May 7, 2022 – While the Infrastructure Act was primarily intended to deliver big money to the states for the improvement or repair of crumbling roads, bridges, pipelines, internet broadband access and power grids, it also contains little-noticed sections designed to implement a reduction in the rising toll of automobile crashes, deaths and injuries.
The infrastructure bill includes such safety issues as improved headlights, updated back-seat safety standards, new front seatback standards, incorporation of crash avoidance technology in all new cars, and new federal hood and bumper standards.
While the vehicle safety provisions may appear to be a modest part of the new law, we should celebrate that the often deadlocked Congress passed legislation that can have a major impact in reversing the shocking increase in vehicle crashes and in the lives lost or forever changed on our nation’s roads.
