Figure 2.5.6 - Vulnerable Road User Safety in Strategic Highway Safety Plans

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act created a Vulnerable Road User (VRU) Special Rule that requires each state where VRU fatalities are 15 percent or more of all traffic fatalities to spend at least 15 percent of Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funds on VRU safety projects. To administer HSIP funds each state is required to complete a Strategic Highway Safety Plan as well as a VRU Safety Assessment. This table provides the most recent year of VRU data and how many times the VRU threshold has been met in the past ten years (2013 - 2022). VRU emphasis areas and strategies are also outlined.

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act create a Vulnerable Road User (VRU) Special Rule that requires each state where VRU fatalities are 15 percent or more of all traffic fatalities to spend at least 15 percent of Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funds on VRU safety projects. To administer HSIP funds each state is required to complete a Strategic Highway Safety Plan as well as a VRU Safety Assessment. This table provides the most recent year of VRU data and how many times the VRU threshold has been met in the past ten years (2013 - 2022). VRU emphasis areas and strategies are also outlined.
The VRU Safety Special Rule only considers non-motorized fatalities with the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) person attribute codes for Pedestrian, Bicyclist; Other Cyclist, and Person on Personal Conveyance. The applicability of the VRU Safety Special Rule to a state is determined on an annual basis. In January 2025 when this Figure was updated, the most recent data from FARS was from 2022.
Chart: The League of American BicyclistsSource: FHWA Office of SafetyGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper