Pedestrians and Cyclists: Better Information to States and Enhanced Performance Management Could Help DOT Improve Safety
Fast Facts
Over 7,000 pedestrians and cyclists died in crashes with motor vehicles in the U.S. in 2019.
Reducing crash risk can involve changing behaviors. Some risks are well understood, like the danger of high driving speeds. Less is known about how other behaviors, like pedestrian distraction, affect crash risk.
States can take on projects like media campaigns to encourage safer behavior among drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. The Department of Transportation offers information on project options, but few are demonstrated to be effective. We recommended DOT analyze states' projects and share results to improve project effectiveness.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The behavior of drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists—including driving speed, impairment due to alcohol or drug use, and distracted driving—affect pedestrian and cyclist safety. Some aspects of these road users' behaviors are well understood. For example, higher driving speeds are linked to increased crash risk and severity. In 2019, over 80 percent of pedestrian and cyclist fatalities occurred where speed limits were 35 miles per hour or higher, according to GAO's analysis of Department of Transportation (DOT) data. Other aspects of road users' behaviors are less understood. For example, there is little research on how pedestrian and cyclist impairment affects crash risk, in part because impairment research has focused on drivers. DOT has several efforts under way to improve knowledge of these behavioral aspects of highway safety.
DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provides grants and other support to help states implement projects, or countermeasures, to encourage safer behaviors. While NHTSA's Countermeasures That Work guide has useful information on a range of pedestrian and cyclist safety countermeasures, only 3 of 26 countermeasures were demonstrated to be effective (see figure). NHTSA has worked to advance research and monitor efforts to improve safety on a state-by-state basis, but has not analyzed information on states' use of countermeasures more broadly, such as by evaluating available information to identify national trends. Taking this step and sharing the results with states could help NHTSA and states identify promising efforts for study and advance knowledge of countermeasures' effectiveness.
Countermeasures Demonstrated to Be Effective in Improving Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Guide
DOT has not fully incorporated performance management practices into its pedestrian and cyclist safety efforts. These practices call for agencies to define goals and measure performance. DOT has established an overall departmental goal and an associated performance measure for pedestrian and cyclist safety. However, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) within DOT and NHTSA have not established performance measures to monitor their efforts to achieve DOT's pedestrian and cyclist safety goal. For example, DOT released a pedestrian safety plan in 2020 that lists 90 activities of FHWA and NHTSA but no performance measures to assess their progress. Performance measures at the FHWA and NHTSA level could help DOT understand how its different efforts are contributing to safety improvements, identify shortcomings, and make adjustments as warranted.
Why GAO Did This Study
In 2019, over 7,000 pedestrians and cyclists—about 20 per day—died in collisions with motor vehicles in the United States, up from about 4,800 in 2009. Road users' behaviors can affect pedestrian and cyclist safety, along with other factors like vehicle and road design. NHTSA provides states with over $500 million annually to address the behavioral aspects of safety.
GAO was asked to review pedestrian and cyclist safety and road users' behaviors. This report examines: (1) what is known about how road users' behaviors affect pedestrian and cyclist safety; (2) the extent to which NHTSA's countermeasure guide provides information to help states select effective projects; and (3) the extent to which DOT has used key performance management practices to help ensure activities are improving safety. GAO analyzed pedestrian and cyclist fatality data, state safety plans, and relevant literature; interviewed researchers and officials from states selected based on recent fatality trends; and compared relevant DOT strategic plans and practices to standards for effective performance management.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that (1) NHTSA collect, analyze, and share information on states' pedestrian and cyclist safety behavioral countermeasures; and (2,3) FHWA and NHTSA develop and use performance measures to monitor pedestrian and cyclist safety efforts. DOT concurred with the first recommendation and partially concurred with the others. GAO believes DOT should fully implement all three recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | The NHTSA Administrator should take steps to collect information on the range of countermeasures implemented by states and analyze that information to help advance what is known about countermeasures' effectiveness and then share results with states. (Recommendation 1) |
As of March 2024, NHTSA has partially addressed this recommendation by reviewing states' highway safety plans to develop a spreadsheet of pedestrian and bicyclist countermeasures implemented by states during a year. However, DOT has not analyzed this information to identify any patterns or trends in states' selection of countermeasures, as discussed in our report. Nor has NHTSA shared the results of its review with states, as we recommended, to inform their selection of pedestrian and cyclist safety countermeasures. We have requested additional information from NHTSA on its efforts to analyze and share results of its work to monitor states' use of pedestrian and cyclist safety countermeasures, and we will continue to monitor NHTSA's progress in addressing this recommendation.
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| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | The NHTSA Administrator should more fully use performance management practices to guide its pedestrian and cyclist safety activities, such as (1) by developing performance measures for NHTSA and the program offices responsible for implementing pedestrian and cyclist safety activities to demonstrate how these activities contribute to safety goals, and (2) by using performance information to make any necessary changes to advance pedestrian and cyclist safety efforts. (Recommendation 2) |
As of July 2024, NHTSA has taken some steps to make greater use of performance information in its pedestrian and cyclist safety activities. However, NHTSA has not addressed our recommendation to develop performance measures for the offices responsible for these activities. NHTSA officials told us that each pedestrian and cyclist safety project that NHTSA manages has measures that are tailored to the activities undertaken in that project. For example, according to NHTSA, each research project is managed by a subject matter expert who helps assure compliance with contract or agreement requirements, project milestones, deliverables, and adherence to timelines. NHTSA officials also told us that NHTSA media campaigns include key performance indicators, such as the number of impressions or views of video placements, among other data. As we noted in our report, GAO has previously reported that agencies should develop annual targets to measure performance at each organizational level, even when the link between federal efforts and desired outcomes may be difficult to establish. Performance measures should be linked directly to the offices that have responsibility for programs and provide a straightforward roadmap showing how daily activities contribute to strategic goals. NHTSA officials told us that that did not develop performance targets or expectations to assess the effectiveness of its recent media campaign prior to its development because NHTSA did not have baseline data to establish targets. In addition, NHTSA has not developed performance measures linked directly to the offices that have responsibility for managing pedestrian and cyclist safety programs. By developing performance measures with targets for the offices leading NHTSA pedestrian and cyclist safety initiatives, NHTSA will have information to make any necessary changes to its programs and help advance safety efforts. GAO will continue to monitor NHTSA's progress in implementing this recommendation.
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| Federal Highway Administration | The FHWA Administrator should more fully use performance management practices to guide its pedestrian and cyclist safety activities, such as (1) by developing performance measures for FHWA and the program offices responsible for implementing pedestrian and cyclist safety activities to demonstrate how these activities contribute to safety goals, and (2) by using performance information to make any necessary changes to advance pedestrian and cyclist safety efforts. (Recommendation 3) |
As of July 2024, FHWA has taken some steps to make greater use of performance information in its pedestrian and cyclist safety activities. However, FHWA has not addressed our recommendation to develop performance measures for the offices responsible for these activities. For example, FHWA officials told us that the FHWA Office of Safety undergoes an annual strategic planning process for all of its program areas in which it reviews safety data to identify priorities, including reducing pedestrian and cyclist fatalities. Through this process, FHWA officials told us that they identify gaps in FHWA programs and develop a program of projects that FHWA believes will have the greatest potential to improve safety. For example, this planning process led FHWA to conduct a study to assess the relative safety benefits of different bicycle lane configurations. As we noted in our report, we has previously reported that agencies should develop annual targets to measure performance at each organizational level, even when the link between federal efforts and desired outcomes may be difficult to establish. Performance measures should be linked directly to the offices that have responsibility for programs and provide a straightforward roadmap showing how daily activities contribute to strategic goals. While FHWA officials told us that the Office of Safety provides quarterly updates on its activities to FHWA's Enterprise Performance Management Team--which oversees performance management for FHWA--the officials did not provide us with any specific performance measures or targets that it uses to measure the performance of its programs. By developing performance measures with targets for the offices leading FHWA pedestrian and cyclist safety initiatives, FHWA will have information to make any necessary changes to its programs and help advance safety efforts. We will continue to monitor FHWA's progress in implementing this recommendation.
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