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Racing toward safety: The U.S. journey to safer roads through innovation and collaboration
As the world’s fastest drivers prepare to descend on Austin for the FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix from 17 to 19 October, the city will once again become a showcase for the very pinnacle of automotive performance and innovation. The Circuit of The Americas will echo with the sound of engines pushed to their limits, but for most of us, the daily commute is a rather less glamorous affair. Still, there is a thread that connects the spectacle of Formula 1 with the everyday act of driving – the relentless pursuit of safety, and the transformative power of technology and standards to save lives on the road.
The Preventable Tragedy of Road Deaths
It is a sobering fact that, in the United States, road traffic accidents remain one of the leading causes of death. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an estimated 39,345 people died in traffic crashes in 2024, with 17,140 lives already lost between January and June this year. Worryingly, research from the CDC shows that road traffic crashes are the world’s leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5 to 29. These deaths are not only tragic but also largely preventable, underscoring the urgent need for innovation and collective action. In the U.S. alone, deaths from crashes in 2022 resulted in over $470 billion in total costs – including medical costs and cost estimates for lives lost.
What makes these numbers all the more tragic is that the vast majority of road deaths are entirely preventable. The main culprits are well known – speeding, alcohol, distracted driving, and the simple failure to wear a seatbelt. Human behaviour, in all its unpredictability, remains the single greatest risk factor on our roads.
Silicon Valley Steps Up: Automating Safety
Some of the most innovative companies in the US have recognised this challenge and are acting decisively. Waymo, the autonomous driving pioneer, has logged over 96 million rider-only miles in major US cities, and the results are thought provoking. Compared to human drivers, Waymo’s vehicles have achieved a 91% reduction in serious injury crashes, 92% fewer pedestrian injuries, and 80% fewer injury-causing crashes overall.
These are not incremental improvements; they are transformative leaps, made possible by removing the risk of human behaviour from the equation and replacing it with advanced sensors, artificial intelligence, and relentless data analysis.
Other companies, from Amazon to Uber, are also investing in technologies that automate safety-critical tasks, whether through advanced driver assistance systems or fully autonomous vehicles. The lesson is clear – when technology is harnessed to address the root causes of road crashes, the results can be profound.
The Humble Seatbelt: A Case Study in Change
Of course, not all life-saving innovations are as headline-grabbing as self-driving cars. Consider the seatbelt. When first introduced, seatbelts were met with widespread resistance. In the 1980s, only about 14% of Americans used them, and a majority opposed mandatory seatbelt laws, citing personal freedom and discomfort. Car manufacturers were slow to promote them, fearing it would imply their vehicles were unsafe. Yet, as evidence mounted and laws were enforced, attitudes shifted. Today, seatbelt use exceeds 90%, and this simple device saves an estimated 15,000 lives every year in the US alone. It is a powerful reminder that even the most basic interventions, when widely adopted, can have a dramatic impact.
Formula 1: Safety at 200 Miles Per Hour
If the seatbelt is a triumph of simplicity, Formula 1 is a triumph of complexity. Drivers routinely reach speeds of around 200 miles per hour, yet the sport has seen a dramatic reduction in serious injuries and fatalities over the past decades. In the 1950s and 1960s, F1 was perilous, with multiple driver deaths each season. Today, thanks to innovations such as the carbon fibre monocoque chassis, the HANS device, the halo cockpit protection, and advanced fireproof suits, fatalities have become exceedingly rare. Every crash is meticulously analysed by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the teams, and every lesson is fed back into the design of both race cars and, eventually, road vehicles.
The FIA: A Century of Road Safety Leadership
It is worth remembering that the FIA was established in 1904, some 50 years before the first Formula 1 World Championship. The FIA’s original mission was to represent motorists and promote road safety, long before motorsport governance became part of its remit.
Motorsport, across the disciplines, has always been a laboratory for safety innovations that eventually find their way onto public roads. The FIA’s true legacy is not just in governing the world’s greatest races, but in distilling the lessons of the track for the benefit of all road users.
Global Standards Meet American Innovation
This brings us to the intersection of global standards and American innovation. The FIA Road Safety Index is a comprehensive framework that empowers public and private organisations to measure, benchmark, and improve their road safety performance.
In May this year, New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services became the first municipal fleet in the world to adopt the Index, setting a new standard for public sector accountability. Major companies such as Amazon, Uber, and Waymo are also using the Index to monitor and improve the safety of their operations.
The recently announced FIA Driver Safety Index, is the world’s first global benchmark for assessing driver risk. Powered by advanced AI, the index has been trained and validated on over 20 years of real-world driving and crash data across 106 countries, giving it an unparalleled understanding of driver behaviour and its impact on outcomes. By establishing a universal framework for assessing and managing driver safety, it empowers organisations to address the human factors that so often lead to tragedy.
In the United States, where transportation-related incidents account for nearly 40% of workplace fatalities, these tools offer a path to measurable, data-driven improvement.
The Road Ahead
As the engines roar in Austin and the world’s attention turns to the spectacle of F1, it is a powerful reminder that the FIA is not only the governing body of motorsport, but also the global advocate of all road users, driving safe, sustainable and affordable mobility. The FIA builds on motorsport’s role as an innovation lab for everyday vehicles – many technologies and standards developed on the track have found their way into the cars and trucks we drive today. Through its work with 245 member clubs in 149 countries, the FIA and its partners are using lessons from the track, the ingenuity of Silicon Valley and the rigour of global standards, to make America’s roads safer for everyone. The challenge now is for every organisation, large or small, to play its part in this vital mission. The future of safe mobility depends on it.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
