# The SAFE Streets Act: What It Does

This bill focuses on making streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and other people not in cars—what it calls "vulnerable road users." Right now, the federal government provides highway safety funding to states, but there's no requirement that states spend money specifically protecting pedestrians and cyclists. This bill changes that by requiring states with higher-than-average pedestrian and cyclist deaths and injuries to dedicate significant funding to fixing the problem.

Here's how it works in practice: Each state has to create a detailed assessment of where pedestrians and cyclists are getting hit and killed on their roads. They'll map out dangerous corridors, figure out why those areas are risky (often it's because roads are designed for high-speed traffic), and develop a plan to make those areas safer. If a state has more pedestrian and cyclist deaths per person than the national average, that state must spend at least 75 percent of a specific federal highway safety fund on projects that protect these vulnerable users over the next two years. This money can go toward things like building bike lanes, adding sidewalks, installing traffic signals that give pedestrians more time to cross, or reducing speed limits on dangerous roads.

The bill also applies similar requirements to large cities with populations over 200,000. If a city has an above-average number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths, it must dedicate funding to vulnerable user safety projects. The key requirement is that states and cities can't use these safety improvements in ways that actually make it harder for pedestrians and cyclists to get around—the improvements have to genuinely help them travel safely.

Essentially, this bill redirects existing federal highway money toward protecting people walking and biking, but only in places where the data shows they're dying at higher rates than average. It's designed to force states and cities to pay attention to pedestrian and cyclist safety rather than focusing exclusively on car traffic.

SAFE Streets Act

Brownley, Julia

Safe And Friendly for the Environment Streets Act or the SAFE Streets Act This bill revises the Highway Safety Improvement Program to create special rules for vulnerable road users. The bill defines vulnerable road user as a nonmotorist such as a pedestrian, pedalcylcist, bicyclist, other cyclist, or person on personal conveyance. Specifically, the bill requires <ul> <li>states and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) with above the median rate of vulnerable road user fatalities and serious injuries to dedicate at least 75% of funds under the program for projects to improve safety for such users, and</li> <li>states and MPOs to create vulnerable road user safety assessments that include locations and corridors where serious injuries and fatalities occur and strategies to reduce safety risks for such users in the corridors.</li> </ul>