This bill expands highway safety programs, data collection, and public awareness campaigns to reduce deaths involving disabled vehicles and in work zones by establishing dedicated working groups to develop strategic solutions.
Richard Blumenthal
Senator
CT
The Preventing Roadside and Work Zone Deaths Act of 2026 aims to reduce fatalities involving disabled vehicles and in active work zones. It expands highway safety program coverage and data collection to specifically track roadside and work zone incidents. The bill establishes two distinct working groups to analyze crash data and develop strategic solutions for both disabled vehicle and work zone safety. Finally, it enhances public awareness campaigns and mandates reporting on the use of work zone safety contingency funds.
Preventing Roadside and Work Zone Deaths Act Targets 2026 for New Safety Standards and Expanded 'Move Over' Rules
The Preventing Roadside and Work Zone Deaths Act of 2026 is a major push to modernize how we protect people who are stuck on the shoulder or working on our highways. At its core, the bill expands the Highway Safety Improvement Program to specifically include the safety of people inside or standing near disabled vehicles (Section 2). This means that instead of just focusing on the road's physical structure, safety programs must now account for the human beings waiting for a tow truck. It also updates the 'Move Over or Slow Down' public awareness campaigns to include not just emergency vehicles with flashing lights, but any motorist, worker, or piece of machinery in a work zone. For anyone who has ever felt the terrifying gust of a semi-truck flying by while they were changing a flat tire, this bill aims to make that experience a thing of the past by making 'moving over' the standard for everyone on the shoulder.
Mapping the Danger Zones
One of the biggest shifts in this bill is how we track what goes wrong on our roads. It mandates that transportation-related injury data specifically include 'roadside deaths and work zone deaths' (Section 2). Think of this as a move from general statistics to a high-definition map of where people are getting hurt. By requiring the Secretary of Transportation to convene two specialized working groups—one for disabled vehicles and one for work zones—the bill brings together everyone from construction unions and truckers to tech manufacturers and medical pros. These groups aren't just there to talk; they are tasked with developing a strategic plan to identify and implement actual solutions to stop these crashes. For a road worker or a long-haul driver, this means their specific daily risks are finally getting a dedicated seat at the policy table.
Accountability for Safety Spending
To ensure that safety isn't just a buzzword, the bill places a spotlight on the 'work zone safety contingency funds' that states are supposed to use. The Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration will now have to report to Congress every year on exactly which states are using this money and how much they are actually spending. It’s a 'show me the receipts' approach to highway safety. For taxpayers and commuters, this provides a layer of transparency to ensure that federal funds intended to protect workers and drivers are actually being deployed on the ground rather than sitting in a bureaucratic account. While the bill’s success depends on how well local authorities share their data, the goal is a more uniform, nationwide approach to keeping the roadside from becoming a tragedy.