- Massachusetts Department of Transportation
The new year brings opportunities to make positive changes, such as making one of your new year’s resolutions to buckle up every trip, every time. This doesn’t just apply to drivers, however. Passengers can take a more active role in their own safety when in a vehicle by buckling up and also being aware of the driver’s actions.
January 19-28, 2025, is National Passenger Safety Week. The message to vehicle passengers is: Speak up to stop reckless driving behavior. Twenty-four percent of deaths in cars, vans, and pickup trucks across the United States were passengers in 2022. Passengers can play a role in staying safe by speaking up to stop drunk, drugged, or distracted driving. Passengers should SPEAK UP if they feel a driver is engaged in risk-taking behavior.
Talk to your family about not getting in a vehicle with an impaired driver. Passengers should also feel empowered to speak up to the driver if they are using a mobile device or any distracted or dangerous driving behavior.
“Much of being a safe driver comes from education,” said Michelle Anderson, director of operations at The National Road Safety Foundation, a non-profit founded more than 60 years ago to promote safe driving behavior through education. “When people are knowledgeable about driving risks like impairment, speed, aggression, and drowsiness, there’s a better chance they will avoid taking those risks or letting others do so. The National Passenger Safety Campaign educates and empowers passengers about how they can save lives by calling out unsafe driving in the vehicle before crashes happen.”
Visit nationalpassengersafety.org for more information and to sign the Courage to Intervene Promise.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is focused on roadway safety and has resources available to manage traffic incidents as well as to keep roads clear of winter weather delays, delays from crash response, and road maintenance. According to 2023 state data, there were 134,269 total vehicle crashes in Massachusetts. That's an average of 15 crashes every hour. Unfortunately, 2,735 of those traffic crashes resulted in either death or serious injury. In Massachusetts, of the 324 deaths resulting from motor vehicle crashes in 2023, 11% were passengers. Additionally, nearly 20% of the over 30,000 occupants injured in a crash in 2023 were passengers.
The MAPFRE Insurance-sponsored MassDOT Highway Assistance Program is on patrol to help all motorists, including motorcyclists, on the highways. Patrol operators monitor some of the state’s busiest highways around Metro Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Cape Cod (seasonal). The Highway Assistance Patrol covers 13 major state roadways and interstates, the Emergency Service Patrol covers the Mass Pike (I-90) from New York to Boston and the Incident Response Operators cover the Metropolitan Highway System and tunnels. The Highway Assistance Patrol is in service Monday–Friday between 6 a.m.–10 a.m. and 3 p.m.–7 p.m. During holidays, there are extended routes in heavy-traffic areas. On I-90, and in Boston’s tunnel system, assistance is provided 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.
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