Innovation plays a critical role in improving roadway safety.
Image Credit: AASHTO
During last week’s AASHTO Washington Briefing, Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt shared the work the Federal Highway Administration is doing to address the uptick in fatalities on our nation’s roadways.
“Take the AASHTO Safety Summit organized last year; there has been action behind it,” said Bhatt. “Also, my [FHWA] division staff have now worked with 48 states to deploy a variety of safety countermeasures. It is such a positive thing to see words followed with action. So, I am now again cautiously optimistic; the [fatality] numbers are now coming down a bit over the last few quarters. While it is nothing to celebrate, we’ve stopped the massive 10 percent year-over-year increases [in fatalities].”
He also underscored the role innovation plays in reducing fatal vehicular crashes.
“Now we are getting data off of vehicles so we can really delve into crash causation, which also means getting details on near-misses as well as why a crash did not happen,” said Bhatt.
ITA Publisher and former Federal Highway Administrator Greg Nadeau had a chance to sit down with the Administrator last fall as part of the InfraTalk Podcast. In addition to discussing how innovation can help the country reach zero deaths on its roadways, they examined the role digital construction technology plays in delivering projects faster and more cost-effectively. Click here to listen to the full podcast episode.
