In an effort to cut serious injuries and deaths on U.S. roads, 19 states and territories are getting federal grants to update their crash data systems.
The money from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is intended to standardize the systems and to improve accuracy and timeliness of fatality data to help in road-safety decision-making.
After spiking during the pandemic, traffic fatalities have been falling, though pedestrian road deaths have risen sharply.
“These upgrades to crash data systems will provide the agency and the public more timely data, help us identify emerging trends, and advance our shared mission to save lives,” said NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman in a press release on the grants.
The federal agency said collecting more data faster will help it update its strategies, research, rule-making and public education campaigns.
Receiving grants are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia, and American Samoa.
