The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) partnered with Road to Zero Coalition, Vision Zero Network, Families for Safe Streets, and dozens more organizations and individuals by co-signing a letter to President Joe Biden to urge him to commit the efforts of the federal government to achieve zero traffic deaths by 2050.

Many partners joined to develop TZD. This included traffic safety organizations, practitioners, researchers, advocates, and others from a variety of disciplines. Partnership is critical to the zero fatalities goal. It will take all of us working together to bring the nation’s annual number of roadway deaths down to zero.

“We look forward to working with the Biden Administration and the USDOT on implementing the strategies identified in the TZD National Strategy,” said Jim Tymon, executive director of AASHTO, on behalf of the TZD program. “We need to work aggressively to use tried and true as well as innovative strategies to eliminate fatalities on our nation’s roads.”

Toward Zero Deaths: A National Strategy on Highway Safety advocates for highway safety strategies for eliminating serious injuries and deaths on our nation’s roadways. The National Strategy document is AASHTO’s official strategic highway safety plan (SHSP). 

One person dies every 16 minutes in a traffic crash in our country. Traffic crashes and their consequences touch nearly everyone over a lifetime. TZD champions the idea that one death on our nation’s roadways is too many.

Learn about the letter to President Biden and the call for Zero Traffic Deaths here.

Learn more about Toward Zero Deaths and the National Strategy.