Last month, the Secretary of Transportation railed against "DEI bike lanes". Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) removed bike lanes, road diets, and speed management from their Proven Safety Countermeasures website. Now, the administration released transportation priorities that would block all federal funding for bike infrastructure and actively support ripping out lanes that already exist—all so drivers can go faster and faster.
Proven safety countermeasures are lighthouses to guide officials towards safer roadway designs. They rest on a mountain of evidence. They are prominent and illuminating, suggesting the most effective infrastructure for solving our nation’s traffic death crisis.
No extent of erasure will change the physics that make speed management critical to safer streets.
USDOT needs to explain why it is putting politics ahead of safety.
On Friday, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), ranking Democrat on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee released a statement asking for a briefing from the USDOT about why these safety measures are no longer encouraged, adding that “It’s not political to say bike lanes and speed cameras improve safety; it’s a statement of fact.”
We need your help in amplifying Rep. Larsen’s message. Please ask your member of Congress to join Rep. Larsen in asking for a briefing. We deserve an explanation on why the administration is erasing protections for vulnerable road users.