Reps. Cleaver, Graves Introduce Bipartisan Resolution Designating National Passenger Safety Week

(Washington, D.C.) - Today, U.S. Representatives Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) and Sam Graves (R-MO) introduced a bipartisan resolution to officially designate the week of January 23, 2022, as National Passenger Safety Week. The resolution highlights the important role passengers play in reducing traffic fatalities and the need to educate and encourage passengers to advocate for their own safety to prevent dangerous, distracted, and impaired driving.

"Whether it's asking your child to wear a seatbelt or taking the keys from a friend who has had too much to drink, it's incredibly important that passengers speak up when they get in the car with a friend or family member who may be distracted, impaired, or driving dangerously" said Congressman Cleaver. "With a troubling increase of traffic fatalities in recent years, it's critical that we bring this issue to the forefront and begin to educate the American people about the role passengers play in preventing impaired and dangerous driving, which can result in the unnecessary loss of life. Reducing traffic tragedies and increasing passenger and driver safety is an issue that every American can get behind, and that's why I'm proud to introduce this bipartisan, common sense resolution marking National Passenger Safety Week with Representative Graves."

"National Passenger Safety Week is an important reminder that we all have a role to play when it comes to reducing the number of traffic fatalities and increasing safety on our roadways. With historic increases in traffic deaths in recent years, despite Americans traveling fewer miles, there's no better time to encourage passengers to speak out and stand up to stop dangerous, distracted, and impaired driving before it claims a life," said Representative Graves.

According to estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), passenger deaths accounted for 25% of all traffic deaths nationwide in 2019. Traffic deaths as a whole increased by 7% in 2020 and another 18% in 2021, despite data showing there was a 13% decrease in vehicle miles traveled. According to NHTSA data, the main behaviors leading to these increases were speeding, impaired driving, and failure to wear seat belts.

Official text of the resolution from Cleaver and Graves is available here.

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Blue Springs, Grain Valley, Oak Grove, North Kansas City, Gladstone, Claycomo, and all of Ray, Lafayette, and Saline Counties. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee; Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance; member of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress; member of the Committee on Homeland Security; and a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. A high-resolution photo of Congressman Cleaver is available here.