# HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY GRANTS (TF) $ $ $

**Agency:** Transportation  
**Account:** HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY GRANTS (TF) $ $ $  
**Source document:** NHTSA · p. 1  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/budget/transportation/highway-traffic-safety-grants-tf  

> **Trust:** parsed from the agency Congressional Justification. Approximate, **not summable**, verify at the cited page.

## Funding ($M)

| Fiscal year | Basis | Amount |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FY2025 | enacted | 971.7 |
| FY2026 | enacted | 1,000.5 |
| FY2027 | request | 867.0 |

## Transportation discretionary budget authority (OMB PBDB — authoritative)

FY2027 $22.40B, FY2026 $61.90B. This is the agency total, not a sum of the parsed lines.


## What this funds

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a mission to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes. It also plays a central role in U.S. energy policy, setting fuel economy and efficiency standards for cars and Safety is the top priority--for the Department of Transportation (DOT), for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and for the people we serve. NHTSA is dedicated to our mission of saving lives, preventing injuries, and reducing economic costs due to road traffic crashes. That life-saving mission has never been more important given the tremendous opportunities to save lives by removing unnecessary barriers to potentially life-saving technologies and making newer, safer cars more affordable to average Preliminary data for the first half of 2025 projects an 8.2% decline in roadway deaths. This data is encouraging, and fatalities have decreased from their peak 2021 levels, however, the United States is still suffering several thousand additional annual fatalities than before the pandemic. While advances in automotive technology and vehicle innovation have created new possibilities for improving highway safety and offer potential safety benefits, the 2023 final roadway fatality data show that longstanding ' Some 60,000 more people were seriously injured in traffic crashes in 2023 compared to 2022 (2.44 In light of these facts, NHTSA's FY 2027 Budget Request totals nearly $1.3 billion to pursue critical vehicle and behavioral safety work. The request includes $867 million for State Grants and High The request focuses on several critical Administration and Secretarial priorities-- safety, deregulation, innovation, support for and collaboration with law enforcement, and economic competitiveness. The following are several key initiatives in FY 2027: Fixing the CAFE Program: This cornerstone of NHTSA's deregulatory efforts is a key Secretarial priority, and will improve affordability of newer, safer vehicles for American drivers by removing unreasonable regulatory burdens that drive up the price of vehicles. In FY 2027, NHTSA will continue its essential work on rescinding and replacing prior CAFE rules to align the program with Administration priorities and applicable law, thereby creating a level regulatory playing field for automakers to design and produce the type of vehicles American families and businesses want and Automated Vehicle (AV) Framework: In FY 2027, NHTSA will continue this essential work to prioritize safety of AV operations on public roadways, spur innovation by reducing regulatory barriers, and enhance the safety and mobility of the American traveling public through removal of unintended barriers to commercial deployment of AVs. This includes modernizing the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), placing U.S. developers of AVs on a level playing field with their foreign competitors, and streamlining crash reporting requirements for vehicles equipped with certain advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving systems (ADS). Supporting Law Enforcement: In FY 2027, NHTSA will work to strengthen its close partnership and collaboration with law enforcement to improve safety outcomes on the Nation's roads and to promote the safety of law enforcement personnel. NHTSA will accomplish this through initiatives such as Highway Traffic Safety grants that provide essential funding for law enforcement safety programs, as well as officer safety projects, including the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and the Below 100 program, which seeks to reduce the number of law enforcement fatalities through Key components of NHTSA's FY 2027 Budget request include: Rulemaking: NHTSA's Rulemaking office will focus on deregulation activities that will remove unintended and unnecessary regulatory inefficiencies and barriers to innovation, make newer safer cars more affordable for American families, and spur economic growth. This includes Fixing the CAFE Program, which will allow automakers to produce affordable vehicles that American drivers want and need. NHTSA will continue its essential work on rescinding and replacing prior CAFE rules to align the program with Administration priorities and applicable law. Additionally, through its Office of Automation Safety, the agency will support the Secretary's AV Framework by pursuing regulatory actions to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers to potentially life-saving technologies. Vehicle Safety Research: Funding is requested to support research programs aimed at the safe testing and deployment of novel motor vehicle technologies and to advance the development of an Automated Vehicle (AV) regulatory framework to assure safety, foster innovation, and maintain U.S. leadership in the field. The program prioritizes the creation of advanced tools and methods to spur crashworthiness and crash avoidance innovations. Additionally, the requested funding will support the assessment of vehicle technologies, including their performance, capabilities, limitations, and Enforcement: Funding will support the enforcement of vehicle safety standards, address safety- related defects and recalls, and investigate criminal odometer fraud. This funding will also support the Secretary's AV Framework, unleashing innovation through an expanded Automated Vehicle Exemption Program (AVEP) which is now available for vehicles produced domestically. This work will continue in FY 2027, enabling faster deployment of vehicles through a streamlined exemption Highway Traffic Safety Grants: $867 million is requested for Highway Traffic Safety grants, which are distributed by formula to States, the District of Columbia, U.S. Territories, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs on behalf of the federally recognized Tribes, to carry out highway safety programs within their jurisdictions. These grants help improve road safety through implementing both proven and innovative countermeasures to high-risk driving, such as funding traffic law enforcement crackdowns against drunk, drugged, distracted, or speeding drivers; promoting the proper use of seat belts and car seats; and implementing strategies to improve pedestrian safety. Highway Traffic Safety grants provide critical resources to State and local law enforcement agencies across the county to enforce highway safety laws. NHTSA is deeply committed to saving lives on our Nation's roads, but it is also a collaborative effort including the public at large, must wo


**Where it sits:** Civilian / Non-Defense › Transportation › NHTSA › HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY GRANTS (TF) $ $ $


*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. government. Civilian line dollars are parsed from agency Congressional Justifications and are approximate.*