DEPARTMENT NAME HERE

Birmingham MPO Behavioral Safety 

NOTEWORTHY PRACTICE 

FHWA-SA-19-016

A major focus of the 

Birmingham Metropolitan 

Planning Organization’s regional 

safety plan is to improve driver 

behavior on the region’s 

roadways. 

High-Risk Behavior

The Birmingham Metropolitan Planning 

Organization (MPO) coordinated with the 

Alabama Department of Transportation and 

the Regional Planning Commission of Greater 

Birmingham (RPCGB) to establish the

Birmingham Regional Safety Coalition.

1 The 

coalition identified the top four emphasis areas

for the Birmingham area:

 Distracted driving.

 Impaired driving.

 Speed-related crashes.

 Young drivers.

RPCGB Transportation Planning Study Area. Source: 2017 

Alabama Strategic Highway Safety Plan.

Behavioral Safety

Initiatives

The Birmingham 

Regional Safety 

Coalition established 

partnerships and 

identified funding 

opportunities to better 

develop and implement

behavioral safety 

initiatives at the 

regional level. The 

approaches for two of 

the emphasis areas 

(distracted driving and 

young drivers) are 

highlighted below:

Alabama Percentages of Fatalities and Serious Injuries by Related Factor, 2006–2015. Source: 2017 

Alabama Strategic Highway Safety Plan.
Distracted-Driving Emphasis Area

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) partnered with the MPO to develop strategies to address distracted 

driving2. These include:

 Increase awareness of distracted driving.

o Use media and other outreach methods 

to increase public awareness of 

distracted driving. 

o Expand the use of simulators to educate 

drivers on the dangers of distracted 

driving.

o Address distracted-driving legislative 

policy issues.

 Increase distracted-driving enforcement.

o Make safety target and coordinate 

enforcement.

 Implement infrastructure improvements to 

reduce the severity of injuries sustained in

distracted-driving crashes.

o Install edge line and centerline rumble 

strips on at-risk rural roads to alert 

drivers of possible lane departures.

o Continue installing guardrail appropriately and repairing when needed.

o Install lighting and dynamic warning signs at rural intersections.

The UAB TRIP Laboratory’s Driving Simulator Facility. Source: UAB 

TRIP Laboratory.

Young-Driver Emphasis Area

To address crashes involving young drivers, the Birmingham MPO and UAB initiated a distracted-driver simulator 

program to educate young drivers on the dangers of distraction. To support these safety initiatives, the MPO increased 

planning funds for safety initiatives with matching funds from UAB.

The approach is to increase public awareness of young driver issues by:

 Implementing a media campaign to help the public understand Alabama’s graduated driver licensing (GDL)

requirements.

 Communicating safe driving behaviors to young drivers and prepare preteens for the responsibility of safe 

driving.

 Educating parents about the issues related to teen driving.

In response to this initiative, Alabama recently passed a new GDL law3. The law strengthens the GDL program by 

implementing provisions that require 50 hours of supervised driving in the learner stage (age 15), and nighttime and 

passenger restrictions for the intermediate stage (age 16 through 18). It also increases penalties for young drivers and 

their parents.

Contact Information

Michael Kaczorowski, Principal Planner, Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, mkaczorowski@rpcgb.org, (205) 264-

8444.

References

1 Alabama Department of Transportation. Appendix B: Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham Regional Safety Plan. Alabama Strategic Highway Safety 

Plan. July 2017. https://www.dot.state.al.us/dsweb/divted/TrafficSOS/pdf/Alabama_SHSP_081117.pdf.

2 The University of Alabama at Birmingham. First-of-Its-Kind Driving Simulator Lab at UAB Powered by Donation from Honda Manufacturing of Alabama and ALDOT.

April 21, 2016. https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/7253-first-of-its-kind-driving-simulator-lab-powered-by-donation-from-honda-manufacturing-of-alabamaand-aldot.

3 Alabama Legislative Services Agency. 2017-358, HB29. https://legiscan.com/AL/text/HB29/2017.