Your morning commute. A quick trip to the store. Picking the kids up after school. These quick everyday drives should be a breeze. Too often, they end in tragedy.
Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration projected that nearly 40,000 people died on America’s roads in 2024. That number is not just tragic; it is a policy failure. And the harsh reality is that most of those crashes were preventable with better design, better data and better decisions.
For generations, America has approached road safety with a reactive mindset: Wait for fatalities, then fix the road. That “crash first, fix later” strategy has left us with roads built for speed and sprawl, not safety and sustainability.
It’s time we shift from reaction to prevention. We need to stop looking in the rear-view mirror when it comes to safety — and start seeing risk before it becomes tragedy. Tens of thousands of lives depend on it.
Fortunately, we already have the tools to do better. Millions of Americans interact with them every day. Now, it’s time for those tools to transform how we plan, fund and build America’s roads.
Every day, millions of road users interact with smart traffic signals, adaptive speed enforcement, telematics and digital sensors. These innovations aren’t just making commutes more efficient — they quietly collect valuable, real-time insights that can identify infrastructure risk before tragedy strikes.
This data — anonymous, aggregated and incredibly powerful — can tell us where drivers are slamming on their brakes, taking sharp turns at high speeds or frequently navigating confusing intersections. These patterns reveal design flaws we can fix, and not with moonshot megaprojects, but with low-cost, high-impact solutions. Roundabouts, better signage, reconfigured lanes or targeted enforcement can maximize safety at a modest price.
The benefits of this approach extend far beyond safety. Smarter roadways promote economic efficiency. Freight carriers can avoid high-risk or high-delay corridors. Public transit operators can improve bus routing and timing. Commercial fleets can be dispatched more efficiently.
When state and local transportation officials — engineers, planners, law enforcement and public safety officials — can access these tools, they can proactively address high-risk corridors, reduce delays and prioritize U.S. taxpayer-funded infrastructure dollars where they will do the most good. Several transportation agencies are already seeing the results.
In Washington state, officials have partnered with the private sector to turn raw traffic video into life-saving intelligence. The Video Analytics Towards Vision Zero program uses AI to analyze near-misses at intersections, capturing data on speeding, hard braking and pedestrian conflicts. That information now guides design changes that prevent crashes before they happen.
In North Carolina, the NC Vision Zero initiative is using predictive analytics and driver behavior data to flag crash-prone areas before fatal accidents occur. By combining high-resolution crash mapping with near-miss data, officials have been able to implement low-cost, high-impact interventions, like better lighting, clearer signage and lane restriping, without waiting for tragedy to strike.
Now is the time for strong federal leadership to bring America’s road safety strategy into the 21st century. The coalition I run is bringing together safety advocates, technologists and public leaders to modernize how we invest in road safety. Our goal is simple: Empower America’s transportation agencies with better data, better tools and better outcomes.
We’ve seen what data and analytics can do in finance, health care and energy. America’s transportation systems should not be left behind. With strong congressional leadership, cross-sector collaboration and policy frameworks that promote smart investments, we can bring these cutting-edge tools to scale in every community.
Let’s stop treating roadway fatalities as an inevitable cost of mobility. Let’s stop asking our friends, families and constituents to pay that price before we act. It’s time to build roadways that prioritize safety from the start — saving lives, improving performance and making America’s infrastructure work better for everyone.
Because 40,000 deaths a year isn’t just a statistic — it’s a call to action.
Andrew Rogers is executive director of Modern Analytics for Roadway Safety.
