May 1, 2024

May Newsletter

Good morning, and happy May!

As you may remember from last month’s newsletter, we were proud to work with Senator Fischer and Congresswoman Pingree to include bipartisan language in the Fiscal Year 2024 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) budget that directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to test cars with the accurate female dummy in the driver’s seat.

Importantly, the appropriations report language also included a mandate that NHTSA release a roadmap on how they plan to make these changes – with a deadline of 90 days. That period ended yesterday, on April 30th, without a word from NHTSA.

We are deeply disappointed that NHTSA has again failed to meet a congressionally-set deadline, although we are not surprised. Unfortunately, NHTSA has made this a pattern.

However, this time, we had a plan to hold them accountable. On Tuesday, April 23rd, we partnered with artist Robin Bell to project our message on the Department of Transportation (DOT) building: make cars safe for women. Check out our video here.

"MAKE CARS SAFE FOR WOMEN" @ the DOT

By bringing the fight directly to the steps of the DOT, we hope that it will be harder for them to ignore – a task that we wish was unnecessary. It should not require a projection to remind them that the thousands of women’s lives lost in car crashes every year are tragic, important, and must be addressed.

However, we are deeply grateful for the support that allowed us to work with Robin and his team, and are hopeful to have more updates soon.

Thank you all.

Warmly,

Maria