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SPEED MANAGEMENT 

ACTION PLAN 

Implementation 

Partnerships Help North Carolina Manage Speed 

In 2015, North Carolina was among the States that reported the 

highest percentage of speeding related fatalities; 40 percent of trafc 

fatalities in North Carolina involved a speeding vehicle.1

 To tackle 

this problem, North Carolina safety stakeholders partnered with 

the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to develop a Speed 

Management Action Plan (SMAP) for Randolph County.2

 The plan 

assessed speeding and speed management issues in the county, 

identifed appropriate countermeasures and strategies, and outlined 

actions steps the State, county, and other partners could take to 

reduce speeding and prevent speeding-related crashes on Randolph 

County’s roadways. 

Since the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) owns, operates, and maintains 

approximately 80 percent of roads in North Carolina, including Randolph County’s, the State agency led 

several strategies in the SMAP, many of which were implemented throughout the State. 

Speed Limit Setting Overhaul 

During plan development, North Carolina stakeholders identifed inconsistencies in speed limit setting 

practices between rural and urban areas. To address the issue, NCDOT partnered with the Institute for 

Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) at North Carolina State University to develop a research 

project for North Carolina’s speed-setting policies. The project provided guidelines for speed limit studies 

for various facility types and recommended documentation methods.3

 NCDOT is working to incorporate 

the project’s results into its State’s speed limit setting policy and documentation processes. The speed limit 

setting guidelines will still consider 85th percentile speeds, but also other factors such as land use, road 

design, pedestrian volume, bicycling activity, and driveways. 

1 National Highway Trafc Safety Administration, Trafc Safety Facts: Speeding–2015 Data, DOT HS 812 409 (Washington, DC: NHTSA, 2017), 

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812409. 

2 Federal Highway Administration, Speed Management Action Plan for Randolph County, FHWA-SA-15-017 (Washington, DC: FHWA, 2015), 

https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/speedmgt/ref_mats/docs/randolphco-smap_fnal.pdf. 

3 North Carolina Department of Transportation, Developing Guidelines and Documentation of Engineering Studies for Establishing NC 

Speed Limits, research project no. 2017-10 (Raleigh: NCDOT, 2017), https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/research/Pages/ProjDetails. 

aspx?ProjectID=2017-10. 
IMPLEMENTING A SPEED MANAGEMENT PLAN • North Carolina 

To ensure speed limits are appropriately set for 

all roads, NCDOT will conduct speed studies for 

approximately 50,000 miles of rural roads that have 

a statutory speed limit of 55 miles per hour (mph). To 

reach the 50,000 mile goal, NCDOT plans to perform 

speed studies on 1,500 miles of roads per year. The 

agency will use a proactive, data-driven process to 

identify and prioritize roads for speed studies. 

COLLABORATION IS KING

NCDOT collaborates with law enforcement,

legislators, magistrates, and district attorneys to

implement speed management countermeasures

such as lowering speed limits, enforcing penalties,

and designating safety corridors based on law

enforcement data.

Speed Corridors 

Corridor safety was a signifcant theme during this SMAP’s development and corridor-based data analysis 

approaches and improvement strategies were incorporated throughout the plan. As part of the National 

Governors Association (NGA) Rural Roads Initiative, NCDOT is partnering with the Governor’s Highway 

Safety Program and local stakeholders from nine counties, including Randolph County, to identify potential 

corridors that could beneft from safety countermeasures, including speed management countermeasures. 

The county stakeholders typically include the local administration and elected ofcials (such as county 

manager or county commissioner) and representatives from law enforcement, emergency medical 

services, the public health department, the school system, and the district attorney’s ofce. 

This process has encouraged the community and 

stakeholders to work together to brainstorm ideas and 

solutions to improve corridor safety. Along the way, NCDOT 

provides support and guides the task group to ensure 

success. The ultimate goal is to transition stakeholders 

into a county-level safety stakeholder task group to guide 

implementation and select corridors for improvement. 

WORKING SMARTER, NOT HARDER 

NCDOT has found that focusing on a specific

corridor is a beneficial way to generate

stakeholder participation and excitement.

2 Source: Getty Images 
£safe Roads for a Safer future ~ lnuestment In roadway safety saues 1/ues 

IMPLEMENTING A SPEED MANAGEMENT PLAN • North Carolina 

Involving the Judicial Branch 

The SMAP not only targets improving speed setting practices and corridor safety, but also public information 

and education. Public education is partly completed through the court system by upholding speeding 

citations and providing continued driver education classes. When designating speeding corridors, the county 

involves law enforcement and the court system. On these designated corridors, ofcers issue tickets that are 

routed through the general court rather than trafc court. Although it takes up regular court time, judges 

know these speeding tickets are a priority and should not be pleaded down. 

Through the NGA Rural Roads Initiative, NCDOT has also built a THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX 

relationship with district attorneys and includes them in trafc safety 

The StreetSafe Driving Program discussions. One result of this partnership is the StreetSafe Driving 

offered by the Johnston County Program in Johnston County. The district attorney developed a 4.5-hour 

District Attorney’s office engages class for younger drivers who have received trafc or speeding citations. 

young drivers and their parents If the student is a minor, a parent must attend for the frst hour of class. 

to create and nurture healthy The class is taught by law enforcement and fre personnel who share their 

driving habits. frst-hand experiences responding to crashes that involved speeding, 

aggressive, distracted, intoxicated, and unbelted drivers.4 

Moving Forward 

These initial steps are starting to have an efect. In 2018, speeding-related fatalities dropped to 23 percent of all 

fatalities, 17% lower than when the SMAP was developed in 2015.5

 North Carolina stakeholders recognize more 

steps must be taken to eliminate speeding fatalities. More recently, NCDOT designated speeding as one of its 

Vision Zero focus areas6

 and included speed management as an emphasis area in its 2019 Strategic Highway 

Safety Plan (SHSP).7

 Its latest SHSP outlines strategies and action steps for improving speed management 

and reducing speeding related crashes. For example, NCDOT, including the Secretary of the Department of 

Transportation and its leadership, are considering programs and strategies to establish safety corridors where 

additional countermeasures and strategies can be deployed with a focus on speeding. NCDOT is also considering 

adjusting statutory speed limits, including adjusting the rural road statutory speed limit from 55 to 45 mph. 

Additional Resources 

If your agency is interested in learning more about SMAPs, visit FHWA’s Speed Management Safety 

web page, which contains many resources including a SMAP template,

8 Randolph County’s SMAP,9 

 

examples of other SMAPs, noteworthy practices, speed management countermeasures, and more. 

For additional information about the practices discussed in this flyer, please contact: 

Brian Mayhew, PE, CPM, State Trafc Safety Engineer, North Carolina Department of Transportation 

(919) 814–5010, bmayhew@ncdot.gov 

4 Johnston Community College, “StreetSafe Driving Program” web page, accessed November 2019, http://www.johnstoncc.edu/continuingeducation/driving/street-safe.aspx. 

5 National Highway Trafc Safety Administration, Trafc Safety Facts: Speeding–2018 Data, report no. DOT HS 812 932 (Washington, DC: NHTSA, 

2020), https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812932 

6 North Carolina Department of Transportation, “NC Vision Zero: Safety Focus Areas” web page, accessed May 2020. https://ncvisionzero.org/ 

safety-focus/. 

7 North Carolina Department of Transportation. 2019 Strategic Highway Safety Plan. 

8 Federal Highway Administration, Speed Management Action Plan Template, FHWA-SA-15-017 (Washington, DC: FHWA, 2015), 

https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/speedmgt/ref_mats/docs/fhwa_speedmanagactionplantemplate_fnal.pdf. 

9 Federal Highway Administration, Speed Management Action Plan for Randolph County, FHWA-SA-15-017 

(Washington, DC: FHWA, 2015), https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/speedmgt/ 

ref_mats/docs/randolphco-smap_fnal.pdf. 

FHWA-SA-20-046