$800 million will be used to address 510 hotspots for traffic deaths.
The Department of Transportation recently announced the awarding of $800 million for road safety improvement projects across the country. Traffic deaths rose by 10.5 percent in 2021, resulting in the highest number of annual traffic-related deaths since 2005. There were 42,915 deaths in road-related accidents in 2021 and around the same number were killed in 2022, indicating that Americans are driving more dangerously than they did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Transportation Department designated 510 local projects to receive this funding, many of which are focused on improving intersections known to be dangerous. “We literally as we were making the decisions had a map pulled up,” said Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “You could see the hot spots.”
Secretary Buttigieg went on to assert that the United States must reach “a decision as a country that we need to treat this seriously and this isn’t just routine… We face a national emergency on our roadways, and it demands urgent action.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Secretary Buttigieg as he oversees the funding of road safety programs.
- For Transportation Department officials as they seek to reduce road-related fatalities.
Sources: Department of Transportation, Reuters
