Highway Issues

MOST WANTED Transportation Safety Improvements
Highway Issue Areas

Legend:

= Unacceptable response
= Acceptable response, progressing slowly
= Acceptable response, progressing in a timely manner
= Being assessed, classification code to be assigned soon

Federal Issues
Acceptable response, progressing slowly	Improve the Safety of Motor Carrier Operations Action Needed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.	Prevent motor carriers from operating if they put vehicles with mechanical problems on the road or unqualified drivers behind the wheels.
Unacceptable response	Prevent Medically Unqualified Drivers from Operating Commercial Vehicles Action Needed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.	Establish a comprehensive medical oversight program for interstate commercial drivers. Ensure that examiners are qualified. Enhance oversight and enforcement of invalid certificates. Provide mechanisms for reporting medical conditions. Track all medical certificate applications.
Acceptable response, progressing slowly	Enhance Protection for Motorcoach Passengers Action Needed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.	Redesign motor coach window emergency exits so passengers can easily open them. Issue standards for stronger bus roofs and require them in new motor coaches. Devise new standards to protect motor coach passengers from being thrown out of their seats or ejected when a bus sustains a front, side, or rear impact or rolls over.
Acceptable response, progressing slowly	Enhance Protection for School Bus Passengers Action Needed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.	Devise new standards to protect school bus passengers from being thrown out of their seats or ejected when a bus sustains a front, side or rear impact or rolls over.
Acceptable response, progressing slowly	Prevent Collisions by Using Enhanced Vehicle Safety Technology Action Needed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.	Reqire adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance system standards for all new passenger and commercial vehicles.
Unacceptable response	Require On-board Electronic Recorders Action Needed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.	Require all interstate commercial vehicle carriers to use electronic on-board recorders to collect data on both driver hours of operation and accident conditions.
Acceptable response, progressing slowly	Restrict Use of Cellular Telephones Action Needed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.	Prohibit cellular telephone use by commercial drivers of school busses and motorcoaches, except in emergencies.
State/Industry Issues
	Enact Primary Seat Belt Enforcement Laws Action Needed by the States.	Increase the number of people who wear seat belts through stronger enforcement laws.
	Improve Child Occupant Protection Action Needed by the States.	Enact State laws requiring booster seats for young children.
	Eliminate Distractions for Young Drivers Action Needed by the States.	Enact graduated driver licensing legislation. Restrict the number of teen passengers traveling with young novice drivers. Prohibit use of wireless communications devices by young novice drivers.
	Eliminate Hard Core Drinking Driving Action Needed by the States.	Enact State legislation and take other actions that are proven to reduce crashes involving those who repeatedly drink large amounts of alcohol and drive including: frequent, statewide sobriety checkpoints. legislation to create stricter sanctions for those arrested the first time with a high blood alcohol concentration (>or = 0.15 BAC). zero blood alcohol requirement for convicted DWI offenders when they get their license back. administrative rather than court-based license revocation for refusing to take or failing the sobriety test. vehicle sanctions for DWI offenders. eliminate plea-bargaining DWI offenses and programs that divert offenders and purge the offense record. retain DWI offense records (to identify and prosecute repeat offenders) for at least 10 years. develop and operate special sanction (court-based) programs for hard core DWI offenders.

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