[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 147 (Thursday, November 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2005-E2006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 5712

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ROBERT A. BORSKI

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 13, 2002

  Mr. BORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to introduce today H.R. 
5712, a bill to improve roadway safety for motorists, bicyclists, 
pedestrians and workers in proximity to vehicular traffic.
  In this Congress we have spent, and likely for years to come will 
spend, a great amount of time trying to secure our homeland from 
terrorist threats. But, we will never be truly secure, if our families 
and communities continue to face daily the risk of disabling or life 
threatening motor vehicle crashes--today's leading killer of American 
young people. Motor vehicle crashes kill more than 42,000 people and 
injure more than 3 million people every year. These crashes cost our 
economy more than $230.6 billion a year or an average of $820 for every 
person living in the United States.
  We have learned a great deal about making our roadways safer for the 
traveling public, since we began the national Interstate construction 
program nearly fifty years ago. Among the most successful federal 
safety programs is the Section 130 Railway-Highway Grade Crossings 
program. The U. S. Secretary of Transportation's ``1996 Annual Report 
to Congress'' found that this single program prevented 8,500 fatalities 
and 38,900 non-fatal injuries since 1974. This Report also stated that 
fatal, nonfatal-injury, and combined fatal-plus-nonfatal-injury 
accident rates have been reduced by 87, 64 and 68 percent, 
respectively. The Department of Transportation no longer compiles this 
data, but the program continues to save lives everyday.
  We have much work ahead of us to improve further roadway safety in 
America. This bill that I am introducing today will expedite the use of 
proven solutions to reduce the likelihood of crashes, injuries, and 
fatalities and I urge its rapid adoption.
  Since their inceptions, the Section 130 program and the Section 152 
Hazard Elimination program have made available to States significant 
funding to reduce risks on dangerous roadways. Increasing State 
flexibility and reallocating, funding; clarifying and expanding project 
eligibility, and improving data collection, analysis, and reporting 
will further enhance their effectiveness.

[[Page E2006]]

  This legislation will improve the safety of workers whose duties 
place them on or near a federal-aid highway and will maintain the free 
flow of vehicular traffic. Workers who wear high visibility garments in 
such risky environments greatly reduce the chance of a vehicle 
collision and subsequent serious injury. Vehicle collisions are one of 
the most frequent causes of traffic congestion and place large demands 
on scarce police, fire, and emergency response personnel. Actions that 
reduce the likelihood of crashes also reduce congestion and these 
resource demands.
  The major provisions of the legislation are funding provisions, 
program eligibility, data collection and analysis, and worker 
protection.
  To increase State flexibility and reallocate funding, the bill 
eliminates the confusing 1991 reference that annually sets Section 130 
at $155 million and Section 152 at $162 million. Some viewed the 
provision as a limit of funds available for important safety 
improvements, rather than as a minimum as intended. The bill eliminates 
the ``Optional Safety'' category and splits funding equally for the two 
programs. Also, the legislation changes the minimum Section 130 funding 
level for protective devices, such as grade crossing gates and signals, 
from a floating 50 percent to a fixed $150 million per year. This 
provision increases options for the States, because $150 million is 
less than the current 50 percent share.
  I want to emphasize that the funding provisions in this bill maintain 
the flexibility States currently have to transfer up to 25 percent of 
the difference between the fiscal year 1997 funding level and the 
current funding level out of the Sections 130 and 152 programs to other 
projects States want to give higher priority. Transferred funds are 
available for Interstate Maintenance, Congestion Mitigation and Air 
Quality (CMAQ), National Highway System (NHS), Highway Bridge 
Replacement and Rehabilitation Program (Bridge), and Recreational 
Trails. For example, in fiscal year 2002, States collectively could 
transfer up to $92 million. If my bill had been enacted, States would 
still have been able to transfer that same $92 million as they see fit.
  This legislation makes several improvements related to the 
eligibility of projects for funding under Sections 130 and 152. First, 
in the definition of a safety improvement project, I include, as 
another option for States, installation and maintenance of fluorescent 
yellow-green signs at pedestrian and bicycle crossings and school 
zones. The current ``Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices'' 
permits either yellow or fluorescent yellow-green pedestrian, school, 
and bicycle crossing signs. Federal, State, and local government 
studies indicate that fluorescent yellow-green signs, compared to 
yellow signs, increase motorists' awareness of highway crossings and 
allow motorists to recognize the crossing signs with greater accuracy 
at up to 40 percent greater distances. Any signs installed under this 
amendment would have to comply with the ``Manual on Uniform Traffic 
Control Devices.''
  The bill further builds on the Section 130 program's success to date 
in increasing the number of at-grade railway-highway crossings with 
protective devices and signage by including maintenance of protective 
devices as an eligible use of funds.
  To curb overly expansive interpretations of the current Section 152 
program, the bill clarifies that this money is reserved for projects 
that target real safety problems and produce real safety benefits. 
Under the bill, Section 152 projects must reduce the likelihood of the 
most frequent types of crashes and risk factors--road departures, 
intersections, pedestrians, bicycles, older drivers, or construction 
work zones.
  Another new State optional use of Section 152 funds in the bill is 
police assistance for traffic and speed management in construction work 
zones. Experience around the country shows that the presence of even 
one marked police vehicle greatly increases motorists' compliance with 
construction work zone traffic patterns and speed limits, thereby 
increasing safety for both workers and motorists and improving 
mobility.
  No program can run efficiently and effectively without accurate and 
timely data and analysis. This bill replaces the annual report 
referenced above that Congress terminated with a new biennial report 
about both the Section 130 and Section 152 programs, without creating, 
an unfunded mandate. With these amendments, States can use these funds 
to fulfill all data compilation, analysis, and reporting requirements. 
The Secretary of Transportation will summarize State projects and 
spending, analyze the effectiveness of the projects in achieving 
program goals, assess the adequacy of funding and spending relative to 
the need for safety improvement projects, and recommend funding and 
program improvements to continue reducing the number of high hazard 
locations.
  Finally, the bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to issue a 
rule requiring workers who work on or near a federal-aid highway to 
wear high visibility garments. The Secretary may also require other 
worker safety-related items deemed appropriate.
  Roadway construction zone crashes killed 1,079 people in 2001, up 
from less than 800 in 1995, according to the U.S. Department of 
Transportation. Factors contributing to the increase in fatalities 
include construction work being done in traffic and on compressed 
schedules requiring more night work, In just five years (from 1995 to 
1999), work zone crashes injured about 39,000 people.
  This rulemaking provision levels the playing field for contractors 
bidding on projects on or near federal-aid highways. Contractors will 
no longer have an incentive to skimp on the availability of workers' 
high-visibility garments so they can underbid other contractors.
  The bill also recognizes that not only construction workers are at 
risk from vehicular traffic. Roadway and roadside maintenance workers, 
as well as some utility workers and others, frequently perform duties 
that put them at high risk of injury from passing motorists. High 
visibility garments, such as retroreflective vests, help motorists see 
these workers while drivers can still take precautions to avoid 
collisions.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to move quickly to improve the 
safety of America's roadways.

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