Safety is Our North Star

NHTSA · 1999 · ROSA P / United States. Federal Highway Administration

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Summary

This document reports on the National Transportation Safety Conference held in Washington, D.C., on March 2–3, 1999, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The conference was motivated by the high annual toll of transportation-related incidents, which claimed approximately 44,500 lives and injured 3.4 million people, costing over $165 billion annually. DOT Secretary Rodney E. Slater established "safety" as the department’s guiding principle, emphasizing that transportation is fundamentally about people. The event aimed to foster a partnership among government, industry, labor, and law enforcement to save lives and prevent injuries. The conference featured a nationwide town hall meeting involving 442 participants in Washington and 141 via satellite link from Atlanta, Detroit, and San Francisco. Key outcomes included the initiation of a transportation safety action plan based on participant suggestions and the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU was signed by Secretary Slater, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, and leaders from various industry, trade, labor, and law enforcement organizations. These signatories pledged to provide safe work environments, advocate for safety, educate employees, and prioritize safety in organizational activities. Additionally, DOT committed to assisting in the development of educational programs and materials. The document outlines several specific safety initiatives across different modes of transportation. In child safety, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a brochure to help families select safer vehicles and highlighted new universal child safety-seat attachment requirements, projected to save 50 lives and prevent 3,000 injuries annually. Aviation safety saw the adoption of the "Safer Skies" agenda to reduce fatal accidents, coinciding with a record year in 1998 where no passenger fatalities occurred on scheduled U.S. airlines. Maritime safety efforts included a task force to assess the marine transportation system, while truck safety involved a review of motor carrier programs led by former Representative Norman Y. Mineta. Other initiatives addressed safety for underserved communities, aging adults, and improved data collection through nearly $5 million in grants to state and territorial agencies. The significance of the conference lies in its shift toward a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to transportation safety. By securing commitments from diverse sectors and launching targeted initiatives, the DOT aimed to build upon existing successes, such as the drop in traffic fatality rates to their lowest level since 1966. The document underscores that while progress had been made, further reduction in fatalities and injuries required continued partnership and the implementation of the newly formed safety action plan.

Key finding

The conference resulted in a partnership pledge and action plan to improve transportation safety, with specific initiatives targeting child safety, aviation, and data collection to reduce the annual 44,500 transportation-related deaths.

Methodology

other

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• public messaging
• traffic safety culture