Insurance Institute urges '30 by 30' goal for traffic deaths, highlights speed management and pedestrian protections

Dr. Jessica Chiquino, senior vice president for behavior and infrastructure research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, presented national crash trends and countermeasure evidence to the Senate Transportation Committee on Oct. 16 and urged Washington lawmakers to pursue a “30 by 30” strategy to cut traffic fatalities 30% by 2030.

Chiquino summarized IHS research showing that U.S. fatality rates per population were more than twice the high‑income‑country average and that vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists) have experienced particularly large increases. “We want to see traffic fatalities decline 30% by 2030,” she said, framing the goal as an actionable step toward zero deaths.

She highlighted three emphasis areas: reducing risky behavior (speeding, impaired driving, seat‑belt non‑use and distracted driving), extending safety to vulnerable users, and accelerating commercial‑vehicle safety. IHS analysis attributes large shares of fatalities to speed‑related and impaired‑driving crashes and finds that enforcement capacity and worsening mental‑health indicators contributed to pandemic‑era increases in impaired‑driving deaths.

On speed, Chiquino reviewed crash‑test videos and research showing vehicles are safer today but that higher speeds substantially increase fatality risk and that state maximum speed increases have been associated with higher interstate fatality rates. She cited an IHS study finding that a 5‑mph increase in a state’s maximum speed limit was associated with an 8% increase in interstate fatality risk; she also described research showing that restoring lower maximum speeds could save thousands of lives nationally.

For countermeasures, she reviewed evidence supporting speed‑safety cameras (including point‑to‑point enforcement), reduced speed limits where pedestrians and cyclists are present, road‑design changes (traffic calming, median islands, roundabouts) and combined pilot programs that pair engineering, enforcement and outreach. A Maryland demonstration that combined wider edge/centerline markings, speed feedback signs, concentrated enforcement and communications produced reductions while active measures were in place but saw rebound among the most aggressive speeders after interventions stopped — underscoring the need for durable infrastructure or automated enforcement to sustain gains.

Chiquino also reviewed pedestrian risks tied to the changing vehicle fleet: SUVs and pickups — now a larger share of vehicles — have higher front‑end heights and substantially greater pedestrian fatality risk. She described ongoing IHS work on vehicle blind zones and said improved lighting and pedestrian beacons (rapid‑flashing beacons, pedestrian hybrid beacons) increase driver yielding; in one study combining extra lighting with flashing beacons, yielding roughly doubled compared with either measure alone.

IHS described ongoing partnership work with the City of Bellevue on signal‑timing innovations (dynamic walk‑phase extension, dynamic no‑turn‑on‑red, and dynamic left‑turn phasing) and early evaluations that found 45% to 62% reductions in vehicle‑pedestrian near misses at pilot intersections with selected technologies.

Chiquino concluded that a combination of policy, enforcement and design strategies applied together — and sustained over time — is the most promising route to reducing fatalities quickly.

Sources: Presentation by Dr. Jessica Chiquino, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety; IHS slide deck shared with the committee.