From this day forward, we start counting down to zero.

Last year, our nation lost over 35,000 lives in fatal traffic crashes, which is a significant increase over the year before.

With your help, the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Safety Council, and a coalition of safety advocates will lead America toward the Road to Zero traffic deaths.

It’s a goal that will require a commitment from every citizen to get involved by holding themselves and others accountable to ensure the safety of all Americans on U.S. roadways now and in the future.

Our plan involves a wide range of stakeholders from the public and private sector, including safety advocates, federal, state and local officials, technologists, data and behavioral scientists, engineers, community planners and policy experts.

Never before has a coalition of this size and experience been assembled with such an ambitious goal.

The Department has committed $1 million for each of the next three years to support the coalition, including providing grants to national organizations on a competitive basis for innovative efforts that will cut traffic deaths.

Our short-term focus is to promote innovative strategies that save lives over the next three to five years. Those strategies include improving seat belt use and motorcycle helmet; redesigning streets; truck safety; and leading driver behavioral change campaigns.

In the long term, our efforts will focus on overall system design, new vehicle technology, enforcement, and behavioral safety. With the rapid introduction of automated vehicle technologies that may prove to be a road safety game changer, our goal of zero deaths is achievable in our lifetimes.

Reaching zero will require commitment from the traveling public, too. After all, 94 percent of crashes can be tied back to a human choice or error, like impaired driving, speeding, or texting behind the wheel.

What choices can you make to better protect yourself, your family and others on the road?

The Road to Zero is an ambitious goal – and a worthy one. With this campaign, we’re making clear that zero is the only acceptable number of deaths on our roads.

Please join us in making this goal a reality.