	Background

The occupants of other vehicles are several times more likely to die in  crashes involving large commercial trucks than the occupants of the  trucks. Known as Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT), it combined  education and law enforcement activities in an effort to reduce aggressive  driving between passenger vehicles and trucks. Another objective of the  pilot was for NHTSA to show FMCSA staff how to operate similar  initiatives in the future. Lastly, educational initiatives that were a part of STRS in 2003  were pursued by FMCSA, although not funded under NHTSA in 2004 and  2005. 2.) Specifically, TACT was modeled after  NHTSA’s Click It or Ticket campaign. With TACT, there are a number of behaviors that may constitute  aggressive driving, including tailgating, speeding, and unsafe merging. Previous STRS Initiatives Were Not Funded under NHTSA

In fiscal years 2004 and 2005, STRS did not fund initiatives that were a part  of the program in 2003. Evaluation of TACT Demonstrated Positive Results and Was Generally Well- Designed

DOT and Washington State officials conducted an evaluation of TACT that  demonstrated the initiative’s success and was generally well-designed. The evaluation did not assess changes in crashes, but  increased driver awareness and improved driver behavior should logically  lead to reduced crashes, injuries, and fatalities. Also, TACT’s design of  combining education outreach with law enforcement better lent itself to  reaching STRS goals than previous initiatives that were purely educational. This conclusion is supported by the evaluation of past  initiatives to change driver behavior, particularly of efforts to increase  safety belt use. FMCSA Plans Expanded Development of High- Visibility Law Enforcement Campaigns Similar to TACT, but Lacks a Clear Strategy and Expertise

Following the success of TACT in Washington State, FMCSA is developing  plans encouraging states to adopt similar initiatives in other states;  however, its strategy for expanding TACT and its ability to manage these  initiatives remain unknown. Program  planning documents state that FMCSA has decided to transition STRS to  focus on developing initiatives similar to TACT in other states, but FMCSA  plans to invest just $150,000 of its $500,000 fiscal year 2006 STRS budget to  do this. FMCSA’s Short-term Plans Focus on Initiatives That Do Not Include Enforcement and That Have Not Been Shown to Be Effective

FMCSA plans to spend the majority of its 2006 STRS funds on updating the  STRS Web site and producing outreach materials. FMCSA’s plans for future aggressive driving  initiatives are still evolving, but the agency is currently developing a second  pilot in Pennsylvania and has a goal of rolling out TACT-like initiatives  nationwide in 2009. Recommendations for Executive Action

To ensure that the Share the Road Safely program continues to improve  driver behavior around commercial vehicles, thereby potentially reducing  fatalities, we recommend that the Secretary of Transportation direct the  Administrators of the appropriate agencies to take the following three  steps:  develop a comprehensive strategy describing how FMCSA will  implement and fund an expansion of TACT-like initiatives from several  pilots into a nationwide program and detail how STRS initiatives  contribute to this goal;  complete and execute plans to evaluate STRS outreach activities that  are purely educational and discontinue activities with no demonstrable  impact on behavior; and  monitor whether FMCSA has sufficient staff and expertise to  successfully develop and administer future high-visibility law  enforcement campaigns, and, if it does not, determine the best methods  for DOT to use its resources and expertise to modify driver behavior and  address the problem of aggressive driving around trucks. Scope And Methodology

To address our first objective and describe what the Department of  Transportation (DOT) has done with the Share the Road Safely (STRS)  program since 2003, we interviewed DOT officials to determine the  changes made in the program since May 2003. Additionally, we interviewed  officials from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA),  the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the  Washington State Traffic Safety Commission to report on the  implementation and administration of Washington State’s Ticketing  Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT) pilot project.
Why GAO Did This Study

In 2004, over 5,000 people died on our nation's roads in crashes involving large trucks. The Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) operates truck safety programs, including Share the Road Safely (STRS), which has a goal to improve driving behavior around large trucks. At congressional direction, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) assumed responsibility for funding STRS in 2004, but returned STRS to FMCSA in 2006. The current transportation authorization bill requested GAO to update its 2003 evaluation of STRS. This report (1) describes the STRS initiatives DOT has implemented since 2003 and their design, (2) reviews evaluations of STRS initiatives, and (3) assesses DOT's plans for the future of STRS. GAO interviewed DOT and state officials, and reviewed program plans and evaluations.

What GAO Found

During 2004 and 2005, Share the Road Safely funding was used to implement one initiative, a pilot in Washington State that focused on aggressive driving behaviors near or by large trucks. Known as Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT), it combined education, such as highway message signs, and high-visibility law enforcement to reduce aggressive driving. TACT received about $892,000 in federal and state funds. TACT was generally modeled on successful behavior modification programs, including Click It or Ticket (a program to encourage safety belt use), but was more complex to implement than past initiatives since many behaviors constitute aggressive driving and Washington State lacked a single aggressive driving law. In addition, NHTSA sought to demonstrate to FMCSA staff how to operate similar initiatives in the future. To this end, FMCSA sent a liaison to NHTSA as requested by Congress. Lastly, initiatives that were a part of STRS in 2003 were still pursued by FMCSA, but were not funded. DOT and Washington State officials conducted an evaluation of TACT that demonstrated that the initiative was successful and well-designed. The evaluation found that TACT significantly reduced the number and severity of unsafe driving acts near or by trucks. While the evaluation did not assess changes in crashes, improved driver behavior should logically lead to fewer crashes, injuries, and fatalities. GAO found that TACT's design of combining education with law enforcement better lent itself to reaching agency goals of fatality reduction than previous STRS initiatives that were purely educational. FMCSA plans to expand development of new TACT-like initiatives, but lacks resources and experience to do so. In addition, FMCSA plans to spend most of its 2006 STRS funds on educational initiatives, which lack information showing whether they improve driver behavior. In terms of TACT expansion, FMCSA is currently developing a TACT-like pilot in Pennsylvania and plans to roll out initiatives similar to TACT nationally by 2009. FMCSA, however, has few people dedicated to education and outreach and lacks NHTSA's experience with behavior modification initiatives. While FMCSA designated a liaison to learn about TACT-like initiatives, GAO continues to have concerns about FMCSA's limited experience with these initiatives. NHTSA has considerable experience with such initiatives, but its role in STRS is still evolving. Finally, FMCSA plans to spend the majority of its fiscal year 2006 STRS funds on initiatives that do not have evaluations showing their impacts.