The quote in context

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has now taken steps to address that issue, stunning safety advocates with proposed vehicle design rules that the regulatory agency says will help reduce pedestrian deaths.

For the first time ever, manufacturers would be required to study the impact of test dummies hit outside of vehicles. The rules would likely change the design of what America drives permanently.

“We have a crisis of roadway deaths, and it’s even worse among vulnerable road users like pedestrians,” Sophie Shulman, the agency’s deputy administrator, said in a statement announcing the proposed rule last week.