not
been more outrage, a
greater willingness to do
something about it?
Sec. Buttigieg: I do think there
is a disconnect between the
amounts of damage, harm, and
death happening on our roadways
and the amount of attention it
gets.
If this were happening in any
other mode of transportation,
air travel for example, America
would be up in arms.
Yet, I am afraid this country
has become used to to roadway
deaths, whether we are talking
about pedestrian or vehicle
occupants.
It has happened so much and
happened to the people so many
of us know that we react and
think sometimes as if it was
inevitable, as if we were all
living in a country at war for
as long as we can remember.
The truth is, it is preventable.
Not only is the amount of death
happening on our roadways
proportional similar to that of
gun violence, it is also
disproportionate to what is
happening in a lot of other
western countries, and that
tells us if we make different
choices, different kinds of
investments like the ones we are
announcing this week, we can
make a difference.
The only tolerable level of
roadway death in America is
zero.
We have to set ourselves on a
course of doing just that.
Geoff: This program allots $5
billion to state and local
governments over the next five
years.
Why did you decide a national
strategy for local projects?
How is this different from
anything that department of
transportation has tried before?
Sec. Buttigieg: The basic
philosophy is the individual
designs don't need to come from
Washington, but more of the
funding should.
I think back to when I was the
mayor of South Bend.
We had a long list of things we
wanted to do that we believed
would make our community safer
for pedestrians, bicyclists,
wheelchair users, you name it.
A lot of times, those visions do
not get realized because there
is not enough funding.
This is just one of the many
programs in the infrastructure
law that we are putting to work,
literally putting out on the
street.
This is allowing us to support
these community visions, with
hundreds of communities getting
planning grants to build out
their vision and design the
improvements that are needed,
and for dozens of communities,
construction grants of doing the
physical work.
Our national strategy calls for
five elements that we think will
make a big difference.
Safer people, safer vehicles,
safer speeds, a better standard
of post crash care, so if your
injuries turn into fatalities,
and safer roads.
It is the design of the roads
that we know can make a direct
impact on these funds.
Geoff: There are cities we can
look to for solutions.
Amsterdam, Copenhagen, hoboken,
New Jersey.
And during the research, a city
of 60,000 people, they have not
had a single traffic fatality
since 2018.
How are they able to do that,
and are there things other
cities can take away from that?
Sec. Buttigieg: Absolutely.
I hosted the mayor of hoboken
and other cities recently
because I think these examples
are extremely important.
When you set out a vision like
zero traffic deaths, it sounds
so remote that some might view
it as pie-in-the-sky.
It is important to point to
specific places like hoboken,
Jersey City, evanston,
Illinois, that have experienced
one year or several years with
zero traffic deaths.
They are not the biggest cities
but they are not the smallest
either.
Our goal is to add every year to
the roster of cities that got
that done.
What we are seeing is a level of
intention, mayors ready to use
their visibility to call for
greater safety culture, road
design that encourages vehicles
to ride and drive at safe
speeds, measures that
protect pedestrians, whether the
right kind of lighting signals,
crosswalks, medians, way the
concrete pumps out into the
street.
It will be different from one
city to another.
We know the more communities
that embrace this as a goal and
put serious resources into it,
the more lives will be saved.
That is why we are helping on
the resource side and funding
the planning activities that
help get this done.
Geoff: In addition to advocating
for infrastructure changes to
roadways, what about
regulating the sizes of trucks
and SUVs?
Is that something you would
encourage?
Sec. Buttigieg: One of the most
important functions of our
department is to enforce federal
vehicle safety standards, and we
are constantly revising and
refreshing those standards, like
the crash dummy process.
What we are seeing right now is
that there are a lot of
developments and changes to
cars, trucks, SUV's, vans, some
of which are potentially very
encouraging like onboard safety
technology, but only if used in
the right way.
They are relatively new, so we
need to get more data on the
effect they are having.
The other thing we are doing is
looking at the traditional
measure of the safety of these
vehicles for the occupant, but
the safety of the vehicles from
the perspective of anyone who
might come into contact with
them.
That is an area that will call
for continued research and work
to make sure we are really
looking at the entire picture of
how the design of the vehicle
affects the physical safety of
everybody implicated inside and
out.
Geoff: Sec. Pete buttigieg,
thanks for your time and
insights.
Sec. Buttigieg: Good to be with
you.