Sequester Not Sidetracking NHTSA, Administrator Says

NEW YORK – A mandatory 5% cut in funding is not affecting the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. or its mission, Administrator David L. Strickland says.

“All our programs will continue,” he tells WardsAuto at the 2013 World Traffic Safety Symposium held in conjunction with the recent New York auto show.

Strickland insists the public won't be shortchanged because of the mandatory cuts in funding for federal agencies known as sequestration. Any safety issues, including vehicle recalls if necessary, will be handled routinely.

Congress has rejected past proposals to raise more revenue for NHTSA through surcharges on vehicle sales, he says, noting, “It's not popular politically.”

The agency doesn't yet have enough data to evaluate the effectiveness of electronic safety features in vehicles, including blindspot detection, lane-departure monitoring and emergency brake-assist systems, in reducing accidents and injuries, Strickland says.

The NHTSA administrator is encouraged by improvements in vehicle-to-vehicle communications, which he says has the potential to prevent 80% of crashes not caused by impaired drivers. “V2V has the potential to be a game-changer in vehicle safety. This can drive fatalities down.”

The regulator also is developing an anti-texting campaign to augment laws already on the books in 37 states. Strickland says it's too early to assess the impact of these “fantastic efforts” to curb texting, but vows to continue attacking the danger it poses to road safety.