Transportation talk: when it comes to transportation, Secretary Norman Mineta is in the driver's seat.

• Author: Savage, Melissa A.
• Position: Cover story

Norman Mineta, the 14th secretary of transportation, is the longest serving secretary in the history of the department. He oversees an agency with some 60,000 employees and a budget of $61.6 billion. Secretary Mineta has delivered on President Bush's commitment to safety--there are fewer vehicle and rail fatalities and more seat belt usage than ever before. A former congressman from California, he served as commerce secretary in the Clinton administration. He is administering the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Transportation, Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEALU) signed by President Bush last August.

State Legislatures: Clearly, safety is a big part of the new transportation act. How has the federal approach to safety changed in the last few decades?

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta: Funding levels and commitment for safety programs have increased in each reauthorization of the Transportation act since 1956. The big difference now is the use of incentives instead of sanctions to get important safety legislation enacted in the states. Sanctions haven't really proved to be effective. Incentives are a more positive way to go about it. In the past, states would lose highway construction money if they didn't comply with a standard in a certain time frame. Now, with incentives, the states are able to get discretionary funding if they meet certain qualifications.

SL: Can you give us an example?

Mineta: States that pass a primary safety belt law or maintain an 85 percent use rate over two years qualify for $124 million each year over four years for a total close to $500 million. This one-time bonus can be used for anything--construction, education, safety. Already, this incentive has convinced Alaska and Mississippi to pass primary safety belt laws this session.

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SL: Why is it so important for states to pass primary enforcement safety belt laws?

Mineta: You can engineer roads for safety; you can make changes to the car. But changing driver behavior is the easiest, most effective and cheapest way to make meaningful change. Nationally, traffic crashes cost the nation $230 billion every year. Primary belt laws are the easiest way to mitigate injuries, fatalities and also costs.

In 2004, the year the country had its lowest number of fatalities and its lowest crash rate, it had its highest rate of safety belt use (82 percent). There is an obvious correlation between the low number of crashes, fatalities and safety belt use. Every state can save lives, prevent injuries and also save millions of dollars just by passing a primary belt law.

SL: What about incentives for child safety?

Mineta: This winter we kicked off a booster seat safety campaign at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia--one of the outstanding institutions dealing with child safety. Four days before, Britney Spears was photographed driving with her infant sitting on her lap. This was irresponsible. It made big news and the incident went a long way in publicizing child safety in vehicles.

A booster seat incentive is also available through SAFETEA-LU. A state must have a law requiring children too large for a child safety seat to be secured in a restraint that meets federal standards. The incentive package is $25 million over four years. Many states have booster seat laws, but unfortunately they don't meet the federal requirements under Anton's Law, which covers children ages 4 to 8 and 50 to 65 pounds. Booster seats raise the child so that the seat belt fits properly and does not choke the child, which...