Executive Order 10898

President Dwight D. Eisenhower
December 2, 1960

Executive Order 10898

ESTABLISHING THE INTERDEPARTMENTAL HIGHWAY SAFETY BOARD

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

SECTION 1. (a) For the purpose of providing Federal leadership and guidance of existing and future official activities that affect the safety of travel on public streets and highways and to establish a coordinated traffic safety program for Federal agencies, there is hereby established the Interdepartmental Highway Safety Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board.

(b) The Board shall have as members the following:

(1) The Secretary of Commerce, who shall be the chairman of the Board.

(2) The Secretary of Defense.

(3) The Postmaster General.

(4) The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

(5) The Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

(6) The Administrator of General Services.

(c) Each head of agency referred to in subsection (b) may provide for an alternate member who shall serve as a member of the Board in lieu of the regular member representing the agency when such regular member is unable to attend any meeting of the Board; and any alternate member shall while serving as such have in all respects the same status as a member of the Board as would the regular member in whose place he is serving.

(d) Three members of the Board shall constitute a quorum thereof.

SEC. 2. The functions and duties of the Board shall be as follows:

(a) To provide leadership to, and to coordinate the traffic safety aspects of programs carried on by, the departments and agencies of the Federal Government.

(b) To evaluate the continuing needs in traffic safety research and to formulate plans, priorities, and programs for the conduct of or for assistance to the most urgently needed research through departments and agencies of the Federal Government.

(c) To consult and cooperate with State and local officials having a public responsibility for traffic safety and their national associations, with the motor vehicle industry, and with other related interests, in the development and improvement, and particularly in the application, of traffic safety standards in areas such as uniform traffic laws, enforcement practices, accident records, driver licensing, motor vehicle equipment and inspection, traffic engineering, and safety education.

(d) To conduct continuing studies of national traffic safety needs as they relate to legislative and administrative actions by the Federal Government, and to report thereon.

(e) To perform such other functions and duties as the President may direct to coordinate more effectively the policies, programs, and functions of the departments and agencies of the Federal Government relating to traffic safety, including accident reporting, and to insure an orderly relationship among Federal, State, and local traffic safety programs.

SEC. 3. Consonant with law, each agency represented on the Board shall, as may be necessary for the effectuation of the purpose of this order, furnish assistance to the Board in accordance with section 214 of the act of May 3, 1945, 59 Stat. 134 (31 U.S.C. 691). Such assistance may include detailing employees to the Board, one of whom may serve as Executive Officer, to perform such functions, consistent with the purpose of this order, as the Board may assign to them.

SEC. 4. The Board shall be advisory to its individual members and to other heads of executive agencies; and this order shall not be construed as subjecting any agency, officer, or function to its control. The President's Committee for Traffic Safety (provided for in Executive Order No. 10858 [FN1] of January 13, 1960) shall serve as consultant and advisor to the Board.

SEC. 5. The Board shall, from time to time, submit reports to the President on the national progress in traffic safety. The first such report shall include determinations of the status of Federal legislative and administrative needs in the several areas of traffic safety and recommendations for executive or legislative action.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 2, 1960.

FN1 Supra.

Exec. Order No. 10898, 25 FR 12429, 1960 WL 8072 (Pres.)