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                        SAMPLE Roadway Departure Safety Implementation Plan


            
            In This Section
        Roadway Departure Safety
                Strategic Approach
                                Strategic Plan
                Crash Emphasis Brochures
                Focused Approach
                Noteworthy Practices
                Partner Resources
                Keep Vehicles on the Road
                                Pavement Friction
                Horizontal Curve Safety
                Rumble Strips and Rumble Stripes
                Nighttime Visibility
                Provide for a Safe Recovery
                                SafetyEdge
                Clear Zones
                Reduce Crash Severity
                                Overview
                Hardware Eligibility Letters
                Focus on Reducing Rural Roadway Departures (FoRRRwD)
                                Overview
                All Public Roads
                Proven Countermeasures
                Systemic Approach
                Safety Action Plans
                FoRRRwD Resources
                
                The Roadway Departure Safety Goal
The Roadway Departure Safety Goal

Over the past several years, STATE has had continued reductions in roadway departure fatalities as indicated in Table 1.



**Table 1: State Roadway Departure Fatalities**
	2004
			2005
			2006
			2007
			2008
			TotalNumber of Roadway Departure Fatalities
			547
			596
			538
			496
			469
			2,646

The roadway departure goal is to reduce the XXX roadway departure fatalities that occurred in XXXX by XX percent by XXXX, or to prevent approximately XX additional roadway departure deaths from occurring annually.



The Approach

The HSIP program has been based upon a traditional approach directed towards improving roadway safety at specific high-crash locations by identifying and analyzing individual crashes at the locations, defining crash patterns, determining appropriate countermeasures to reduce future crash potential, and then implementing those countermeasures. While this is an important approach and needs to continue, it has limited impact in terms of reducing statewide numbers of roadway departure fatalities.

To help lower statewide roadway departure fatalities, two additional approaches are recommended to complement the traditional approach:

Systematic application of large numbers of cost-effective, low-cost countermeasures at locations that have specific, moderate crash types above a specified crash frequency level.
	Comprehensive application of low-cost infrastructure improvements coupled with targeted education and enforcement initiatives on corridors and in municipalities that exhibit a very high severe roadway departure crash history.In the systematic approach, the first step is to identify low-cost countermeasures. Then the crash data system is searched to identify highway sections that have targeted crashes at or above a crash threshold that would ensure cost-effective deployment of these countermeasures. Estimates of the impacts of the deployments can be made in terms of projected statewide roadway departure crashes prevented, annual lives saved, and overall deployment costs.

The comprehensive approach combines sets of cost-effective, low-cost infrastructure countermeasures with a coordinated set of education and highly visible enforcement initiatives targeted to reduce severe roadway departure crashes on corridors and within municipalities that have a severe roadway departure crash history.

Three other features need to be added to the plan to better improve the ability to achieve the safety improvement goal:

The safety program should be expanded to incorporate low-cost, cost-effective countermeasures on other types of projects such as resurfacing and surface transportation projects – especially if a crash history exists within the area of the work and the countermeasure can reduce future crash potential.
	The safety program should include cost-effective treatments on local roads since a portion of the statewide roadway departure crash problem occurs on local roads.
	Additional countermeasures rarely or never used in STATE need to be carefully and judiciously deployed on highway sections that have specific crash problems that these countermeasures can address. The countermeasure should be evaluated to determine if more widespread use is appropriate.

Distribution of the State Roadway Departure Fatality Problem

The roadway departure crash and fatality data for STATE was analyzed to gain insight on the distribution and characteristics of the roadway departure crash problem. Key information derived from the roadway departure data analysis is shown in Tables 2-5.



**Table 2: Roadway Departure Crashes, and Fatalities by Locality – 2004-2008**
	Locality
			Crashes
			FatalitiesTotal
			Percentage
			Total
			PercentageState
			106,989
			71.02%
			2,244
			84.81%Rural
			75,281
			49.97%
			1,886
			71.28%Urban
			31,708
			21.05%
			358
			13.53%Local
			43,661
			28.98%
			402
			15.19%Grand Total
			150,650
			100.00%
			2,646
			100.00%

**Table 3: Summary of Roadway Departure Fatalities, Crashes, and Fatalities per 100 Crashes – 2004-2008**
	Locality
			State Rural
			State Urban
			LocalAll RD CrashesFatalities
			1,881
			358
			402Crashes
			75,281
			31,708
			43,661Fat/100 Crashes
			2.49
			1.13
			0.92Interstate RD CrashesFatalities
			117
			75
			-Crashes
			6,296
			8,973
			-Fat/100 Crashes
			1.86
			0.84
			-State Route Type RD CrashesFatalities
			1,318
			168
			-Crashes
			52,288
			14,411
			-Fat/100 Crashes
			2.52
			1.12
			-US Route Type RD CrashesFatalities
			429
			100
			-Crashes
			14,350
			7,372
			-Fat/100 Crashes
			2.99
			1.36
			-Other Route Type RD State CrashesFatalities
			22
			15
			-Crashes
			2,347
			952
			-Fat/100 Crashes
			0.93
			1.57
			-

**Table 4: Enforcement and Education-Related Roadway Departure Crashes by Human Factor and Locality – 2004-2008**
	Locality
			Alcohol
			Speeding or Unbelted
			Speeding
			UnbeltedState Rural
			State Urban
			Local
			State Rural
			Interstate Only
			State Urban
			Interstate Only
			State Rural
			State Urban
			Local
			LocalFatalities
			562
			116
			177
			77
			52
			1,318
			209
			128
			262Incapacitating Injury Crashes
			926
			284
			454
			113
			148
			2,161
			486
			350
			602Total Crashes
			7,733
			3,245
			5,828
			1,547
			2,224
			18,558
			5,550
			6,192
			6,178Incapacitating Injury Crashes/ 100 Crashes
			11.97
			8.75
			7.79
			7.3
			6.35
			11.64
			8.26
			5.65
			9.74Fatalities/100 Crashes
			7.27
			3.57
			3.04
			4.98
			2.34
			7.1
			3.77
			2.07
			4.24

Crash Type
			Number of Crashes
			Number of FatalitiesFixed Object
			128,091
			1,978Head On
			8,033
			815Overturn/Rollover
			17,995
			484Ran Off Road – Left
			10,391
			158Ran Off Road – Right
			18,303
			257Ran Off Road – Straight
			1,061
			5Sideswipe, Opposite Direction
			12,115
			136Total
			195,989
			3,833

Summary of Roadway Departure Crash Concerns

Crashes predominantly occur in rural areas; severity of crashes is greater in rural areas than urban areas.
	Approximately 25 percent of the fatalities involve head-on or opposing-flow sideswipe crashes.
	Driving violations (speeding, alcohol, and unbelted driving) are major factors in roadway departure crashes. Many of these crashes involve multiple driving violation factors.

Summary of Roadway Departure Countermeasure Deployments

A summary of the countermeasures, deployment levels, costs, and estimated lives saved provided in Table 6.



**Table 6: Summary of Countermeasure Deployment Levels and Estimated Safety Impacts**
	Countermeasure
			Approach
			Number of Sections
			Construction Cost ($ Million)
			Enforcement, Education and EMS Costs (Annual $ Million)
			Estimated Annual Crashes Reduced
			Estimated Annual Incapacitating Injury Crashes Reduced
			Estimated Annual Fatalities ReducedEnhanced Signs and Markings for Curves – State Rural Roads
			Systematic
			976
			4.87
			-
			198
			13.34
			5.13Enhanced Signs and Markings for Curves Plus Flashing Beacons – State Rural Roads
			Systematic
			16
			0.12
			-
			7
			0.5
			0.2Enhanced Signs and Markings for Curves – State Urban Roads
			Systematic
			14
			0.07
			-
			23
			1.1
			0.32Enhanced Signs and Markings for Curves – Local Roads
			Systematic
			151
			1.51
			-
			88
			3.9
			0.89Centerline Rumble Stripes – ? 22 Feet Road Width – State Rural Roads
			Systematic
			254
			3.49
			-
			99
			9.4
			10.87Centerline Rumble Stripes – ? 20 and < 22 Feet Road Width – State Rural Roads
			Systematic
			368
			4.02
			-
			158
			12.3
			7.64Edge Line Rumble Stripes or Shoulder Rumble Strips – 2 & 4 Lane – State Rural Roads
			Systematic
			1,483
			5.92
			-
			624
			42.6
			13.58High Friction Surfaces – State Rural Roads – Micro Texture Surface
			Systematic
			159
			6.81
			-
			200
			8.3
			2.18Tree Removal/Safety Enhancements – State Rural Roads
			Systematic
			154
			3.85
			-
			83
			8.6
			3.67Tree Removal/Safety Enhancements – Local Roads
			Systematic
			16
			0.4
			-
			16
			1.6
			0.7Guard Rail Enhancements – State Rural
			Systematic
			115
			2.3
			-
			-
			1.31
			0.56Traffic Calming to Reduce Speeding-related Crashes (Pilot first)
			Systematic
			99
			5.05
			-
			146
			9.36
			4.38Enhanced Corridor Enforcement – Speeding-Related or Unbelted Driving – State Roads – Interstates
			Education and Enforcement
			20
			-
			0.6
			19
			1.3
			0.6Enhanced Corridor Enforcement – Speeding-Related or Unbelted Driving – State Roads – Not Interstates
			Education and Enforcement
			109
			-
			3.27
			53
			5.7
			3.07Enhanced Corridor Enforcement – Alcohol-Related – State Roads
			Education and Enforcement
			123
			-
			3.81
			38
			5.02
			2.84Corridor 3E Improvements – State Roads – Not Interstates
			Comprehensive
			3
			1.5
			0.3
			68
			3
			1.5Area-Wide 3E Improvements – Cities – State Roads
			Comprehensive
			2
			2
			0.2
			300
			16
			4.4Median Barrier – Raised Mountable, Flush, and Depressed Median Types – State Roads
			Traditional
			49
			5.88
			-
			26
			2.9
			3.04Total
			--
			4,111
			47.85
			8.18
			2,146
			146.23
			65.57
      
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                Book:SAMPLE Roadway Departure Safety Implementation Plan
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