Cyclist deaths are at a 40 year high. The feds want to kill more AND worsen traffic.

This story is about road policy, not home energy upgrades, so it does not affect plans for insulation, heat pumps, or rebates. It is worth knowing about mainly as general news.

The federal Department of Transportation has dropped five items from its official list of "proven safety countermeasures" — recommendations it gives to state and local agencies for making roads safer. The removed items include lower speed limits near pedestrians and cyclists, speed cameras, variable speed limits, bike lanes, and "road diets" (redesigning roads to fit bike lanes or turn lanes into existing space). Research cited in the source showed these measures had cut crashes significantly, in some cases by 50 percent or more. The change comes as cyclist deaths in the US hit a 40-year high in 2025, even though overall traffic deaths have been falling for decades.

None of this changes any rebate, tax credit, or program that helps homeowners upgrade their houses. It is a shift in federal guidance on street design and traffic safety, not on energy efficiency or weatherization. The old guidance and its supporting research still exist publicly, just no longer promoted by the agency's current list. If you bike or walk in your area, this may eventually show up in whether your town keeps building or maintaining bike lanes and lower-speed streets, but it has no connection to insulation, heating systems, or home energy costs.