Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 85 - Department of transportation.
85.07 - Highway safety coordination.

85.07 Highway safety coordination.
(1) Duties. The secretary, under the direction of the governor, shall coordinate the highway safety activities of the various agencies of state government; evaluate and make recommendations to the governor with respect to program proposals submitted by state agencies and political subdivisions for federal and state funds in conjunction with the federal highway safety program; advise the governor on matters relating to highway safety and the implementation of the federal highway safety program in this state; and assist governmental units and private organizations in the planning and execution of programs relating to highway safety.
(2) Council on highway safety. The council on highway safety shall confer with the secretary or the secretary's designee on matters of highway safety and with respect to the functions of the secretary, under the direction of the governor, and shall advise the secretary on such matters. The council shall meet with the secretary or the secretary's designee at least once each quarter.
(3) Information; reports; recommendation. The secretary shall furnish all information requested by the governor or by any member of the legislature, and shall report biennially in accordance with s. 15.04 (1) (d), including therein a report relating to the implementation of the comprehensive highway safety program in this state. This report shall include but not be limited to:
(a) Current statistical information on motor vehicle accidents, injuries and deaths and their related causation factors.
(am) An assessment of the impact of mental and physical impairments upon the ability of a driver to exercise reasonable control over a motor vehicle.
(b) The implementation of highway safety performance standards promulgated by the state or federal government.
(c) A general accounting of all state or federal funds expended in implementing the comprehensive highway safety program.
(d) Recommendations for additional legislation, programs and funds necessary for the effective implementation of a comprehensive highway safety program.
(e) Current statistical information compiled from the information submitted under sub. (8) (b).
(4) Bicycle rules. The department shall publish literature setting forth the state rules governing bicycles and their operation and shall distribute and make such literature available without charge to local enforcement agencies, safety organizations, and schools and to any other person upon request.
(7) Federal funds.
(a) In any year that the department expects that federal funds will be transferred under 23 USC 153 (h), the department shall prepare a plan to use, for purposes of state and local emergency medical services, at least 25 percent of the funds transferred under 23 USC 153 (h). The department shall prepare the plan after consulting with the department of health services and the emergency medical services board. Funds expended under the plan may not be used to supplant other federal and state funds used for emergency medical services purposes. Funds may not be expended under the plan unless any necessary federal approval of the plan has been obtained.
(b) When evaluating and selecting proposed hazard elimination projects to be funded using federal funds available under 23 USC 152, the department shall consider the reduction in motor vehicle accidents that will result from the proposed projects, except that, if a proposed project will reduce the response time of emergency vehicles, the department shall consider both the reduction in motor vehicle accidents that will result from the proposed project and the public safety benefits that will result from a reduction in the response time of emergency vehicles.
(8) Police pursuit information.
(a) In this subsection, “police pursuit" means an active attempt by a traffic officer in a police vehicle to apprehend one or more occupants of a moving motor vehicle, the operator of which is resisting apprehension by disregarding the officer's visual or audible signal to stop his or her vehicle, increasing the speed of the vehicle or extinguishing the lights of the vehicle.
(b) Not later than August 15 of each year, each law enforcement agency, as defined in s. 165.83 (1) (b), that uses police vehicles shall report to the department, on a form prescribed by the department, information on police pursuit engaged in during the preceding 12 months by law enforcement officers employed by that agency. The information shall include the circumstances of the police pursuit, including the distance, location and maximum speed of the pursuit; the reasons for commencing the police pursuit; and the outcome of the police pursuit, including the number if any of resulting deaths or great bodily injuries and an estimate of the value of any resulting property damage, if any. The department shall collect and maintain information submitted under this paragraph for not less than 10 years.
History: 1973 c. 182; 1975 c. 200; 1977 c. 196 s. 131; 1979 c. 34 ss. 19 to 24; Stats. 1979 s. 85.07; 1983 a. 74; 1985 a. 337; 1987 a. 40, 403; 1993 a. 251; 1995 a. 27 s. 9126 (19); 1997 a. 88; 1999 a. 9, 85; 2007 a. 20 s. 9121 (6) (a); 2015 a. 193; 2017 a. 363.

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