GHSA Policy on Traffic Safety and Law Enforcement

Excerpted from GHSA Policies & Priorities (updated August 2025).

The proper enforcement of traffic safety laws is crucial for the safety and well-being of the public and will remain an essential element of safety programs for the foreseeable future. Traffic enforcement and criminal justice elements of highway safety provide significant value, including by reinforcing social norms, creating general deterrence for dangerous driving, stopping dangerous driving when it occurs and preventing recidivism among high-risk offenders.

GHSA believes that traffic enforcement should always be performed in a professional manner, GHSA encourages the use of data to drive highway safety planning for where, when and how traffic enforcement may or may not be implemented.
GHSA urges states and highway safety partners to consider steps to promote excellence in traffic enforcement, including:

• Involving impacted communities in highway safety planning;
• Promoting the collection and analysis of standardized data for every traffic stop to better understand potential disparities and allocate funding toward more effective enforcement;
• Encouraging law enforcement partners to work proactively to identify and eliminate bias in traffic stops or traffic enforcement;
• Refocusing traffic enforcement efforts on traffic safety; prioritizing the most dangerous and unlawful driving behaviors, such as speeding, distracted driving and impaired driving, that put all road users at risk; and reducing pretextual traffic stops for traffic violations that often do not advance safety and thus undermining trust in highway safety programs;
• Encouraging modernized police recruitment and training standards to ensure that law enforcement agencies more closely align with the communities they serve;
• Partnering with Vision Zero, Road to Zero and Safe System communities to promote holistic and collaborative approaches to highway safety;
• Supporting driver licensing policies that focus on changing driver behavior such as ensuring that license sanctions are limited to moving violations and exploring more flexible fee and payment structures for traffic citations, driver license fees and vehicle registration; and
• Empowering state, community and law enforcement leadership to hold accountable police officers who have violated public trust.

High visibility enforcement is a proven, effective countermeasure and a cornerstone of state occupant protection, impaired driving and speed enforcement efforts. States are encouraged to highly publicize their enforcement activities, particularly those relating to occupant protection and impaired driving, in order to increase the effectiveness of those efforts.

GHSA supports law enforcement programs and departmental policies to promote safe driving practices among police officers, including seat belt use, distracted and drowsy driving.

GHSA supports the Below 100 program, which promotes the 5 tenets of: belt use, body armor use, speed management, situational prioritization and vigilance against complacency.

GHSA encourages law enforcement partners to consider a wide range of training to improve officer wellness, professionalism and community relations, including empathy training, stress management, mental health programs, implicit bias, de-escalation, use of force and officer intervention.

GHSA urges states to increase driver awareness of “Move Over” laws requiring vehicles to slow down or move over when passing public safety, emergency response and roadside assistance vehicles.