---

AAA Says More Trust Fund Investment Needed For Greater Highway Safety

7 May 1997

AAA Says More Trust Fund Investment Needed For Greater Highway Safety

    WASHINGTON, May 7 -- Highway safety improvements are being
deferred or ignored in every state because trust fund revenues are not being
spent, AAA said today.
    "The safety of the motoring public is at stake," said James Kolstad, vice
president, public and government relations, "and 42,000 highway deaths,
six million accidents and $150 billion in annual costs suggest it should be a
national priority."
    Testifying before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Kolstad said, "We have reached the point in this country in which safety is
directly affecting mobility and our economic well being.  But the sad fact is
that with any of the highway funding proposals being considered by Congress,
the nation will still be billions short of even maintaining the status quo."
    AAA said there are many projects that would have a direct and positive
effect on highway safety:
    -- Widening lanes and bridges which are too narrow.
    -- Removing dangerous obstacles in close proximity to the edge of
thousands of miles of roadways.
    -- Repairing roads with dangerous shoulders and no shoulders.
    -- Reconstructing roads to make gentler curves.
    "In short," said Kolstad, "roads built to higher standards have much lower
crash rates.  Improvements to lower-grade roads produce cost savings that
exceed expenditures by nearly three-to-one.
    "Yet these are the kind of highway improvements that are being deferred or
ignored in every state because full investment of Highway Trust Fund revenues
is continually thwarted by budget games.
    "AAA calls upon Congress to increase significantly the Highway Trust Fund
investment in safety improvements.  This is an investment of their gasoline
tax dollars that AAA's nearly 40 million members desire and expect," said
Kolstad.
    "Of course, the key question is: where do we get the money for these
investments?  Much of the money can be found by agreeing to the $26 billion
funding level recommended by 57 Senators; taking the transportation trust
funds off budget; transferring to the Highway Trust Fund the 4.3 cents-per-
gallon gas tax now going to the general fund; and appropriating the full
amount authorized for the next six years," he said.
    "The vital signs of our transportation infrastructure signal a system in
trouble.  An investment in this infrastructure protects lives and leaves
America's leaders of tomorrow -- our children -- with a fighting chance of
keeping America the strongest nation of earth."
    AAA is a not-for-profit federation of 99 motor clubs with more than 1,000
offices providing more than 39 million members in the U.S. and Canada with
travel, insurance, financial and auto-related services.

SOURCE  American Automobile Association