DELAWARE - State transportation agencies, and advocacy groups are unveiling a new five-year safety plan aimed at reducing the number of vehicle-related injuries and deaths through infrastructure changes, education, and implementing guidelines to better assist drivers and pedestrians alike.
Delaware's 2021-2025 Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) is a collaboration between DelDOT, the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Delaware Office of Highway Safety, Delaware State Police, Federal Highway Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The SHSP focuses in on nine key areas of concern and risk mitigation. Topping that list is intersections, which according to state data is the site of approximately 39.4% of car crash injuries in the First State.
Federal legislation requires states to update these plans every five years. In this, Delaware's fourth edition since 2006, the goal is to reduce the total number of collisions resulting in deaths and serious injuries by 15%. Looking beyond the five years of the current effort, those behind the plan hope to see a 50% reduction by 2035.
DelDOT officials says through the implementation of a number of workshopped strategies these goals are attainable, and that action should be taken to save more lives of Delawareans and visitors to the state. “Safety is our number one priority and not just for the safety of those that are traveling in vehicles, but really the safety of all our users on our Delaware roadways and every mode of traffic," said DelDOT secretary, Nicole Majeski.
In a statement, Governor John Carney called the number of deaths on Delaware roadways (currently 1100 since 2010) "too high and of a real concern". In addition to those fatalities, the state also reports 5,600 serious injuries since 2010.
