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Julia Kite-Laidlaw
I’ve just returned from the NSC 2026 Congress and Expo in Indianapolis, where over 10,000 attendees from not just around the country, but around the world, gathered to learn from each other, hear from inspirational speakers, network, and discover the latest in occupational and roadway safety. Our Road to Zero Steering Group members, Together for Safer Roads and the FIA Foundation, presented on measuring fleet safety, and I found it fascinating to hear directly from safety leaders in the private sector who are looking for interventions to ensure their driving employees are working safely.
Just before Congress, we announced the 2026 recipients of our Road to Zero Community Traffic Safety Grants, funded by NHTSA. We are so excited to see what insights these five projects will uncover. Thank you to all who took the time to apply. As of now, we do not have a schedule for the next round of grants, but when this is decided, Road to Zero members will hear about it first through this newsletter.
Best,
Julia Kite-Laidlaw
Senior Program Manager, Road to Zero
As we work toward the shared goal of zero traffic fatalities, October presents critical opportunities to align community outreach with four NHTSA national traffic safety observances:
Pedestrian Safety Month (Oct. 1-31): Dedicated to increasing driver awareness, improving pedestrian visibility and fostering safer road sharing between motorists and pedestrians. Transportation professionals and advocates can download pre-packaged media assets and social media playbooks from the Traffic Safety Marketing Pedestrian Safety Hub.
National Teen Driver Safety Week (Oct. 18-24): Focused on empowering parents, schools and safety advocates to address primary risk factors for young drivers, including distraction, speeding and seat belt usage. Educational materials and outreach toolkits are available on the Traffic Safety Marketing Teen Driver Safety Hub.
National School Bus Safety Week (Oct. 19-23): Highlighting student loading/unloading safety, school zone speed enforcement and motorist compliance with school bus stop-arm laws. Access campaign resources at the Traffic Safety Marketing School Bus Safety Hub.
Halloween Impaired Driving Prevention (Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving / Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over): Encouraging drivers to plan ahead and designate a sober driver before attending Halloween celebrations. Download social graphics, posters and outreach playbooks from the Traffic Safety Marketing Drunk Driving Hub.
In August NHTSA published a map titled, Motor Vehicle Crash Patients Meeting Criteria for Prehospital Transfusion. In 2025 nearly 33,000 crash patients met criteria to receive blood. The map underscores the need for expansion of prehospital blood transfusion programs and improved adoption of other traffic safety countermeasures.
NHTSA has also published a review of five states' oral fluid device programs, which is now available for download. This report details the benefits, challenges and lessons learned from these programs to help agencies implement successful roadside and evidentiary collections. Each case study explores the validation processes, legislative hurdles and device selections needed to build a defensible program.
Join us for this free virtual event, presented by the National Safety Council in partnership with Captive Resources, to learn how telematics solutions can strengthen fleet safety, reduce risk and improve operational efficiency. Hear from industry experts on changing driver behavior, protecting data privacy and building a strong safety culture. With just two hours of content each day, you'll gain insights to help reduce crashes, increase driver accountability and build a safer, more efficient fleet – whether you manage 50 vehicles or 5,000. Register.
National #WalkRolltoSchoolDay takes place this year on Oct. 7, bringing schools and communities together to celebrate and start conversations about walking, biking and rolling to school. Hold an event any date in October that works for your community. Register and find who’s walking, event ideas, downloadable graphics and materials, and talking points at walkbiketoschool.org.
The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) has updated and expanded its Speed Management for Safety resource page, giving transportation professionals a centralized source for tools, guidance and examples to support safer speeds through a Safe System Approach. Explore resources on speed as a safety problem, safe speeds, setting speed limits and measures for managing speed, along with ITE publications, webinars, case studies and an interactive Safe System Approach to Speed Management database map.
Whether you are developing a speed management program, evaluating strategies or looking for examples from other communities, this resource hub can help turn Safe System principles into practice. You can also read the recent ITE Journal edition on speed management online for more useful resources.
The August ITE Talks Transportation Podcast featured Shauna Hallmark, Professor at Iowa State University - College of Engineering, and Virginia O'Connor, P.E., PTOE, RSP2I, Transportation Engineer at toXcel exploring the critical role of speed management in reducing fatal and serious injury crashes. They discussed how agencies can take a more proactive, systemic approach by examining operating speeds, roadway conditions and potential conflict points rather than relying solely on crash data. The conversation also highlighted speed management strategies, real-world examples from communities across the country and the importance of matching roadway design with safe operating speeds.
With millions of students across the country back in school, a new national survey from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) finds that dangerous driving around schools and school buses is both common and deeply personal for American families. A clear consensus emerged: Parents overwhelmingly want stronger enforcement to better protect children traveling to and from school.
The survey found that nearly half (46%) of parents whose children ride a school bus say their own child has experienced a close call near a school bus or in a school zone. The findings also suggest parents do not view dangerous driving as simply a problem of awareness: 53% believe dangerous driving continues because motorists do not think they will get caught. At the same time, parents expressed overwhelming support for stronger accountability. Ninety-one percent of parents surveyed support automated stop-arm enforcement to hold drivers accountable for illegally passing stopped school buses.
This National Teen Driver Safety Week (Oct. 18-24), take advantage of DriveItHOME, a program of the National Safety Council in partnership with GM, with free resources for parents and caretakers of new teenage drivers. Whether you’re a parent, you have a teen driver in your family, or you’re an instructor or other stakeholder, we have everything you’ll need to make a difference.
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