Newly Confirmed Head of Federal Vehicle Safety Agency Has His Work Cut Out For Him
9:49 AM PDT on May 27, 2022
Jeanie Ward Waller, now Caltrans Deputy Director
for Planning & Modal Programs, and Dr. Steven Cliff, newly confirmed Administrator of the NHTSA. Photo: Melanie Curry/ Streetsblog
The NHTSA plays a key role in vehicle safety, but hasn't had a confirmed administrator since the beginning of the Trump administration. That has prevented progress on safety regulations at the national level at the same time that the vehicle industry is releasing ever larger vehicles, traffic deaths are skyrocketing, and industry experiments with autonomous vehicles move forward in the absence of governmental oversight.
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) has been working to get the NHTSA to take action on vehicle safety regulations for years. Corinne Kisner, NACTO's Executive Director, issued the following statement today:
NACTO congratulates Dr. Steven Cliff on his confirmation as NHTSA Administrator, furthering the Administration’s progress on renewing the Department of Transportation with qualified appointments that have the necessary background to address America’s safety, climate, and equity crises.
Despite commendable progress since his nomination as Deputy Administrator, Dr. Cliff faces a long road ahead to renew NHTSA’s leadership. After decades of inaction, other world regulatory bodies have leapfrogged the U.S. in enacting regulations that keep people safe.
U.S. vehicle standards remain woefully out of date, with critical updates needed to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) star ratings. Virtually every vehicle on the road gets a four or five-star safety rating from NHTSA, despite escalating pedestrian deaths from ever-larger SUVs with often-enormous blind spots.
Dr. Cliff also faces the challenge of integrating technology into vehicles: current practice is to not require common-sense standards like cross-over mirrors, speed governors, and Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking, as well as virtually no standards for autonomous vehicle testing, which has tragically led to the loss of many lives.
With over 40,000 people killed in the U.S. last year, Dr. Cliff must urgently act to stem the traffic safety crisis engulfing the country. We stand ready to partner with the Administrator and the rest of the Administration to make our streets safe for everyone.
Nevertheless, vehicle standards have suffered from the lack of federal attention, and Cliff has a lot of catching up to do - and the necessary changes need to come faster than the speed of government. As the nation hurtles towards a brave new world of autonomous and electric vehicles, the NHTSA's work will affect everyone.
Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry has been thinking about transportation, and how to improve conditions for bicyclists, since her early days commuting by bike to UCLA long ago. She was Managing Editor at the East Bay Express, and edited Access Magazine for the University of California Transportation Center. She also earned her Masters in City Planning from UC Berkeley.