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U.S. Department of Transportation
Fiscal Year 2008 Budget In Brief

Overview:  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducts critical behavioral and vehicle programs, and provides grants to the States for the administration of highway traffic safety programs.  Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people in the United States ages 4 through 34.  In 2005, motor vehicle crashes claimed 43,443 lives and accounted for over 95 percent of transportation-related deaths.  The economic cost of motor vehicle crashes is estimated to be more than $231 billion annually.  Emerging demographic trends include a continuing increase in the number of drivers, a significant growth in both older and teenage drivers, and a marked increase in motorcycle ridership and fatalities, particularly by older returning riders of large engine-size motorcycles.  These trends pose increased traffic safety challenges that must be addressed.  The FY 2008 budget request includes $833 million for NHTSA to carry out its mission and support Departmental efforts towards the achievement of its strategic goals and performance targets, specifically in new key focus areas:  passenger vehicle occupants, non-occupants (pedestrians, cyclists, etc.), motorcycle riders, and large trucks and buses. 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Budget
(Dollars In Millions)

Summary of NHTSA FY 2008 Increases and Decreases
(Dollars In Millions)

FY 2008 Budget

For FY 2008, NHTSA requests $833 million from the Highway Trust Fund to support its programs.  $711 million of this total request has been authorized by SAFETEA-LU.  Legislation will be proposed for an additional $122 million from the Highway Trust Fund for vehicle safety programs.

Operations and Research:  The FY 2008 budget request includes $230 million for Operations and Research activities to reduce highway fatalities, prevent injuries, and significantly reduce their associated economic toll.  The request includes administrative services as a separate figure from the program figures listed below:

• Research and Analysis – The $65.7 million request supports DOT Safety goals by conducting motor vehicle safety research and development.  These programs support all NHTSA programs, including the collection and analysis of crash data to identify safety problems, develop alternative solutions, and assess costs, benefits, and effectiveness.  Research activities will continue to concentrate on improving vehicle crashworthiness and crash avoidance, with emphasis on increasing seat belt use, decreasing alcohol involvement in crashes, decreasing the number of rollover crashes, improving vehicle-to-vehicle crash compatibility, and improving data systems. 

• Highway Safety Programs - $42.6 million is requested for programs that support the Department’s safety goals through behavioral research, demonstrations, technical assistance, and national leadership activities emphasizing alcohol and drug countermeasures, vehicle occupant protection, traffic law enforcement, emergency medical and trauma care systems, traffic records and licensing, State and community evaluations, motorcycle riders, pedestrian and bicycle safety, pupil transportation, young and older driver safety programs, and development of improved crash investigation procedures.  NHTSA coordinates with numerous Federal partners, State and local governments, the private sector, universities, research units, and safety associations and organizations to leverage resources and achieve optimal delivery of safety messages.  Additionally, NHTSA’s highway safety programs support DOT’s Global Connectivity goals through international cooperation on behavioral traffic safety issues.  The budget request also includes $1.25 million to support the E-911 implementation office in support of the ENHANCE 9-1-1 Act of 2004.

• Safety Assurance (Enforcement) – The $18.3 million request supports DOT Safety goals by ensuring industry compliance with motor vehicle safety standards, investigating safety-related defects in motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment, enforcing the Federal odometer law, encouraging enforcement of State odometer laws, and ensuring that manufacturers conduct recalls to remove unsafe motor vehicles from the highways.

• Safety Performance (Rulemaking) – $12.8 million is requested during FY 2008 to support the Department’s Safety goal and new performance targets through the promulgation of Federal motor vehicle safety standards for the motor vehicle fleet and related safety equipment.  Rulemaking also supports the Safety goal through testing programs for the vehicle fleet and the development of consumer information on motor vehicle safety, including the New Car Assessment Program.  The Department’s Global Connectivity goals are supported through Rulemaking’s efforts in international harmonization of vehicle standards.  Additionally, Rulemaking programs support the automotive fuel economy standards required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which support the Departmental goal of Environmental Stewardship.

• Administrative Services – $90.4 million is requested to support DOT’s Organizational Excellence goals by providing program evaluation, strategic planning, and economic analysis for agency programs.  Through the program evaluation activities, objective quantitative information about NHTSA’s regulatory and highway safety programs is gathered to measure their effectiveness in achieving objectives.  Economic analysis funds development of methods to estimate economic consequences of motor vehicle injuries in forms suitable for agency use in problem identification, regulatory analysis, priority setting, and policy analysis.  NHTSA’s Vehicle Research and Technical Center is also supported through these funds.

National Driver Register:  $4.0 million is requested to provide an efficient and timely database that helps to keep problem drivers from operating private and commercial vehicles and aids in the decision-making for other transportation modes’ certification procedures.

Highway Traffic Safety Grants and High Visibility Enforcement:  NHTSA’s seven highway traffic safety grants programs will help reduce motor vehicle crashes, deaths and injuries by supporting implementation of proven and innovative countermeasures aimed at a wide range of factors contributing to crashes and injuries.  The FY 2008 budget request of $599.2 million implements current SAFETEA-LU initiatives and includes the following:

• State and Community Highway Safety Grants (Section 402) – $225 million is requested to support the full range of highway safety initiatives in every State, territory, and the Indian Nations.  A State may use these grant funds only for highway safety programs designed to reduce traffic crashes and resulting deaths, injuries, and property damage, with at least 40 percent of these funds to be expended by political subdivisions (i.e., communities) within the State. 

• Occupant Protection Incentive Grants (Section 405) – $25 million will help qualifying States implement and enforce effective occupant protection programs to reduce deaths and injuries in the general population from riding unrestrained or improperly restrained in motor vehicles.  A State may use these grant funds only to implement and enforce occupant protection programs.

• Safety Belt Performance Grants (Section 406) – $124.5 million is requested to provide broad support, via incentive grants, for highway safety to States and territories that enact primary seat belt laws applicable to all passenger motor vehicles.  A State may use these grant funds for any safety purpose under Title 23, United States Code, or for any project that corrects or improves a hazardous roadway location or feature or proactively addresses highway safety problems.  However, at least $1 million of amounts received by States must be obligated for behavioral highway safety activities.

• State Traffic Safety Information System Improvements Grants (Section 408) – $34.5 million is requested to enable qualifying States, territories and Indian Nations to improve the timeliness, accuracy, completeness, uniformity, integration, and accessibility of their traffic records and related data.  Section 408 grants also seek to evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to make necessary improvements, to link existing State data systems, including traffic records, with other data systems within the State, as well as to improve the compatibility of the State data system with national data systems and data systems of other States in an effort to enhance the ability to monitor and analyze national trends in crash occurrences, rates, outcomes, and circumstances.  This, in turn, will help the States better identify their highest priority traffic safety needs and allocate their resources where they will have the greatest life saving impact.  A State may only use these grant funds to implement such data improvement programs.

• Alcohol-Impaired Driving Countermeasures Incentive Grants (Section 410) – This $131 million request will enable qualifying States, territories and Indian Nations to adopt and implement effective programs to reduce traffic safety problems resulting from individuals driving while under the influence of alcohol.  A recipient may use these grant funds to implement the impaired driving activities described in the Programmatic Criteria, as well as to cover costs for:  high visibility enforcement; training and equipment for law enforcement; advertising and educational campaigns that publicize checkpoints, increase law enforcement efforts, and target impaired drivers under 34 years of age; State impaired operator information system; and the costs of vehicle or license plate impoundment.

• High Visibility Enforcement (Section 2009) – $29 million is requested for three high visibility seat belt and impaired driving enforcement campaigns annually, including an evaluation component for each campaign, through the continued provision of national paid media during mobilization and crackdown efforts.

• Motorcyclist Safety Grants (Section 2010) – The $6 million requested for the program in FY 2008 will help qualifying States to adopt and implement effective programs to reduce the number of single and multi-vehicle crashes involving motorcyclists, with the intent to curb the sharply climbing rate of motorcyclist fatalities.  A State may only use these grants funds for motorcyclist safety training and motorcyclist awareness programs, including improvement of training curricula, delivery of training, recruitment or retention of motorcyclist safety instructors, and public awareness and outreach programs.

• Child Safety and Child Booster Seat Incentive Grants (Section 2011) – $6 million will help qualifying States implement and enforce a law requiring any child riding in a passenger vehicle who is too large to be secured in a child safety seat to be secured in a child restraint that meets the requirements prescribed under section 3 of Anton’s Law (49 USC 30127 note; 116 Stat. 2772).  These grant funds may be used only for child safety seat and child restraint programs.

• Grant Administrative Expenses – $18.2 million is requested to cover salaries and operating expenses related to administration of the Grant Programs, and to support the National Occupant Protection User Survey (NOPUS) and Highway Safety Research programs.