ATSSA’s Public Agency and Marty Weed Engineering scholarships offer department of transportation (DOT) officials the opportunity to participate in the largest gathering of roadway safety infrastructure officials in North America.

There they can see the latest innovations in roadway safety, interact with companies that produce them and engage with industry experts on everything from pavement marking and traffic control to technology designed to protect roadway workers and interact with connected and automated vehicles.

ATSSA’s 53^rd Annual Convention & Traffic Expo takes place in Phoenix, Feb. 17-21 and will include the New Products Rollout, Innovation Awards that go to the top products as judged by DOT officials, and the ever-popular Circle of Innovation where transportation officials from across the country and around the globe hear about the latest topics.

Scholarship applications are due by Sept. 19. Applicants will be notified by Oct. 12.

Tune in to Road Dog News at 2 p.m. ET on Friday to hear ATSSA President & CEO Stacy Tetschner.

Tetschner will be discussing roadway safety issues on the Road Dog Trucking radio station.

The program airs on SiriusXM Channel 146. Road Dog News is hosted by Dan Ronan. Ronan is an associate news editor for Transport Topics as well as a part-time news anchor for Road Dog News.

Traffic fatalities in the U.S. rose 19% from 2019-2021, far surpassing U.S. vehicle travel for that period, according to a report released this morning by TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit.

The report, “Addressing America’s Traffic Safety Crisis: Examining the Causes of Increasing U.S. Traffic Fatalities and Identifying Solutions to Improve Road User Safety,” takes a closer look at data from the past two years.

“America faces a roadway safety crisis, with motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists fatalities in 2021 reaching their highest level in nearly two decades. The tremendous toll of fatalities and serious injuries that occur on the nation’s roadways are a significant economic and, more critically, personal burden on Americans,” the report notes in its conclusion. “The causes of the recent surge in traffic fatalities in the U.S. appear largely to be the result of the public taking greater risks on the nation’s roadways, including speeding, impaired driving and reduced safety belt use.”

ATSSA President and CEO, Stacy Tetschner released the following statement today that strongly opposes President Joe Biden’s proposal for suspending federal and state gas taxes.

"Although we certainly support efforts to reduce the price per gallon of gasoline and diesel, suspending federal fuel taxes would set a dangerous precedent, financially undermine the recently-enacted bipartisan infrastructure law, impact state and local governments’ certainty of federal roadway safety funding, and imperil the ability to enact future multi-year transportation authorizations. It’s extremely unlikely that the suspension of federal fuel taxes will result in the American consumer actually seeing a commensurate reduction in the price they pay at the pump when filling up their vehicle.