In 2004, over 5,000 people died on our nation’s roads in crashes involving large trucks. The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) operates truck safety programs, including Share the Road Safely (STRS), which has a goal to improve driving behavior around large trucks. At congressional direction, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) assumed responsibility for funding STRS in 2004, but returned STRS to FMCSA in 2006. The current transportation authorization bill requested GAO to update its 2003 evaluation of STRS. This report (1) describes the STRS initiatives DOT has implemented since 2003 and their design, (2) reviews evaluations of STRS initiatives, and (3) assesses DOT’s plans for the future of STRS. GAO interviewed DOT and state officials, and reviewed program plans and evaluations. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting