Report says federal government must watch state safety spending

WASHINGTON -- Federal oversight of state spending on highway safety programs has been inadequate in the face of rising deaths from drunken driving, congressional auditors said Wednesday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has sent $2 billion to states for highway safety programs over the past six years, has not been consistently monitoring how states are using the money, according to the the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative agency.

Under federal rules, NHTSA regional offices can conduct reviews of state offices to make sure money is being spent appropriately. If states fail to meet goals, such as improving seat belt use or lowering drunken driving deaths, NHTSA is required to develop a state improvement plan.

But GAO found NHTSA has no consistent policy for reviews or improvement plans. As a result, some regional offices conduct reviews as frequently as every two years, while others conduct them only when a state requests one.

That policy is letting some states slip through the cracks, the GAO said. For example, the report found that the rate of drunken driving deaths rose in 14 states between 1997 and 2001; in seven of those states, the rate was higher than the national average. But only one of the seven states had a NHTSA improvement plan.

Seat belt use studied

The GAO also found that seat belt use was declining in some states that didn't have NHTSA improvement plans.

Some states are doing a poor job of accounting for their highway safety spending, the GAO said. At least one state had no computerized system for tracking the highway safety grants it released or the equipment it purchased with federal money. Others failed to spend large amounts of money they had been granted.

States differed on whether NHTSA's penalties are effective, the GAO said. Under federal law, NHTSA can transfer millions of dollars from states' highway construction funds to safety programs if the states don't have certain laws, such as those banning open alcohol containers in cars or imposing stiff penalties on repeat drunken drivers.

New York, which the government cited for not having strict enough drunken driving policies, told the GAO that the $15.9 million transferred from its highway construction fund wasn't enough to affect state policy on repeat offenders. But Georgia and Texas both said their state laws changed because of NHTSA's transfers.

Sixty-nine percent of the 34 states that were penalized in 2001 and 2002 used the money for construction anyway, the GAO said, because of a provision that allows construction for safety-related reasons. Thirty-one percent used the money for alcohol-related programs.

Officials from the Transportation Department, which oversees NHTSA, told the GAO they are giving more guidance to regional offices. They also said traffic safety has improved steadily over the last few decades due to federal and state highway safety efforts.

But the GAO report suggested that improvements in traffic safety are stalling. Despite dramatic declines from 1982 to 1992, drunken driving deaths have risen in the last three years, the GAO said. Highway fatalities also have been fairly constant since 1995.

The GAO report was requested by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who said Wednesday that the nation needs to refocus on the problem of drunken driving.

"This report shows there is a clear need for federal funds, which are limited, to be dedicated specifically to anti-drunk driving programs, and for follow-up to make sure funds are being used in the most effective way possible," Dorgan said in a news release. "Thousands of lives are at stake."

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On the Net

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: www.nhtsa.dot.gov

General Accounting Office: www.gao.gov