SAFER by 2030: Michigan's Aggressive Effort to Reduce Traffic Fatalities (12-12-25)

We welcome Alicia Sledge, director of the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) and chair of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Advisory Commission (GTSAC), for this segment of West Michigan Weekend.

Alicia joined host Phil Tower for an overview of a serious and aggressive effort to reduce traffic fatalities in Michigan.

SAFER by 2030…. Is the name of the initiative AND SAFER is an acronym for “Statewide Action to Reduce Fatalities Encountered on our Roadways” by 30 percent by 2030.

The new program involves several state of Michigan agencies and departments working collaboratively to create a culture of safe driving in Michigan, to work towards Zero Traffic Deaths.

In 2024, 288,880 traffic crashes in Michigan took the lives of 1,099 people. Those 1099 fatalities were an increase over the 2023 number of 1095 automotive fatalities.

The SAFER by 2030 initiative focuses on three key areas of Awareness, Engagement, and Enforcement. 


Helpful Links:

MICHIGAN OFFICE OF HIGHWAY SAFETY PLANNING

LeaMichigan.gov/saferby2030
 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan Weekend is
a weekly programmed designed to inform and enlighten on a
wide range of public policy issues, as well as news
and current events. Now here's your host, Phil Tower.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
I have a big concern about our roads. I do
a lot of driving, and chances are you may even
be driving as you're hearing me on the radio right now.
And Michigan is not exactly the safest state when it
comes to automotive crashes and especially roadway fatalities. There's a
major effort just released by the State of Michigan and

(00:39):
the Governor's Traffic Safety Advisory Commission launching a statewide initiative
to reduce traffic fatalities by thirty percent by the year
twenty thirty. And if you did the math, that's only
five years away. There's a lot to unpack here. Elisa
Sledge is with us on this segment of West Michigan Weekend.

(01:00):
She is the director of the Michigan Office of Highway
Safety Planning, and she is also the chair of that
recently named commission, the Governor's Traffic Safety Advisory Commission. And Alisha,
first of all, welcome to the program. How are you.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
I'm doing great, Thank you very much for the insights.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, and here's the thing you're very welcome. Here's the
thing that leaped right off the page at me. Michigan
roadways continue to be It's this last line in that
first paragraph. Michigan roadways continue to be an alarming public
health concern. There are a lot of people injured in crashes,

(01:40):
a lot of people killed in crashes. I'm looking at
data from the state in twenty twenty four, one ninety
nine total traffic fatalities. I saw that Alisha on a
highway sign on US one thirty one here in Grand Rapids,
and it just absolutely floored me. That's almost eleven hundred
people dying behind the wheel last year in our state alone.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
That's correct, Phil At both last year as well as
in twenty twenty three, Michigan has lost over one thousand
lives each of those years due to traffic crashes. And
with that the last year alone, on thy ninety nine
people that were killed. Out of that number, nearly twenty
eight percent were alcohol involved crashes, and nearly twenty five

(02:27):
percent of those crashes were drug involved. And so as
you can see, we have a lot of work to
do to address those issues, to make sure that we're
making people aware, we're enforcing the laws, and we're doing
all that we can to reduce those number of fatalities
because one fatality is too many, but definitely over one

(02:51):
thousand fatalities for each of the last two years is
not acceptable for us.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, and this is a very important effort because you
you're setting the bar very high. You want to reduce
traffic fatalities here in Michigan by thirty percent by twenty thirty,
that's just five years away. The goal is to create
a safer driving culture here in Michigan. One of the

(03:17):
keys here is getting a bunch of state agencies and
organizations together. So let's talk about that. You are the
chair of the commission. How did this planning start, Alicia, Well, this.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Planning started actually over a year ago, and so as
we saw coming out of covid OR during that period,
although we had fewer cars on the roadways, we saw
many of the vehicles that were out there were risky driving,
and so speed fatalities began to skyrocket, you know, and

(03:51):
pair driving, not wearing seat belts. Those are the types
of things that we were seeing in our traffic crash reports,
and so those discussions. As our roadways began to fill
and people began to go back to work in person,
we still were seeing these risky driver behaviors, and so
by having more vehicles on the roadway but still having

(04:13):
these driving behaviors, that increased the exposure. And so over
the last five years we began to see increases and
these last two years both of those being over one thousand.
So discussions were made or began over a year ago,
just discussing how can we look to have something that
would have milestones that we could work, What can we

(04:36):
look to do to have a goal but then make
a short term effort and incrementally work there. So that's
twenty safer by twenty thirty, we're looking at thirty percent
over a five year period, and so when you look
at that, you know, with smaller increments maybe six percent
each year for the next year. So right now we're at,

(04:58):
you know, over one thousand per year, so we're looking
at by that twenty thirty working to reduce that thousand
and reduce it by about three hundreds over the five
year period. We're working with a statewide initiative, working with
various State of Michigan agencies, and it's just a collaborative efforts.

(05:19):
So we're all doing what we can to emphasize three
specific pillars, awareness, engagement, and enforcement. So we will all
be working to do different types of tactics and strategies
within our individual agencies to address these issues and make
efforts to reach this twenty by thirty goal.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Alicia's sledges with us. She is the director of the
Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, also chair of a
recently announced Governor's Traffic Safety Advisory Commission. As you just
heard her say, the goal is to reduce traffic fatalities
in Michigan, which are rather high. Eleven hundred nearly eleven
hundred and twenty twenty four. That number rose from twenty

(06:05):
twenty three. Staggering number. If you look at Michigan State
Police statistics, two hundred eighty eight thousand, eight hundred and
eighty crashes just involving vehicles or vehicles and people, vehicles
and bicycles in Michigan, So a lot of people. There's

(06:26):
something going on here. Thirty percent, you said, Alicia, were
directly related to people using alcohol while driving, which is
very discouraging. Even with decades of education about not drinking
and driving. Still people need to hear that message. But
what else is causing this alarming number not only of

(06:46):
fatalities but crashes.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yes, other high risk driving behaviors include distracted driving that's
a big issue in a growing issue. Not wearing seatbelts,
and speeding as well, so speeding and pair driving, distracted driving,
and seatbelt those are the four main driving behaviors or

(07:09):
risky driving behaviors that we see that contribute to the
number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries in the crashes.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Distracted driving is a huge deal. It's, you know, getting
something off the floor, it's looking at somebody in the
seat behind you, and probably the most common behavior which
is really frustrating, I think for a lot of people
like me, because we have state law in the books
that says you have to be driving in Michigan hands free.

(07:40):
You can't have your hand on a cell phone, even
at a traffic stop. As I recall that that is
law in Michigan.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Right, you're correct, we do have Michigan's new hands free law,
and so you cannot have a cell phone in your
hand holding it, you know, on your shoulder, between your
shoulder and your ear. You must drive hands free, and
that's whether the vehicle is moving or if it is
stopped at a traffic signal or traffic sign. So you

(08:07):
are allowed if there are emergency situations where you may
need to call nine one one to report something while
you're driving, but otherwise than the normal day to day driving,
it is hands free. It's the law, and we are
working with law enforcement agencies to ensure that they're aware
and looking for these types of risky driving behaviors and

(08:28):
so that we can get that message out to people
that this really is a major issue and it is
very much a public health concerned and for people to
just focus and just drive, you know, focus on data,
you know, the task of driving, because it is impacting.
We're seeing too many people killed by these type of

(08:50):
risky driving behaviors.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, MDT has installed hands free device uses Alicia. Those
signs are at a number of locations along state lines
and border crossings in Michigan here to make sure people
are aware of the law that you and I were
just speaking about Michigan's hands free law regarding cell phone
use or electronic devices in the car. That is a law,

(09:14):
and there's some pretty hefty finds there as well. But
as we said earlier, Alicia, there are a lot of
state agencies getting together on this, really an unprecedented alliance
because of the size of this problem. You've got the
m DOT Department of Transportation, the State Police, Department of
State with a public education campaign, even the Michigan Department

(09:36):
of Health and Human Services. So a lot of coordination here,
primarily a lot of messaging and a lot of education.
Safe to say, oh, that is correct.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
So with the multiple state agencies that we're working with,
everyone's making a concerted effort and doing what it is
that they can within the purview of their agency to
address this issue and to get the message out, to
conduct enforcement, to engage communities in their stakeholders with these

(10:08):
types of things. We're not only that's what we're doing
on the state level, but we're asking all of Michigan
motorists to help us. This is a problem that's impacting
all of us, and so whatever each individual person can
do to help improve that. You know, don't drive while
you are impaired, don't drive distracted, Please watch your speed,

(10:30):
obey the speed limits, where your seat belts. It's just
these small things that if each individual driver can make
a concerted effort to do that, we could make a
significant impact on Michigan's roadway fatalities and serious injuries.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, like you said, it's only a six percent reduction
each year. If that is attained, that thirty percent reduction
in fatalities here on our roadways in Michigan will be
achieved by the way Safer by twenty thirty. Safer as
an acronym for statewide action to reduce fatalities encountered on
our roadways by twenty thirty. There is a very easy

(11:10):
to remember website, and that website is Michigan dot gov
forward slash safer by twenty thirty, or if you just
just Google or search Michigan and safer by twenty thirty,
it'll get you right there as well. A lot of
great resources on that website. Alicia, I think a lot
of parents should be talking with their new drivers, husbands

(11:32):
should be talking with their wives. Wives talking with their
husbands about safe driving habits and not distracted driving. That's
a good family conversation to have around the holidays.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
It definitely is, and around these times, people are so busy,
families are traveling, so you know, for those talk to
your loved ones, talk to your friends, talk to coworkers. Everyone,
just spread the word. We want to keep everyone safe.
We want to enjoy that holidays. We want to have
a great twenty twenty six going into next year. But

(12:04):
this is something again. Although the Safer By twenty thirty
is a collaborative effort with state wide agencies, everyone can
do their part. We all use the roadways, so we
should all look out for ourselves as well as look
out for each other to make things safe. So as
we're traveling over the holidays and as we're going into
the new year, just make sure we're driving safely, obeying

(12:28):
the speed limits. Don't drive distract it. You know, if
you need to take a call and make a call,
please stop, pull over, you know, to a safe spot
to do so. Wear your seat belt. That's one of
the number ones, the easiest. It takes just one second
to click to your seat belt, yep, you know. And
then just again, don't drive them peered, you know, make

(12:50):
sure you have a designated driver or stay home, you know,
those types of things. So there's something that we can
all do, and so we are asking all of our partners,
existing traffic safety partners and stakeholders and new partners. Each
individual Michigan resident is a partner to us. So if
everyone can do one thing that will definitely help us

(13:13):
to impact Michigan's.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Roadway absolutely and the Safer by twenty thirty initiative. These
conversations can start in your home. There's some great resources
at Michigan dot gov slash Safer by twenty thirty. Eleven
hundred traffic fatalities oneenty ninety nine in twenty twenty four
in Michigan alone, we can reduce that number. Elisa Sledge

(13:36):
is the director of Michigan's Office of Highway Safety Planning,
one of our most important state agencies. That may not
sound like it makes sense, but if you consider how
much we love to drive in Michigan, Highway Safety Planning
is a big part that influences our lives. And I'm
grateful for you and your team Militia. I'm grateful that
you are sharing the Governor's Traffic Safety Advisory Commission, and

(13:59):
I'm grateful for Safer by twenty thirty. We're gonna get
this done. Thanks for joining me.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
Great Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Bill, you've been listening to iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West
Michigan Weekend is a production of Wood Radio and iHeartRadio.