Budget in Brief Table of Contents | DOT.gov

U.S. Department of Transportation
Fiscal Year 2009 Budget In Brief

Overview

Safety

Transportation safety is the Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) top strategic priority. Because the human toll and economic cost of transportation accidents are massive, sustaining continuous progress in improving transportation safety is the first objective of all DOT operations. The FY 2009 budget request proposes overall transportation safety funding of $20.3 billion. This request will fund the aviation and surface transportation safety programs and initiatives of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

Surface Transportation Safety

Within DOT, NHTSA and FMCSA are the two operating administrations primarily focused on regulating highway safety, with FHWA supporting highway safety through its infrastructure programs. Almost exclusively, FRA’s focus is on improving the railroad safety record, and PHMSA’s focus is on hazardous material (HAZMAT) and pipeline safety.

• Improve Motor Vehicle and Driver Safety. The number of people who died on the Nation’s roads fell in 2006, leading to the lowest highway fatality rate ever recorded and the largest drop in total deaths in 15 years. In 2006, 42,642 people died in traffic crashes, a drop of 868 deaths compared to 2005. This two percent decline in traffic deaths contributed to the historic low fatality rate of 1.41 per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled (VMT). While firmly committed to meeting the 1.0 fatality rate goal of 1.0 fatalities per 100 million VMT, the Department has realized that we will not achieve this goal by the end of FY 2008 as originally planned. To continue making our roads safer, a cross-modal working group, consisting of representatives from NHTSA, FMCSA, and FHWA, has been established to identify new strategies and technologies that will reduce highway fatalities. New performance targets have been established in key areas to focus the Department’s efforts on the critical factors responsible for the overall highway fatality rate increase. These key focus areas include passenger vehicle occupants, non-occupants (pedestrians, cyclists, etc.), motorcycle riders, and large trucks and buses. They were chosen in part to cover the breadth of all road users. Each respective mode’s programs contribute to the Department’s new key focus areas and performance targets. In addition to the establishment of new performance measures for these focus areas, each mode will continue to maintain its agency-specific intermediate outcome measures, many of which serve as a subset to the Department’s accountability measures.
  
  The motor vehicle crash injury rate improved 4.4 percent, decreasing from 90 injuries per 100 million VMT in 2005 to 86 in 2006. Prior to the increase in 2006, the fatality rate had been steadily decreasing since 1986 when 46,087 people died and the rate was 2.51. Preliminary 2006 data show that VMT increased to 2.996 trillion, up 0.2 percent from 2005. NHTSA will continue to focus on two significant areas to further reduce the overall highway fatality rate: (1) increasing seat belt usage from 69 percent in 1998 to 85 percent in 2009, depending on how many additional States pass primary seat belt laws; and (2) reducing the rate of fatalities in high blood alcohol concentration (BAC 0.08 or above) crashes per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled from 0.61 in 1996 to 0.47 in 2009. Drunk driving enforcement will continue to be a top priority for the Department, as there was no improvement in the 2006 alcohol-related fatalities numbers. In 2006, 15,121 fatalities involved a driver or motorcycle operator, pedestrian or cyclist who had a 0.08 or above BAC compared to 15,102 in 2005. The FY 2009 budget request includes $227.5 million for NHTSA vehicle safety research and behavioral safety research programs, $4 million for the National Driver Register, and $619.5 million for grants to States for targeted highway safety programs. Included are programs to counter drugged and drunk driving, increase seat belt and booster seat use, increase motorcycle safety, and improve State safety information systems.
• Safer and Smarter Highway and Intersection Infrastructure. FHWA’s FY 2009 safety request of $9.4 billion continues the Administration’s policy of providing increased flexibility in safety funding to the States to tailor their resources to address unique factors that impact highway safety, such as highway design and operation. These funds also enable FHWA to increase its research focus on safety and concentrate efforts on reducing the number of fatalities in three types of crashes: roadway departures, crashes at or near intersections, and collisions involving pedestrians. Fatality figures for 2007 will not be available until the Fall of 2008. Roadway departures, including run off-the-road and head-on crashes, accounted for 24,806 fatalities in 2006, a 2.7 percent decrease from 2005. Safer highway and intersection designs and smarter operations will remove roadside hazards and help keep vehicles on the roadway. Also, 8,797 fatalities occurred in crashes in 2006 between vehicles in collisions at intersections, a decrease of 4.8 percent from 2005. FHWA will continue to promote the use of comprehensive intersection design and operational tools and enforcement strategies, and will assist States in improving intersection safety problems at specific locations. Pedestrian deaths decreased 2 percent from 4,892 in 2005 to 4,784 in 2006; however, the number still exceeds the total in 2004. FHWA will continue to target the causes of crashes in major urban areas and select rural locations, and facilitate community-based programs that fully and safely accommodate pedestrians.
• Improve Motor Carrier Safety. OMB’s FY 2005 PART review for FMCSA’s safety grant program indicated that steady progress has been made in reducing truck-related fatalities. Further, the FY 2006 PART review for FMCSA’s safety and operations programs found that FMCSA has continued to achieve reductions in the rate of fatalities involving large trucks. The large truck-related fatality rate in 2006 was 2.24 fatalities per 100 million truck vehicle-miles traveled (TVMT), which is 20 percent lower than the baseline rate of 2.81 fatalities per 100 million TVMT, established in 1996. FMCSA’s safety programs have led to an overall 25 percent decline in total commercial motor vehicle (CMV) fatalities from the all time high in 1979. During that same period, the overall CMV fatality rate decreased by 64 percent, despite a 44 percent increase in the number of registered large trucks and a 105 percent increase in TVMT. Aggressive enforcement, FMCSA’s primary safety strategy, has proven effective in reducing crashes, fatalities, hazardous materials releases, and injuries. Consistent with the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the budget request of $541 million includes $234 million for Motor Carrier Safety Operations and Programs to support critical motor carrier program activities to reduce crashes, save lives, and prevent injuries on our Nation’s highways. The request also includes $307 million for Motor Carrier Safety Grants to maintain aggressive State enforcement of interstate commercial truck and bus regulations as part of a Federal-State partnership aimed at meeting the Department’s strategic goals and performance targets.
• Improve Railroad Safety. OMB’s FY 2005 PART review of FRA’s rail safety program showed that this program is well managed and making good progress in achieving rail safety goals. The FY 2006 PART review of FRA’s Research and Development program, with goals that also support safety, furthered these findings. The FY 2009 budget request for FRA safety includes $149 million to support FRA’s efforts to reduce rail-related accidents and incidents to 17.00 per million train-miles in FY 2009. By reducing accidents and incidents, there should also be a resultant reduction in fatalities, injuries, and serious rail hazardous materials incidents.
• Improve Transit Safety. Public transportation is one of the safest modes of transportation, with less than 1 fatality per 100 million passenger-miles traveled. The challenge is to further reduce the rate of fatalities and injuries, even as the total number of people using transit increases. To help meet this challenge, the Department’s budget requests $13.2 million for FTA safety oversight, research projects, and associated administrative costs. These funds will also contribute to reducing the rate of transit-related injuries and incidents.
• Improve Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety. The FY 2005 PART review of PHMSA’s hazardous materials safety grant assistance program showed that this program is well-managed and making progress in achieving hazardous materials safety goals. Similarly, the FY 2006 PART review for PHMSA’s pipeline safety program found that the program is well managed. In FY 2009, $135.7 million is requested to support PHMSA’s efforts to: (1) reduce the number of serious incidents for natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines to no more than 38, and (2) meet the DOT performance target of no more than 458 serious hazardous materials transportation incidents.
  
  In accordance with the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety (PIPES) Act of 2006, PHMSA will strengthen pipeline oversight and extend integrity management requirements by increasing financial support of State pipeline safety programs (funding up to 60 percent of State costs) and increasing inspections of poor performing operators. PHMSA will also begin to demonstrate the viability of safely moving alternative fuels through pipelines and other modes of hazardous materials transportation. Under its Hazardous Materials Emergency Planning grants program, PHMSA will add a special emphasis on improving rural safety by targeting increased support of volunteer firefighters.

Aviation Safety

• Improve Aviation Safety. As the stewards of aviation safety in the United States, FAA and its industry partners have built a system that has reduced the risks of flying to all-time lows. In 1997, the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security issued a challenge to FAA and the aviation industry to reduce the air carrier fatal accident rate by 80 percent in ten years. In the three years prior to 1997, the United States averaged about six commercial fatal accidents per year. The average loss of life each year was 266 deaths. Since that time, during the past three years the United States averaged approximately two fatal accidents per year, with an average loss of life of 28 per year.
  
  FY 2007 marked the end of the ten-year period set by the Commission. In FY 2007, there were 0.22 fatal accidents per 100,000 departures – a 57 percent drop. Although FAA did not achieve the target set ten years ago, and also did not meet its performance target of a 0.010 rate averaged over three years, the safety achievements are significant.
  
  Through the continuing effort and cooperation of all the participants in the aviation industry and FAA, the aviation industry has achieved the safest period in aviation history. For this reason FAA is introducing a new performance metric for commercial air carrier safety – Fatalities per 100 million Persons On Board. This new metric is more relevant to the flying public, as it better measures the individual risk, as low as it is, to fly. And the long-term target is no less challenging than the previous goal – the agency aims to cut this risk in half by 2025. To make this vision a reality, FAA will continue to work in partnership with industry.
  
  Each year, general aviation (GA) aircraft transport only about one-fourth the number of people who fly on U.S. commercial airlines, but in most years more people perish from GA accidents. Therefore, reducing the number of fatal GA accidents is a top priority for FAA. The number of fatal GA accidents was estimated to be 314 in FY 2007, bettering the target of 331. Rotorcraft, including Emergency Medical Service (EMS) flights, showed a sharp decline. The FAA worked with various members of the GA community during the year, including aeromedical evacuation and charter services, to promote education and training on instrument check guidance and effective pilot/instructor mentoring programs.
  
  As the aviation environment and industry change, FAA must keep pace. To achieve the next level of safety, the traditional methods of analyzing the causes of an accident or incident, after the fact, are inadequate by themselves. A more forward thinking approach is required to analyze trends, data, and systems, and to manage issues before they become accidents.
  
  The FAA, with other Federal agencies and operators in the National Airspace System, is adopting a Safety Management System (SMS) that relies on developing standardized language, processes, and tools to manage safety risk. The foundation of FAA’s SMS is its Quality Management Systems (QMS). The Aviation Safety Organization (AVS) within FAA is currently adopting QMS through its International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000 registration. While the QMS is designed to manage quality, the SMS is a system designed to integrate safety into FAA’s quality processes. The FY 2009 request will allow the AVS to expand its SMS oversight staff.
  
  The FY 2009 budget request for FAA includes $9.9 billion to reduce U.S. commercial airline fatalities per 100 million people on board to fewer than 8.31 in FY 2009, and to reduce the rate of general aviation fatal accidents in FY 2009. The request also supports FAA’s efforts to reduce the most serious runway incursions and operational errors. It provides funding for inspecting aircraft, certifying new equipment, and ensuring the safety of flight procedures and the competence of airmen and airwomen. It also includes funding for additional air traffic controllers to prepare for the projected surge in retirements over the next decade, and to ensure that adequate staffing is available and fully trained to perform this critical safety function.
  
  During FY 2009, in response to the Office of Inspector General’s FY 2007 Aviation Safety Management Challenge, FAA will continue working to reduce the precursors of aircraft accidents, runway incursions and operational errors. To better map movements on the ground and in the air over airports and thus reduce the risk of runway incursions, the agency will deploy nine Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model X systems in FY 2009. In FY 2007, for the sixth year in a row, the FAA met its target for decreasing serious runway incursions.
  
  The agency exceeded its target for reducing operational errors for the second consecutive year in FY 2007. This remains one of the agency’s top priorities as air traffic continues to increase. To address this challenge, FAA will continue to concentrate on safety culture, outreach, and awareness, along with improved procedures, infrastructure and technology. Operational errors occur when there is a loss of separation between aircraft or aircraft and other objects. FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) is developing and implementing an automated software prototype, the Traffic Analysis and Review Program (TARP), which will identify where separation standards are not being maintained, and highlight incidents for further investigation. TARP deployment to En Route facilities is currently scheduled to begin in FY 2009.

DOT’s Safety Performance Budget is distributed as follows: