s39_basics of highway safety_ltc2013

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presented to

presented by

Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

Transportation leadership you can trust.

SAFETYPLANNING

Safety Planning Boot Camp

Turning Safety Ideas into Reality

Louisiana Transportation Conference Participants

February 19, 2013

Susan Herbel, Nicole Waldheim,

and Pam Beer


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Military training

Listen to the 1980s band, Bootcamp

Get inspired by Billy Blanks military

exercise program

Address research findings

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Define Transportation Safety for the state and regions

Learn strategies for better incorporating safety into the

planning process, also known as transportation safety

planning (TSP)

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Brainstorm and identify methods

for better integrating safety into

transportation planning and

programming documents


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Name

Agency

Expectations

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Connection to decision-makers

Analytic skills and tools

Commitment to the public good

Holistic perspective of the transportation network Ability to prioritize and program regional transportation investments

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Defining Safety

History, Background,

and Challenges

The Seven Principles

Implementing the

Seven Principles

Next Steps and Adjourn

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Current Thinking

Everything We Do

is Safe

End Result

Safety Will Be a

Priority in the Long-

Range TransportationPlanning Process


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Safe Transportation Projects

Any transportation project inclusive of safety benefits, such as

cost effective mobility solutions Sidewalks

Multiuse trails

Bicycle lanes

Roadway operational upgrades

Safety Projects

A safety project addresses a specific safety need on thetransportation network Median barriers to reduce head-on collisions

Shoulders and rumble strips/stripes to prevent running off

the road

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ISTEA

TEA-21

TSP working group

Safety conscious planning forums Conference panels and presentations

Research NCHRP 08-44, 08-44(2), 08-76, etc.

SAFETEA-LU

SHSP Safety Conscious Planning Transportation Safety Planning

MAP-21

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Highway Safety Improvement Program maintained

SHSPs remain centerpiece of program

Safety maintained as planning factor for states/MPOs

USDOT will establish performance measures and standards

within 18 months of enacting MAP-21

States/MPOs will establish performance targets

HSIP States will track safety PMs for

Serious injuries and fatalities per vehicle mile traveled

Number of serious injuries and fatalities

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Newer Concept

Competing Priorities

Safety Initiatives are Reactive

Funding Silos

Limited Staff and Tools

Institutional Resources Lacking

No Ribbon Cutting in Safety

Other Documents Address Safety

Often Takes

the Backseat


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NCHRP 546

Incorporating Safety

into Long-Range

Transportation Planning

NCHRP 08-76

Institutionalizing Safety

in the Transportation

Planning Processes

NCHRP B08-76

Implementing

the Framework

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Monitor safety performance and evaluate safety programs and policies

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Collect and analyze safety data

Include safety expertise on transportation planning committees1

Define and include safety in the vision, goals, and objectives in

transportation planning documents2

Establish safety performance measures4

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Establish safety as a decision factor6

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Include safety in the context of other transportation goals and objectives(i.e., bicycle, pedestrian, highway, transit safety)3


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Traditional Transportation

Planning Process

Engage

Multidisciplinary Committee

Define the Visions,

Goals, and Objectives

Establish System

Performance Measures

Identify Transportation

Improvement Strategies

and Alternatives

Evaluate and Prioritize

the Strategies

How/where to incorporate safety into transportation planning

Invite safety stakeholders to attend meetings and keep them engagedthroughout the planning process

Ensure safety is a major goal of the organization, with commitment toit at the highest level

Identify the needed safety improvements in the transportation systemand identify performance measures

Collect and analyze safety data

Use the data to identify specific transportation safety issues. If the

problem is large enough, a standalone plan addressing the issuecould be warranted

Establish safety as a decision factor for the selection of transportationprojects by including safety as a goal in the LRTP and considering itin the scoring and ranking process


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Develop the Long-Range

Transportation Plan (S/TIP)

Develop the Transportation

Improvement Program (S/TIP)

Undertake

Project Development

Implement

Projects

Monitor and Evaluate

System Operations

Use safety data and policies from other planning documents todevelop a safety goal in the LRTP

Use safety data and performance measures to help prioritize programsand projects identified in the LRTP

Design standalone safety projects or consider safety elements in

the analysis (i.e., NEPA) and design (i.e., MUTCD) for TIP projects

Construct standalone safety projects or incorporate safety elementsinto other TIP projects

Routinely track and monitor safety programs and projects to evaluatesuccesses or identify course corrections, assess progress towards

performance targets, and use tracking information to continuallyrevise and refine the entire planning process


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Three Step Process for Each Principle

What does the research say? (NCHRP 08-76) Challenges

Opportunities

Example

What are you currently doing? (Open Discussion)

What else could you be doing? (Action Plan Development)

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Transportation Committees

Focus on highways, transit, ITS, bike, pedestrian, and freight

Safety usually not a primary focus

Safety Committees Working knowledge of safety issues

Knowledge of SHSP

Focus on HSIP or 402 planning and funding

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Identify and meet statewide and regional safety

stakeholders (4 Es)

Invite safety representatives to join existing committees or

develop a new safety committee

Make safety a regular agenda item during meetings

Collaborate to identify and define the role of safety planners in

the transportation planning process

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Invite safety stakeholders

to join MPO and DOT committees


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Regional Transportation Safety Stakeholders Group

Federal Highway Administration, Arizona Department of

Transportation, Arizona Department of Public Safety, AAA

Arizona, AARP, Arizona State University, and 17 local agencies

Provide Guidance on Safety Plan and LRTP

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Safety is a primary planning factor, but it is not always given

equal consideration in the LRTP vision, goals, and objectives

It is implied rather than explicitly stated

SHSP goals are simply adopted,

but not customized Objectives are not developed,

which provide the framework

for project selection and performance

measure selection

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Establish safety as a priority early in the process

Identify the necessary resources (e.g., data, tools) and partnerships

to comprehensively develop safety as a goal with measurable

objectives

Demonstrate key safety needs to the public, stakeholders, and

decision-makers (use maps, crash data, etc.)

Use the SHSP emphasis areas as a guide

Review the relevant safety goals, policies, and strategies in

standalone transportation plans or safety plans

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Create a vision, goal(s), and accompanying objectives inclusive

of safety to set the stage for identifying safer programs and projects


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The SHSP and stand alone safety plans are critical documents but

are:

Strategic plans with targeted strategies

Focused on safety specific countermeasures

Do not identify strategies to betterintegratesafety into futuretransportation projects

The LRTP often does not identify strategies to betterintegratesafety

into future transportation projects

References SHSP or regional stand alone safety plan

Assumes safety will be considered during design phase

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Collaborate with stakeholders to identify the key multimodal

safety needs, beyond those established in the SHSP

Establish transportation safety goals for highways, transit, bicycle

and pedestrian facilities, freight, etc with specific objectives

Expand upon SHSP strategies and actions

Consider safety elements, in addition to other factors such as

mobility, accessibility, sustainability, etc., when developing goals,

objectives, strategies, and actions in planning documents

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Consider safety in the context

of ALL transportation issue areas


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Adopted applicable goals

from SHSP and customized

strategies to meet

regional needs

Developed additional goalsand strategies in LRTP to meet

all safety needs

Pedestrian safety is not in the

SHSP, but is an important

regional transportationsafety need

Stand-Alone Pedestrian Plan

has a strong safety focus

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States and MPOs will generally track one or more of the

following measures

Number of fatalities/fatal crashes

Number of serious injuries/serious injury crashes

Fatality rate (fatalities per 100M VMT)

Serious injury rate (serious injuries per 100M VMT)

Crash rate (crashes per 100M VMT)

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Reach agreement on the issues that need to be measured

(refer to goals and objectives)

Identify candidate performance measures

Determine if the data exist to support the candidate

performance measure

Collect and analyze the data for developing achievable safety

performance measures

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Determine whether to invest in data collection

Ensure a strategic data collection plan is in place with

appropriate quality assurance/quality control procedures

Assign responsibility for data collection, analysis, and tracking

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Develop and align performance measures based onthe safety elements of the planning goals and objectives


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Goal Increase the safety of the

transportation system for motorized

and nonmotorized users

Measure of

Effectiveness

Objective Improve safety on facilities

and in operations

Level of investment in safety projects

Objective

Reduce roadway and

multimodal crashes

Number of accidents (highway, bicycle,

and pedestrian)

Objective Increase safety at transit stops

and intermodal stations and connections

Number of accidents at transit stops

and stations

Objective Implement Safe Routes to

School program

Implementation of Safe Routes to

School programs

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Data should be used to inform the goals, objectives,

strategies, and performance measures, but difficulties include

Data inaccuracies

It is difficult to convey to the public

It can deter a proactive approach to safety shows where theproblems are now

May differ amongst agencies, lowering level of trust

Data do not match public preferences

Analysis tools may be lacking or expertise to use them

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Identify available data at the state, regional, and local levels

Identify data gaps, e.g., what are the perceived needs and are

data available to support these needs?

Develop a data collection strategy

Develop formats to demonstrate the data in meetings

Use the data to focus on the top needs to support goal and

objective development

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Collect crash and injury data to

identify the key transportation safety needs


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Determine what safety analysis tools are available and which

are most appropriate for your agency

Leverage existing analysis capabilities within the state

Publish the results of the analysis annually to educate

stakeholders, the public, and decision-makers

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Identify and select the data analysis

tool most relevant to your needs


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Highway Safety Manual

SafetyAnalyst

Interactive Highway Safety

Design Model (IHSDM)

Crash Modification Factor(CMF) Clearinghouse

Proven Safety

Countermeasures

Systemic Approach

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FHWA 9 Proven SafetyCountermeasures

Safety Edge

Road Safety Audits (RSAs)

Rumble Strips andRumble Stripes

Median Barriers

Roundabouts

Left- and Right-Turn Lanes

Yellow Change Intervals

Median and Pedestrian

Refuge Areas

Walkways


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Bicycle goal

Increase the mobility, accessibility,

and safety of bicycle users in the region/state

Bicycle objectives Improve on-road

bicycle facilities

Short-term bicycle safety strategies

Install low-cost countermeasures at

high-crash locations

Long-term bicycle safety strategies Identify ways to incorporate

bicycle improvements at new developments

Performance measures Number of bicycle fatalities

PrioritizationA bike project has a better opportunity to advance if

it also decreases the number of bicycle crashes

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The safety goals and objectives are not well defined,

precluding safety from being a strong consideration during project

prioritization

Safety projects are identified and ranked only against other

safety projects

Safety factors are not considered in the context of all transportation

projects

Safety is considered in the design stage, not the planning and

project prioritization stage

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Ensure the established ranking or scoring system for

transportation projects reflects safety

Clearly state the goals and objectives of the plan in project

solicitation forms and the ranking criteria for each element(including safety)

Explain to the community the purpose and importance of the

safety rating to ensure community buy-in

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Weight safety equally with other planning factors

when prioritizing transportation projects


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Including safety in the decision process for transportation

project selection

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Does the project address or help address a

safety concern?

Project

Scoring

The project clearly addresses a significant

road-safety concern

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The project improves safety 10 points

It is not clear if the project will improve road safety 4 points

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Technical Selection Criteria

Highways (25 points)

Crash Rate/Frequency

Crash Severity

Incident Management

Transit (15 points)

Points on an integer scale by assigning points for every safety

feature or provision.

Bike/Ped (25 points)

Level of Service

Crash History

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Tracking progress relies on

Data collection

Data quality

Data management systems

Staff time Well defined performance measures

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Identify what to trackinclude the identified performance measures,

as well as general progress on strategies and objectives by

goal area

Create a tracking document to measure the desired achievements

Discuss the evaluation results often to determine whether changes

in policies or programs are appropriate

Regularly (at least annually) report on program and project

effectiveness to the decision-makers, stakeholders, and

partner agencies

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Monitor and evaluate system performance to refine the safety

elements of goals, objectives, and performance measures


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Track progress towards goals and objectives

(implemented strategies)

Track progress on performance measures

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Susan Herbel


[email protected]

(202) 494-5539

Nicole Waldheim


[email protected]

(301) 347-9132

Pam Beer


[email protected]

(301) 347-9145

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Thanks for attending the boot camp

Keep in touch!