Help keep people safe in their communities and on Pennsylvania's roads

The commonwealth has an obligation to ensure that Pennsylvania residents and visitors are safe and secure. This obligation includes improving the safety of our roadways, protecting victims of crimes, making our classrooms a safe place to learn, and strengthening the resilience of communities to natural and human-caused disasters. By keeping Pennsylvania safe, state government lays the foundation for achieving other goals, from educating students and building a prosperous economy, to promoting public health and increasing government efficiency.

Governor Wolf is committed to strengthening public safety in Pennsylvania. The governor has followed through with that commitment by increasing safety and mobility across Pennsylvania’s communities through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT’s) “Green Light-Go” program, which will see 70 municipalities receive over $37.8 million to support traffic signal upgrades. To better target the public health crisis of gun violence in Pennsylvania, Governor Wolf was tasked with reducing community gun violence, combating mass shootings, and halting domestic violence-related and self-inflicted shootings. The governor's Executive Order also created an 18-member Special Council on Gun Violence within PCCD charged with identifying recommendations to reduce incidents of gun violence within the Commonwealth. He launched a School Safety Task Force to gather community input and develop a report that details solutions to improve school safety, security, and preparedness.

Governor Wolf also created a School Safety and Security Committee tasked with developing the criteria that school entities are to use when performing school safety and security assessments. The Wolf Administration made Pennsylvania the first state to launch an “It’s On Us” campaign and award grants to address the crisis of sexual assault in schools and on college campuses. In 2018, the governor signed two major pieces of legislation, Tierne’s Law and Act 79, to strengthen protections for victims of domestic violence. In other legislative accomplishments that make Pennsylvania safer, Governor Wolf increased penalties for hazing by signing the Timothy J. Piazza Antihazing Law, and overhauled the state’s animal abuse statute by approving Act 10 of 2017.

The chart below shows the trend in annual traffic crash fatalities in Pennsylvania. Although the number of fatalities has decreased in recent years, there's still more work to do. Too many people continue to lose their lives on Pennsylvania's roads.