Robert Melvin, Northeast Region Director at the R Street Institute, presented testimony to the Virginia House Transportation Committee’s Innovations Subcommittee on February 5, 2026. He expressed opposition to House Bill 1124, which would require a human operator to be physically present in all fully autonomous vehicles operating in Virginia.
Melvin stated that while the bill may have good intentions, it is “fundamentally flawed.” He argued that requiring a human operator in every autonomous vehicle (AV) would limit the deployment of safer transportation options and hinder efforts to improve road safety in Virginia.
He highlighted that motor vehicle deaths remain high in the United States. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the U.S. has a motor vehicle death rate of 11.1 per 100,000 people—twice as high as other wealthy countries. Most of these fatalities are caused by human error, with over 40,000 deaths reported in 2023. Contributing factors include distracted or impaired driving and aggressive behavior behind the wheel.
Melvin noted that despite government initiatives aimed at reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities, such incidents continue to rise in Virginia.
He warned that imposing a driver-in requirement could undermine potential improvements offered by AVs: “This approach applies an excessively stringent safety standard to AVs—one that is inconsistent with real-world safety data. It is akin to insisting no driver should ever be licensed, regardless of demonstrated competence.”
Citing a Swiss Re study analyzing more than 25 million miles driven by AVs, Melvin pointed out an “88 percent” reduction in property damage claims and “92 percent” fewer bodily injury claims compared to human drivers. In cases where AVs were involved in crashes, he said human drivers were most often responsible.
Data also show AVs experienced significantly fewer police-reported crashes and injury-related incidents than vehicles operated by humans. Since car crashes cost about $23 billion annually in U.S. medical expenses, Melvin argued that reducing collisions through AV adoption could save over $20 billion each year.
Melvin emphasized that autonomous vehicles are already being used on public roads across much of the country; thirty states and Washington D.C. allow their operation under current law. Most states without explicit authorization have not enacted broad restrictions so far.
He concluded his testimony by warning against heavy-handed state regulations like those proposed in HB 1124: “Heavy-handed state regulations on the autonomous vehicle market—like those proposed in HB 1124—could undermine broader policy goals and weaken overall road safety.” Instead, he encouraged Virginia lawmakers to consider legislative models from other states with more flexible frameworks for testing and deploying AVs.
For further details about House Bill 1124 see https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB1124.
The CDC provides information comparing U.S. motor vehicle fatality rates internationally at https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/Publication/812506.
Annual fatality statistics can be found at https://cdan.dot.gov/tsftables/Fatalities%20and%20Fatality%20Rates.pdf.
Additional information about global road safety is available from the CDC at https://www.cdc.gov/transportation-safety/global/index.html.
Virginia-specific crash trends are published at https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/documents/VA-traffic-crash-2024.pdf.
A discussion on self-driving cars’ impact can be read at https://www.slowboring.com/p/self-driving-cares-are-underhyped.
Research comparing liability insurance claims between AVs and human-driven vehicles is accessible via Waymo’s report: https://waymo.com/research/do-autonomous-vehicles-outperform-latest-generation-human-driven-vehicles-25-million-miles.
Further analysis of crash responsibility involving Waymo vehicles appears here: https://humanprogress.org/waymo-drivers-are-way-safer-10x-than-humans and here: https://www.understandingai.org/p/human-drivers-are-to-blame-for-most.
Waymo’s own benchmarking data can be found at https://waymo.com/safety/impact/.
An academic review discussing financial implications of AV technology is available at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8885781/.
A summary of state laws regarding autonomous vehicles was published by Venable LLP: https://books.venable.com/Autonomous-Vehicles/4/.
