October 24, 2003

We at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), and the International Association of Chief of Police (IACP), commend you for your leadership in enacting a short-term measure to ensure that federal surface transportation programs were not shut down on October 1st. However, we are concerned that insufficient funding will be made available for highway, highway safety, motor-carrier and transit programs unless a well funded multi-year authorization bill is enacted. Without adequate funding, efforts to reduce the tragic death toll on America's highways - more than 43,000 deaths per year - will be diminished.

In the next reauthorization, federal support is needed for a wide variety of safety purposes if the country is to reach the goal of no more than 1.0 fatalities per hundred million vehicle miles of travel by 2008 -- a goal established by the U.S. Department of Transportation and endorsed by our organizations.

If Congress does not enact a well funded multi-year bill, it will be very difficult for state highway safety offices to implement programs that reduce impaired driving, encourage the use of adult and child occupant restraints, and discourage aggressive and distracted driving. This means that major law enforcement mobilizations (such as the one which resulted in 4 percent increase in nationwide safety belt use in 2003) will be difficult to implement. Other programs which require large investments of safety funds over several years, such as improvements to state crash-information systems, and motor-vehicle registration and driver-licensing system enhancements, will have to be deferred until there is certainty of multi-year funding.

If Congress does not enact a well funded multi-year bill, then a significant number of improvements cannot be made to intersections or at hazardous highway locations. Over 25 percent of fatalities occur at intersections and 40 percent involve vehicles running off the road. In order to make the necessary infrastructure safety improvements, federal-aid highway infrastructure grant programs need to be significantly increased.

If Congress does not enact a well funded multi-year bill, it will be difficult for state motor-carrier safety agencies to inspect unsafe trucks and take them out of service. Increased funding levels must be authorized to implement important new entrant motor-carrier safety programs in addition to maintaining a strong roadside inspection program. Funds are needed to assist states in sharing information on truck drivers with suspended or revoked licenses, and to establish safety and security programs at this country's northern and southern borders.

Increased funding is needed to support enhanced enforcement of traffic safety laws and to encourage states to enact recommended laws. Funding is needed to address emerging safety issues such as aggressive and distracted driving, and to influence the behavior of high-risk and hard-to-reach populations.

Special funding is needed to verify driver's-license applicants' identities, including the verification of out-of-state licenses and authenticity of birth and death records. Without such verification, there will continue to be drivers with multiple licenses who will kill and maim innocent victims.

Our five organizations have identified a number of reauthorization positions that the groups mutually support. These positions are shown in the attachment. We strongly recommend that you consider them as you work toward reauthorization.

We urge you to resolve the major financial issues needed to complete action on a well-funded, comprehensive six-year measure reauthorizing the federal highway, highway safety, and transit programs prior to the February 29, 2004 deadline. American lives depend on this. We look forward to working with you to achieve this goal.

Sincerely yours,

John R. Njord, President, AASHTO

Kathryn J.R. Swanson, Chair, GHSA

Keith Kiser, Chair, AAMVA

Peter Hurst, President, CVSA

Joseph Samuels, President, IACP