Editor's note: Two weeks after initial publication of this article, and thanks to a court order, grant money was restored to the "Road to Zero" program. This story has not been updated beyond this editor's note.
Safety last. Politics first.
The Trump administration has frozen the federally funded "Road to Zero" program, a stunning elimination of a small trove of Biden-era grants aimed at improving road safety in red states and blue.
Grant recipients said they had received the "stop work order" from the National Safety Council, whose website now says that the Coalition's life-saving, bipartisan work "has been put on hold indefinitely."
The work in question? Grant recipients for 2024 included a wide range of non-partisan projects, including those that seek to make car passengers safe, too:
- addressing "the disproportionate impact of pedestrian fatalities among American Indian and Alaska Native individuals, largely due to unsafe road design." (grant recipient: America Walks)
- reducing "pediatric pedestrian and bicycle injuries by creating a universal template for quick-build countermeasures" in Miami. (University of Miami BikeSafe Program)
- changing the "driver education curricula [to emphasize] the perspective of vulnerable road users to foster a culture of safety and prioritize the protection of all roadway users" in Massachusetts. (Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition/LivableStreets Alliance)
- providing "emotional support and advocacy training to individuals affected by traffic crashes, while also promoting systemic changes to prevent future tragedies and ultimately achieve the goal of zero traffic deaths." (Families for Safe Streets).
- addressing "the persistent issue of child restraint system misuse in preventing pediatric occupant injuries in motor vehicle crashes." (Ohio State University)
- addressing "the significant impact of extreme winter weather, particularly snow squalls, on roadway fatalities in the United States." That grant had been praised as recently as last week. (Hofstra University)
Nothing on the list has specifically been criticized previously by the left or the right as a misuse of public funds. But the Trump administration has issued executive orders seeking to bolster car use and to allocate grant money based on states' commitment to the administration's immigration policies. A memo issued by U.S. DOT Secretary Sean Duffy also said transportation grants would be selected partly based on marriage and birth rates.
There were also reports from some safe streets advocates that the federal Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads For All grants (which amount to $1.2 billion across 700-plus programs) had also been frozen. (Streetsblog could not independently verify that on deadline, and the website for the program remains active as of Friday afternoon. The New York City DOT, which received a handsome SS4A grant last year to improve crash analysis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
“This is alarming,” said Leah Shahum, the executive director of the Vision Zero Network. “These funds help address a traffic safety crisis in this country in which an average of 120 people die every day in preventable crashes – that’s twice as many people as were killed in the tragic airline crash that happened in Washington DC this week.
“We hope the nation’s leaders will recognize that safety investments, such as the federal Safe Streets and Roads for all program, are not a bipartisan issue, but rather something that affects every single one of us in the most life-and-death way,” she added.
Grant recipients feel like they are suffering whiplash.
"Our 'Road to Zero' grant is to help tribal governments and tribal communities reduce pedestrian deaths. I did not think that saving people's lives was a partisan issue," said Mike McGinn, the executive director of America Walks. "Our work centers on pedestrian safety. It's our mission. And I believe safety is also the mission of the federal government."
McGinn said he was not informed by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration about the freeze, but found out from the National Safety Council. (Neither the NSC nor NHTSA immediately responded to requests for comment.)
Another grant recipient, who requested anonymity because of the suddenly sensitive nature of basic transportation funding, emphasizes that the freeze will hurt people across the political spectrum.
"This is happening across the country — it's impacting blue and red states, so I don't get it," the recipient said. "It's all the SS4A grants and the infrastructure grants. This is a huge issue.
"Legally, they can't do this — we have a contract," the recipient added. "It's all so political. They want to undo everything Biden did, regardless of the importance."
