Opinion: Sean Duffy’s ‘Golden Age’ of Dangerous Streets

Secretary of the U.S Department of Transportation Sean Duffy has a suggestion for better travel this holiday season: have you considered just being in a good mood?

That's the message of DOT’s new “ civility campaign” titled “The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You,” and it's meant to address the surge in unruly passenger air travel — even if some might argue it encapsulates the transportation profession's over-focus on personal responsibility over systemic reform in the air and on the ground.

Restoring courtesy and class to air travel will ensure the safety of passengers, Duffy argues, much like DOT heads before him have insisted (incorrectly) that 94 percent of crashes are caused by "human error." And that message rings especially hollow coming off the heels of a government shutdown, which exacerbated the already-stressful experience that is air travel in America in 2025.

The campaign is just the latest publicity stunt for Duffy, a former congressman, "Real World: Boston" cast member and Fox Business co-host who is never one to shy away from a camera. And while it's a fine suggestion in a vacuum, the Secretary's comments are particularly outrageous against the backdrop of his department’s broad defunding and deregulation of safety measures across the country.

Secretary Duffy calls for safety improvements ad nauseum while his department’s actions are actively making U.S streets more dangerous. A recent ProPublica report found that the federal DOT has been rolling back rules and regulations at unprecedented breadth and speed in 2025, racking up thirty regulatory actions that safety advocates say are at odds with the agency’s mission to protect the public.

Many of the changes are as simple as scrapping bus and truck driver hour limits, or removing mandates for improved crash-protection requirements. DOT's own estimates state that five of the targeted regulations could have prevented as many as 1,000 deaths and 40,000 injuries each year.

Barbara McCann, a former senior DOT safety official, told ProPublica “The consequence of this — of pulling back on these safety regulations — is that more daughters, mothers, children, bread winners are going to lose their lives.”

In addition to rolling back regulations, the federal DOT has also been stripping away dollars that were allocated for transportation projects across the country. In March of this year, the agency ordered a review of Biden-era discretionary grants for bike lanes and any other green infrastructure that we know make streets safer. Then in September, communities started receiving word that these grants were being clawed back.

Predictably, liberal cities received much of the bad news. This included cancelling a $20 million grant meant to transform select Boston streetscapes because the projects misaligned with the federal government’s priorities of promoting "traditional" forms of energy and natural resources. The project would have produced safety measures like separated bike lanes and improved intersections.

Even some projects in rural communities were under attack. Fairfield, Alabama lost an $11.7 million grant meant to build a bicycle and walking trail after the DOT deemed the project “hostile to motor vehicles” and unsupportive of their initiative to maintain or increase capacity for cars. Fairfield Mayor Eddie Penny remarked that “It was a very devastating loss for us.” A similar story played out in McLean County, Illinois, where a $675,000 grant was cancelled that would have helped finish a 10-foot-wide bike and pedestrian trail along Route 66.

There seems to be no legitimate rationale behind the cancellations. And all of this comes as numerous transit providers are facing fiscal cliffs. Philadelphia’s SEPTA, Portland’s TriMet, and Chicago’s CTA, just to name a few, are considering making cuts to both service and staffing to stay within budget.

Clearly showing no interest in bolstering diverse modes of travel, the DOT’s changes put together will end up making Americans more car-dependent and U.S streets more dangerous.

There’s no doubt that Duffy stepped into a difficult position. The mid-air collision near Reagan National Airport, which happened the day after Duffy took office in January, triggered widespread concern and a more urgent approach to the issues plaguing the FAA, like staffing shortages and outdated equipment.

Of course, all sensible air travelers would agree that these issues need addressing. But that well-deserved call for action in the airspace does not excuse the agency’s hostile and regressive actions elsewhere in the transportation sector.

Secretary Duffy and co. are making American streets more dangerous. To those paying attention, his feeble requests for civility in air travel are overshadowed by his agency’s sweeping destruction on U.S. streets, roads, and highways.

The U.S has needed street safety reforms and alternative transportation infrastructure investment for decades. The federal DOT should be helping the U.S work towards reducing the nearly 40,000 traffic-related deaths per year, instead of adding to the total. To truly bring us into the "golden age" of safe streets and transportation in America, Duffy should focus on investing in non-car dependent infrastructure for pedestrians, bikes, and rail, both in cities and between them.