Take Action Before a Crash Occurs: 

Use a Systemic Approach to Safety 

Have you ever known of a road segment that warranted 

improvement but lacked the requisite crash history to acquire funding 

for needed countermeasures? By using the systemic safety approach, 

agencies can identify, estimate, and plan for current and future 

safety concerns without relying on location-specific crash data. This 

approach allows managers to effectively plan safety improvements 

and allocate resources proactively rather than waiting for crashes to 

occur and then reactively responding to public calls for action. 

Since severe crashes are random events that rarely occur in the same 

location twice, it is difficult to predict where the next one will occur. 

While severe crashes may occur at random locations, severe crash 

types are predictable, as can be seen in Figure 1. This figures illustrates 

that the number and location of fatal crashes changes from year 

to year, while the circumstances that most commonly contribute to 

severe traffic crashes are consistent over time. 

WHAT IS THE SYSTEMIC SAFETY APPROACH? 

To understand the concept behind systemic safety, consider the 

analogy of contracting the flu. A childcare worker has a greater 

potential of contracting the flu than most people due to her above 

average exposure to children. The childcare worker can either wait 

until she contracts the flu to treat the virus or she can proactively get 

a flu shot. These options represent the thought process behind the 

reactive method of addressing crashes and the systemic approach 

to safety, respectively. 

In the world of traffic safety, crashes are similar to contracting the flu. 

The roadway factors associated with fatal and serious injury crashes 

can be identified and addressed. Roadway factors represent the 

roadway and traffic characteristics present at locations experiencing 

higher than expected frequencies of the target crash type. Rather 

than treating the whole system, you can focus on locations with the 

highest potential for future crashes. 

“We cannot reach zero deaths if we wait for crashes to occur. 

The systemic safety approach proactively addresses serious 

injuries and fatalities before they occur.” 

Scott Davis, Thurston County Public Works 
 

Take Action Before a Crash Occurs: 

Use a Systemic Approach to Safety 

CRASH-BASED VS. SYSTEMIC SAFETY ANALYSIS 

Systemic safety analysis complements the traditional crash-based analysis. A comprehensive safety 

management program will include investments to address opportunities identified through both crash-based 

and systemic safety analysis. 

Benefits of the Systemic Approach to Safety 

Low-cost systemic improvements can be 

deployed widely across the system, yielding 

a greater overall safety benefit.

Improves future planning. 

A better understanding of roadway factors that 

contribute to crashes will improve future design, 

operations, and maintenance practices. 

Prevents crashes before they occur. 

Rather than waiting for crashes to occur, the 

systemic approach uses roadway factors to 

treat potential future crash locations now. 

Leverages in-house resources. 

Since systemic improvements are low cost, agencies 

may already have needed materials in their inventories 

and can install them using maintenance staff. 

Systemic Safety Approach In Practice 

A roadway departure crash caught the attention 

of the media when a school bus overturned at a 

horizontal curve. Elected officials pressured the DOT to 

ensure that this would not happen again. The agency 

contemplated two responses: (1) use a large portion 

of their safety funds to straighten the single curve, or 

(2) identify many curves with similar roadway factors

and apply low-cost treatments (i.e., tree trimming,

chevrons, delineators).

The agency examined all school bus routes and 

observed the following roadway factors that could 

contribute to crashes: 

 Large changes in grade.

 Sharp curves with advisory speeds less than 35 miles

per hour.

 Poor/limited sight distance.

 Frequency of pick-up and drop off points.

 Narrow lanes (10 ft. or less) with little to no shoulder.

For additional Jerry Roche 

information, FHWA Office of Safety 

please contact: 515.233.7323 

Jerry.Roche@dot.gov 

The agency used this list to identify 20 locations that 

exhibited three or more of these characteristics. By 

treating numerous locations, the agency estimated 

that the combined safety benefit will be greater than 

if they applied a higher cost treatment at a single 

location. 

For more information on the systemic approach to 

safety, visit https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/systemic. 

The agency could treat one high-cost curve 

location for $500,000, or it could treat 20 locations 

with low-cost countermeasures for an average 

cost of $25,000 per project. By treating numerous 

high-risk locations, the agency will reduce more 

fatal and serious injury crashes, yielding a greater 

benefit-to-cost ratio. 

John McFadden 

FHWA Resource Center 

410.962.0982 

John.McFadden@dot.gov 

Every Day Counts (EDC), a State-based initiative of FHWA’s Center for Accelerating Innovation, 

works with State, local and private sector partners to encourage the adoption of proven 

technologies and innovations aimed at shortening and enhancing project delivery. 

www.fhwa.dot.gov/everydaycounts FHWA-SA-17-010 

Optimizes safety benefit.