Buttigieg vows to act as car fatalities spike
CBSN
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is vowing to help stem rising traffic fatalities, releasing a broad-based strategy aimed at reducing speed, redesigning roads and boosting car safety features such as automatic emergency braking.
Buttigieg told The Associated Press that new federal data being released next week will show another increase in traffic fatalities through the third quarter of 2021. While still being finalized, the third-quarter numbers were expected to point to another sizable increase in deaths compared with the same period in 2020, adding to a half-year traffic death total of 20,160 that already was the highest half-year figure since 2006.
"It doesn't look good, and I continue to be extremely concerned about the trend," Buttigieg said in a phone interview ahead of the strategy's release on Thursday.
