At the National Conference of Governors, which met in Miami Beach,
Florida, a few weeks ago, I had the honor to serve on the Conference
Committee on Roads and Highway Safety. Among the points stressed
there was that highway safety is not a matter of concern for just one,
jurisdiction, one level of government, one agency or one group.
It is, on the contrary, the responsibility of all, from the highest govern-
mental authority down to the individual citizen himself.

"To be of maximum effect, " a guide for highway safety, prepared
by the Council of State Governments and approved by the Conference,
said, "a traffic safety program must include all levels of government—
local, state and national—with the state playing the leading role. "
The same opinion was voiced by a federal government official, Mr.
James K. Williams, who is director of the new Office of Highway
Safety in the Federal Bureau of Public Roads. "Highway safety to-
day, " said Mr. Williams, "includes a vast system of interstate travel
which can hardly be regarded as the exclusive concern of any single
jurisdiction. The traffic accident problem simply does not respect any
political or geographic boundary lines. "

The Federal Government, through the Office of Highway Safety,
has added a new and important dimension to the total national traffic
safety effort, showing that its interest in the many miles of interstate
highways it is building continues after the ribbon is cut opening up
a new section of highway. The federal government, however, recognizes
that "official state and local agencies have the primary responsibility
for traffic safety measures"—a proposition which was accepted by the
governors at the Conference.

At the state and local level, emphasis was placed on an energetic
application of the highway safety action program, which was devised
by the President's committee for Traffic Safety a few years ago
and which has been revised periodically since that time. This program,

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