States still slow to spend safety funds

From the League of American Bicyclists (LAB)

With nearly 34,000 traffic fatalities in 2009 — 630 of them of bicyclists – there is a huge need to spend safety funds quickly and strategically. However, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has released information showing that states have spent just 62 percent of the total available from the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), one of the most significant federal safety funding sources. In our Advocacy Advance report, we discuss how HSIP funds can be spent on bicycle and pedestrian safety projects and how the spending rate, or “obligation rate,” has been extremely low since the beginning of the program.

It is disappointing to see states are still not aggressively tapping into these funds.
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[B' Spokes: OK this is a national problem covering all modes of travel, so the big question is how does Maryland stack up? OK gentlemen place your bets, is Maryland doing better or worse then the national average?

The answer is worse, with Maryland spending only 44.6% from the Highway Safety Improvement Program verses 61.9% nationally and the best state (Wyoming) at 88.9%.

Combine that with Maryland's absolutely the lowest spending rate of Transportation Enhancement money on bike/ped projects with $20M in the bank still unobligated it really looks like improved road safety is a low priority for Maryland. So while we are waiting for Maryland's 2009 pedestrian fatality rate ranking to come out any bets on on the movement of our current ranking of 6th worst fatality rate?

LAB's coverage: <a href="http://www.bikeleague.org/blog/2010/10/states-still-slow-to-spend-safety-funds/">http://www.bikeleague.org/blog/2010/10/states-still-slow-to-spend-safety-funds/</a>;

Figures on HSIP from: <a href="http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/hsip/gen_info/slorhsip/">http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/hsip/gen_info/slorhsip/</a>;