Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 1

A Message from FHWA Associate

Administrator for Safety Beth Alicandri

Embarking on the “Road to Zero”

In an effort to reverse the alarming increase in roadway 

fatalities over the past year, the FHWA recently embarked 

upon a new national initiative called “Road to Zero.” This 

effort, led by the National Safety Council, with the help of 

FHWA, NHTSA, and FMCSA, has the ambitious goal of 

eliminating roadway fatalities within the next 30 years. 

I am particularly excited to see that Road to Zero includes partners from a 

wide range of disciplines such as transportation safety, urban planning, public 

health, and information technology. Road to Zero promotes proven lifesaving 

strategies with an emphasis on cross-discipline activities. The coalition will 

also lead the development of a new scenario-based roadmap which will help 

achieve zero traffic deaths using evidence-based strategies and a systematic 

approach to eliminating risks. An important element of this undertaking is 

developing a zero-traffic-deaths scenario that incorporates the strategic 

deployment of self-driving cars, which will reveal needs that haven't been 

considered and create a planning tool for policymakers and traffic safety 

organizations. The Road to Zero offers an exciting new way to work with 

colleagues across diverse disciplines on our mutual goal of driving the number 

of deaths on our roads to zero. 

Sharing information on successful safety practices is a key component of 

Road to Zero. I’m happy to note that this issue of the Safety Compass is full of 

information on these kinds of practices. For example, data-driven safety 

analysis is taking a leading role in identifying which roadways aren’t 

performing as they should and how they can be improved (page 3). Effective 

countermeasures such as road diets are being used in Honolulu, HI, as a tool 

to improve safety and livability as part of its Complete Streets initiative (page 

7). And of course, we have issued a treasure trove of new guidance and 

information products on topics such as State Highway Safety Plans (p. 10), 

speed management (p. 16), and systemic safety implementation (p. 16), to 

name a few. 

I encourage you to get involved and learn more about Road to Zero in the 

coming weeks and months. Read more at the NSC Road to Zero website 

www.nsc.org/learn/NSC-Initiatives/Pages/The-Road-to-Zero.aspx, and follow 

@RoadToZeroUS on Twitter.

A Publication of the Federal Highway Administration Office of Safety Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1

In This Issue:

HSIP 2015 National Summary Report 

Now Available!.......................................2

DDSA: Performing A Health Check-Up 

On Your Roadways................................ 3

Data Visualization: Telling the Data 

Story........................................................4

Express Yourself! Post a Road Diet 

Selfie Today ............................................6

Honolulu Uses Road Diets to Advance 

Complete Streets Initiative.................... 7

NEW Reliability of Roadway Safety 

Management Methods Series................ 7

NEW Products Support SHSP Process10

Task Force 13 Enters Its 48th Year of 

Maintaining Road and Bridge 

Hardware Guidelines ...........................11

Working Better Together: Planners,

Safety Practitioners Can Do More...... 12

NEW Case Studies Highlight Uses of 

GIS to Advance Highway Safety ........ 12

Are You Ready to Rumble?.................. 13

Clearinghouse for Older Road User 

Safety Offers A Range of Resources ... 14

NEW State Practices to Mitigate Tree, 

Utility Pole Collisions........................... 14

NEW Speed Setting and Speed Mgmt. 

Resources Now Available!................... 16

Reliability of Roadway Safety Mgmt.

Methods Series: Systemic Safety ........ 16

Two NEW Informational Guides Assist 

with Integrating DDSA ....................... 18

Tech Assistance Available for Data 

Business Planning for State, Tribal, & 

Local Safety Data Integration!........... 19

NEW 2016 IHSDM Model Available!.20

Hot Off the Press: Safety Publications 

Portfolio ................................................ 21

Advanced Technologies for Safety and 

Mobility at Intersection Crossings .....22

KSP Teaches Teens to Drive Safely 

Around Large Trucks ..........................24

Announcements and Events................ 25

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Subscribe Today!
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 2

HSIP 2015 NATIONAL SUMMARY 

REPORT NOW AVAILABLE!

By: Karen Scurry, FHWA Office of Safety

The Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) is 

a core Federal-aid program which aims to achieve a 

significant reduction in fatalities and serious injuries 

on all public roads. Under the Moving Ahead for 

Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), 

Congress authorized approximately $2.4 billion per 

year to help States achieve this goal through the 

implementation of highway safety improvement 

projects. This is nearly double the amount that was 

authorized under the previous legislative act. 

Together, the States obligated nearly $3.9 billion for 

over 4,100 highway safety 

improvement projects in 2015.

These highway safety 

improvement projects come in 

all shapes and sizes. Some are 

high-value reconstruction 

projects, while others consist of 

low-cost countermeasure

installations across multiple 

sites. The 2015 HSIP National 

Summary Report provides an 

aggregate summary of the type 

and cost of projects across all 

States. Highlights of the States' 

2015 HSIP implementation 

efforts are provided below. 

• A majority (roughly twothirds) of HSIP projects 

cost less than $500,000 

each, with 35 percent of 

all projects costing less than $100,000. 

• About 20 percent of HSIP projects would be 

considered high cost, coming in at over $1 

million each. These projects often include 

widening shoulders, adding auxiliary lanes, 

installing cable barriers, installing rumble 

strips, or modifying traffic signals. 

• Projects associated with a functional class 

were most often categorized as rural major 

collector or other urban principal arterial. 

• Projects on urban principal arterial interstates 

had the highest average total cost per project 

of $3.01 million, whereas projects on rural 

local roads or streets had the lowest average 

total cost per project of $330,000. 

• There are fewer urban projects than rural 

projects but the average total cost per project 

of the urban projects is greater than the 

average total cost per project of the rural 

projects.

• About 70 percent of highway safety 

improvement projects occur on roads owned 

by the State Highway Agency. 

• Projects on roads owned by State Highway 

Agencies had the third highest average total 

cost per project of approximately $1.1 million, 

while projects on roads owned by County 

Highway Agencies cost just over $400,000 on 

average. 

• Seventy percent of highway safety 

improvement projects fall into the following 

categories: roadway, intersection traffic 

control, intersection geometry, roadside, and 

shoulder treatments. 

• Interchange design, animal-related projects, 

and advanced technology and ITS have the 

highest average cost per project. Roadway 

signs and traffic control, speed management, 

and work zones have the lowest average cost 

per project.

• States use HSIP funds to address the 

predominant infrastructure-related crash 

types – roadway departure, intersection, and 

pedestrian crashes.

The number and cost of HSIP projects has continued 

to increase from 1,684 projects with a total cost of 

$1.61B in 2009 to 4,188 projects with a total cost of 
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 3

$3.90B in 2015. Over the past 7 years, States 

obligated $16.6 billion for more than 19,000 highway 

safety improvement projects.

To view the complete Highway Safety Improvement 

Program 2015 National Summary Report or the 

individual State HSIP reports, visit

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/hsip/reports/. For more 

information on the Highway Safety Improvement 

Program, please contact Karen Scurry at 

karen.scurry@dot.gov. 

DATA-DRIVEN SAFETY ANALYSIS:

PERFORMING A HEALTH CHECK-UP ON 

YOUR ROADWAYS 

By: Jerry Roche, FHWA Office of Safety and John 

McFadden, FHWA Resource Center

Data-Driven Safety Analysis made great strides 

under Every Day Counts 3 (EDC-3) initiative, with 

more than 40 States applying DDSA on one or more 

projects in the areas of planning, alternatives 

analysis, design, and operations. Interest in DDSA 

has remained so high, that it was selected as one of 

the innovations to continue under EDC-4. Now that 

States have tried it, many 

State DOTs and local 

agencies have set their 

sights on integrating DDSA 

into their policies and 

procedures throughout their 

respective project 

development processes. 

One of the areas in which 

we’ve seen progress in 

applying DDSA is planning. 

Predictive and systemic 

analysis tools can be applied 

early in the project 

development process to help 

identify which roadways 

aren’t performing as they 

should, determine the scope 

and need of potential 

projects, and prioritize them.

For example, the Ohio 

Department of Transportation 

(ODOT) is incorporating 

data-driven safety analysis 

into its project development 

process so that safety will be considered in all 

project planning - from minor resurfacing to major 

construction projects. The agency created safetyintegrated project maps that identify priority locations 

where safety improvements should be considered on 

projects that overlap these areas. 

The Colorado Department of Transportation is 

another State that’s performing a safety analysis of 

all its projects as part of a transportation systems 

management and operations (TSM&O) evaluation. 

This evaluation process compares existing safety 

performance of a project location with how that 

particular roadway was expected to perform. 

Projects with a high potential for safety improvement 

are then scoped accordingly to address the identified 

safety issues. 

The good news is that identifying roadway sites with 

the greatest potential for safety improvement doesn’t 

have to be overly complicated. In fact, many State 

and local agencies have accomplished this by 

implementing the systemic approach to highway 

safety. For those not familiar with the systemic 

approach, it’s really similar to how doctors provide 

care to their patients. First they inquire about your 

family health history, your personal health history, 

and your behavior (including exercise, diet, etc.). 

They then use this information to assess your risk of 
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 4

developing certain diseases and proactively work to 

minimize that risk before major issues develop later 

in life.

Similarly, we can perform “health assessments” on 

our roadway systems using these steps:

1. Identify target crash types (e.g. severe 

roadway departure crashes).

2. Identify focus facility types (e.g. two-lane rural 

roads with curves).

3. Identify and evaluate risk factors (e.g. curve 

radius, traffic volume, intersection within 

curve).

We can then proactively treat locations that surpass 

the threshold for crash risk with low-cost 

countermeasures. 

For more information on the systemic approach, visit 

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/systemic/. For DDSArelated training and technical assistance please 

contact Jerry Roche at jerry.roche@dot.gov or John 

McFadden at john.mcfadden@dot.gov.

DATA VISUALIZATION: TELLING THE 

DATA STORY

By: Lisa Bedsole, Leidos

Transportation professionals know that data tells a 

story and, for decades, FHWA has collected data 

that tells important stories about our Nation’s travel 

needs—from where and how old the country’s oldest 

bridges are to how many teenagers are getting 

drivers licenses each year. The safety story is also 

extremely important, especially now as data reveal 

that crashes and fatalities are rising. Data about our 

roadways tells stories that have widespread 

ramifications, and safety professionals can start 

using that data to share relevant information about 

our roadways with the public.

FHWA’s Office of Public Affairs has been working to 

develop a series of engaging graphics that help 

convey important messages about trends and other 

information that the public finds interesting or 

relevant. The effort started in 2014 when the staff 

was trying to figure out what would be appropriate to 

post on the agency’s new Facebook page. 

“We started trying to pick things out to share, and we 

experimented with what the data world calls ‘data 

visualization’—which is just a simplified trend 

analysis that the average person might find 

interesting,” explained Doug Hecox of FHWA’s Office 

of Public Affairs. The result? 

“We’re reaching thousands of people. We’re telling 

more Americans about their road system, and they 

are intrigued. The results from our infographics are 

outpacing anything we’ve ever done in informing the 

public,” Hecox added. “It’s not even comparable,” he 

added.

The FHWA public affairs team works closely with the 

Office of Policy to sift through reams of FHWA data 

to identify interesting and educational facts about our 

infrastructure and driving trends to showcase the 

changing nature of our transportation system and 

driving habits to the American public. They have 

found that, the more they can make it possible for 

viewers to interact with the data, the more fun it is, 

“like the Google doodle,” Hecox noted, adding that 

the staff is exploring the possibility of developing 

more interactive infographics in the coming year. 

To date, their work has yielded several safety-related 

infographics. For example, one addresses the 

importance of nighttime visibility for trick-or-treaters 

This infographic generated nearly 4,600 impressions on 

its third appearance (October 2016).
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 5

on Halloween (see image below). Another 

showcases the rising instances of work zone 

fatalities as a means of drawing attention to the need 

for drivers to be extra careful when traveling through 

active work zones. A third uses a chart to point out 

that, ever since the first person in the U.S. was killed

by an automobile in 1899, safety improvements have 

helped to reduce the fatality rate despite steady 

increases in VMT over the years.

FHWA’s infographics are important for many 

reasons, not least of which is because, once a user’s 

interest is caught, the person will typically stay on the 

website looking for other “tidbits” of interesting 

information. The infographics also drive traffic to the 

agency’s website, Twitter feed and other social 

media channels, making FHWA an information 

“destination.” This allows FHWA to support its 

educational goal of helping the public understand the 

role its transportation network plays and other 

important truths, like who drives on the Nation’s 

roadways, where the money for infrastructure is 

spent, and how the transportation system acts as the 

backbone of our economy. 

The next step is to think about how these social 

media can be used in schools, perhaps in 

conjunction with STEM curriculum. As an extension 

of that, Hecox urged data and statistical staff at 

transportation agencies to work with their public 

relations and communications staff to identify trends 

or stories that the public needs to know about when 

it comes to safety. The challenge, he added, is to 

keep the story told by the data fresh, timely and 

original. 

Do you have ideas or know of data trends that might 

lend themselves to safety-related infographics that 

will capture people’s attention and educate them 

about the importance of roadway safety? We invite 

you to share your thought by contacting Doug Hecox 

at dhecox@dot.gov. To view the infographics 

published to date, visit FHWA’s Flickr page at 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fhwa/sets/7215764916

3936650. 

Interested in keeping up with the latest from 

FHWA? Pick your favorite social media outlet 

and sign up to follow us today!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/usdotfhwa 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/federalhighway-administration.

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/FederalHighwayAdmin/. 

The Data Story

One example of the storytelling power of data happened in 2006, when the agency began tracking monthly 

declines in vehicle miles traveled (VMT)—a phenomenon not seen since the fuel shortages of the 1970s. After 

nearly 18 months of declines, which many attributed to higher fuel prices, the housing bubble burst.

“We saw economic realities playing out on the roadway months before anybody else did. We began to realize 

we have some fairly significant economic indicators [in these data],” said Doug Hecox of FHWA’s Office of 

Public Affairs, adding that the news media gave this specific trend significant coverage and has continued to 

follow the monthly VMT data with great interest.

After publishing this Halloween-themed safety 

infographic, the agency’s Twitter feed saw a record 

increase of 212 Twitter followers in one week.
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 6

EXPRESS YOURSELF! SHARE YOUR 

EXCITEMENT FOR ROAD DIETS AND 

POST A SELFIE TODAY

By: Becky Crowe, FHWA Office of Safety

Want to share your love for Road Diets? Across the 

Nation, transportation specialists, travelers, and road 

practitioners have been posting photos online using

the hashtag “#RoadDiets” to promote their 

enthusiasm for this effective road reconfiguration 

technique. Now, it’s your turn. Post a photo today 

and join the movement!

The goal of the Selfie Campaign is to raise 

awareness of a Road Diets to the general public and 

to promote the effectiveness of these successful 

road reconfigurations. This is one in a series of 

campaigns, led by the FHWA Office of Safety, to 

encourage agencies to institutionalize Road Diets as 

a safety solution. 

Almost half of the States in the country have formally 

adopted policies to implement Road Diets to ease 

congestion and improve safety on busy corridors. 

Most of the remaining States are in the development, 

demonstration, and assessment stages and are 

moving toward establishing Road Diets as a 

standard agency practice. This comes as no 

surprise; when properly planned and tested, Road 

Diets work! 

What’s the Big Idea?

Road Diets are a valuable tool in the transportation 

engineer’s toolbox and offer a variety of 

configurations that can be adapted to serve a 

community’s specific needs. Unfortunately, those 

most directly affected by the road reconfigurations—

members of the public—are largely unaware of what 

Road Diets are or the extensive benefits they can 

offer.

The goal of Road Diets is to improve safety and 

livability at a low cost while significantly reducing 

crashes and making commuting safer for all road 

users. The term “Road Diets” is not well known, and 

this campaign is an opportunity to educate the public 

about the many benefits, allay concerns about the 

possible negative impacts, and correct 

misinformation.

How can you Join the Campaign?

It’s easy! Here’s how it works:

1. Print out the hashtag (#RoadDiets). 

2. Safely snap a selfie with the sign at your 

favorite Road Diet. (Points for creativity!)

3. Post the photo on Facebook or Twitter. 

Include “#RoadDiets” in your text along with 

your state or locality. For example, my tweet 

would be: In Henrico, VA, #RoadDiets are 

awesome!

I look forward to seeing your post! Remember, be 

safe when you take that selfie! 

To learn more about use cases and scenarios for 

Road Diets, download the Road Diet Case Studies 

Guide at: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/road_diets/

case_studies/roaddiet_cs.pdf.

To find out if a Road Diet is right for your area and to 

learn more about the history of Road Diets, visit the 

Office of Safety website and download our Road Diet 

Informational Guide, or contact Becky Crowe at 

rebecca.crowe@dot.gov. 
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 7

The Road Diet on Kamehameha IV Road

HONOLULU USES ROAD DIETS TO 

ADVANCE COMPLETE STREETS 

INITIATIVE

By: Becky Crowe, Transportation Specialist (FHWA)

The Department of Transportation Services (DTS) of 

the City & County of Honolulu is working hard to 

implement Complete Streets policies by applying 

new guidelines for maintenance and paving projects 

and by identifying projects that can be used to 

promote Complete Street designs to improve specific 

locations. One element of this effort involves 

expanding the application of Road Diets as a means 

of supporting the agency’s vision for a 

comprehensive, integrated network of streets that 

are safe and convenient for all people whether 

traveling by foot, bicycle, transit, or automobile, and 

regardless of age or ability. 

Since the Honolulu City Council adopted a Complete 

Streets policy and passed related ordinances in 

2012, DTS has established a multi-disciplinary 

Complete Streets Team, headed by a newly 

established Complete Streets Program 

Administrator. To date, the team has conducted indepth studies on 16 locations where it is considering 

implementing a variety of different treatments to 

promote a more complete road network. Of sites 

examined, a quarter includes recommendations for 

Road Diet applications, and several others 

recommend lane narrowing as a way to make room 

for pedestrian areas, bike lanes, or additional 

parking.

Going forward, the Complete Streets Team will 

continue to have great opportunities to implement 

Complete Streets principles through Honolulu’s 

ongoing street rehabilitation efforts. Previously, there 

had been a limited amount of systematic efforts to 

look at optimizing multimodal roadway use through 

changes within the right-of-way. As a part of this new 

review process, roadways will be identified for 

needed changes to sidewalks and areas beyond the 

existing travelway to benefit all users.

“The road diet is seen as the perfect tool to address 

overbuilt travelways that suffer from vehicular 

speeding,” said Mike Packard, the Complete Streets 

Program Administrator for the City and County of 

Honolulu. “They also provide a safer facility for 

pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles alike.” 

To learn more about implementing Road Diets in 

your locality, please contact Becky Crowe at 

rebecca.crowe@dot.gov.

NEW RELIABILITY OF ROADWAY 

SAFETY MANAGEMENT METHODS 

SERIES

By: Frank Gross (VHB), Joshua DeFisher (VHB), Yanira 

Rivera (FHWA), and Stuart Thompson (FHWA)

High quality data and reliable analytical methods are 

the foundation of data-driven decision making. The 

new Reliability of Roadway Safety Management 

Methods series includes four information guides that 

identify opportunities and the latest tools to employ

more reliable, state-of-the-art methods to support 

decisions throughout the roadway safety 

management process. The following information 

guides cover four specific components of the 

roadway safety management processes:

The Road Diet on Keolu Drive
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 8

• Network Screening

• Diagnosis

• Countermeasure Selection

• Safety Effectiveness Evaluation

The roadway safety management process is an 

integral part of the project development process. The 

results provide information for system planning, 

project planning, design and construction, and 

operations and maintenance of a transportation 

system. Each guide introduces the roadway safety 

management process and provides an overview of 

the featured step.

The purpose of the Reliability of Roadway Safety 

Management Methods series is to demonstrate the 

value of more reliable methods in these activities, 

and demonstrate limitations of traditional (less 

reliable) methods. Each guide provides examples to 

illustrate the application of the various methods and 

highlights differences in results among the more 

reliable and less reliable methods. The guides 

conclude with sections concerning data requirements 

and tools and resources. The following is a brief 

summary of the four guides included in the Reliability 

of Roadway Safety Management Methods series:

Network Screening: Network screening is the 

process of analyzing the network to identify sites for 

further investigation. The Network Screening guide 

provides an overview of various performance 

measures for conducting network screening, 

including crash frequency, crash rate, equivalent 

property damage only, critical rate, level of service of 

safety, Empirical Bayes expected crashes, and 

Empirical Bayes expected excess crashes. The 

guide provides a discussion of the associated 

strengths and limitations for each performance 

measure and focuses on opportunities to employ 

more reliable performance measures to overcome 

potential limitations. (More reliable measures 

account for potential bias due to regression-to-themean, changes in traffic volume, the nonlinear 

relationship between crash frequency and traffic 

volume, and differences in crash severity.)

Diagnosis: Diagnosis is the process of further investigating sites identified in a network screening for 

existing and potential safety issues. The focus of the 

Diagnosis guide is applying more reliable diagnosis 

methods to understand the nature of reported crashes and identify factors that contribute to crashes. It 

describes how thorough diagnosis supports targeted 

countermeasure selection. The guide provides an 

overview of various methods to enhance the diagnosis process, including the Haddon Matrix (a framework for understanding the origins of injury problems 

and for identifying countermeasures to address 

those problems), test of proportions, and analysis of 

time trends. For each method, the guide provides a 

general discussion and examples focusing on 

opportunities to enhance the diagnosis process.

Countermeasure Selection: Countermeasure 

selection is the process of assessing ways to 

address or mitigate the underlying safety issues 

identified in diagnosis. The Countermeasure

Selection guide focuses on the use of more reliable

“I think it is the most thorough document on 

network screening I have ever read. The 

document is well written and organized.”

-Ning Li, Virginia DOT 

Illustration of linear and nonlinear relationship between 

crashes and traffic volume.
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 9

data-driven countermeasure selection methods. It 

provides an overview of various methods for 

selecting countermeasures, including the Haddon 

Matrix, data-driven crash-based methods (e.g., 

expected crashes and crash modification factors), 

and data-driven behavior-based methods. For each 

method, the guide provides a discussion of the 

opportunities to enhance the countermeasure 

selection process. More reliable methods such as 

the Haddon Matrix help safety professional’s account 

for factors that contribute to crashes and will 

generally lead to the selection of targeted, effective, 

and defensible countermeasures. More reliable 

methods, such as the use of CMFs and the 

associated standard error, help to quantify and 

consider the range of potential safety effects for a 

contemplated countermeasure.

Example condition diagram for diagnosis

Condition diagrams present 

an aerial view of site 

conditions such as roadway 

characteristics (e.g., number 

of lanes, presence of medians, 

traffic control devices, 

pedestrian and bicycle 

facilities), surrounding land 

uses, and pavement conditions. Analysts can overlay 

collision diagrams on condition diagrams to diagnose 

the crash patterns further. 
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 10

Safety Effectiveness Evaluation: Safety 

effectiveness evaluation is the process of estimating 

the safety impacts of implemented projects, which 

provides a critical feedback link for future decisions.

The Safety Effectiveness Evaluation guide provides 

an overview of various methods for conducting 

observational before-after studies, including simple 

before-after, before-after with linear and nonlinear 

traffic volume correction, before-after with 

comparison group, and Empirical Bayes (EB) beforeafter. For each method, the guide provides a 

discussion of the associated strengths and 

limitations, focusing on opportunities to employ more 

reliable methods to overcome potential limitations. 

More reliable methods account for potential bias due 

to regression-to-the-mean, changes in traffic volume, 

the nonlinear relationship between crash frequency 

and traffic volume, and general temporal effects.

The target audience for the Reliability of Roadway 

Safety Management Methods series includes data 

analysts, project managers, and program managers 

involved in projects that impact highway safety. Each 

guide provides information that will enable users to 

identify and adopt more reliable methods for 

roadway safety management. These guides will help 

users to:

• Understand the importance of safety 

management methods and how they relate to 

the roadway safety management process.

• Understand the strengths and limitations of 

various safety management methods.

• Understand the value of more reliable safety 

management methods.

• Select more reliable safety management 

methods.

• Identify the data requirements to apply more 

reliable safety management methods.

• Identify tools and resources to support safety 

management methods.

For more tools to support your safety data and 

analysis needs, visit the Roadway Safety Data and 

Analysis Toolbox. For more information contact 

Stuart Thompson at stuart.thompson@dot.gov.

NEW PRODUCTS SUPPORT THE SHSP

PROCESS

By: Jennifer Warren, Office of Safety

It has been said that “change is not only likely, it's 

inevitable." In the area of transportation safety we 

know this is true. 

We regularly see 

changes in leadership, legislation, 

regulations, policy, 

personnel, roles 

and responsibilities and more. 

These are opportune times to 

familiarize new 

stakeholders with 

the Strategic Highway Safety Plan 

(SHSP), particularly transportation leaders and 

newcomers to the 

SHSP process. 

Two new resources from the 

Office of Safety will help bring new stakeholders up 

to speed on the SHSP. To learn more, take a look at 

the SHSP Quick Reference Guide and the SHSP 

Leadership Briefing Packet.

SHSP Quick Reference Guide: This guide is 

designed to provide professionals, especially those 

who are new to the SHSP process, with quick and 

easy access to the information they need to 

successfully understand and manage an SHSP. It 

both provides an overview of the basic elements and 

requirements of an SHSP and offers helpful 

resources and links where practitioners can go to 

learn more. The guide also contains practical tips 

Illustration of regression-to-the-mean

Two new products help 

practitioners responsible for the 

SHSP to access important 

information and gain the support 

of leadership for traffic safety 

initiatives.

“This is an excellent, concise summary of the 

advantages of the EB method for estimating CMFs.”

-Matt Warren, Oklahoma DOT 
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 11

and noteworthy practices from professionals involved 

in the daily operations of the SHSP process.

Leading the Way to a Safer Transportation 

System: SHSP Leadership Briefing 

Packet: Leaders are critical to the success of any 

traffic safety effort, but nowhere can that leadership 

have such an immediate and lasting impact as 

through the State's SHSP. The purpose of this 

packet is to brief leaders on the importance of the 

SHSP, its role as part of the Highway Safety 

Improvement Program (HSIP), and why their 

involvement in this effort is crucial. The packet is 

particularly useful as part of a larger briefing on 

safety or as a way to gain more support for the 

SHSP, such as after passage of major transportation 

legislation or when there are changes in a State's 

administration.

For more information on these or other resources, 

please contact Jennifer Warren at 

jennifer.warren@dot.gov.

TASK FORCE 13 ENTERS ITS 48TH YEAR 

OF MAINTAINING ROAD AND BRIDGE 

HARDWARE GUIDELINES

By: Nick Artimovich, FHWA Office of Safety 

Technologies 

Task Force 13 is a group of concerned and 

experienced representatives from industry, 

academia, and State and Federal transportation 

departments who are tasked with developing, 

recommending, and promoting standards and 

specifications for bridge and road hardware. Task 

Force 13 has met twice a year since 1969 and is the 

only remaining Task Force organized under the 

AASHTO-AGC-ARTBA Joint Committee, 

Subcommittee of New Materials and Technologies.

This group is responsible for maintaining a treasury 

of drawings of roadside safety hardware, many of 

which used to be part of the AASHTO Roadside 

Design Guide. The drawings encompass both 

generic and proprietary roadside hardware and may 

be used by highway agencies, engineering 

consultants, and others who need accurate 

information on crashworthy devices.

The group maintains a series of web pages with 

online guides designed to support transportation 

professionals in selecting the appropriate hardware 

and devices for their needs:

• Online Guide To Barrier Hardware Systems

• Online Guide To Bridge Railings

• Online Guide To Standardized Small Sign 

Support Hardware

• Online Guide To Luminaire Supports

• Guides to Standardized Highway Drainage 

Products

While most drawings currently in the guides show 

devices that have been crash tested to NCHRP 

Report 350, hardware meeting the AASHTO Manual 

for Assessing Safety Hardware is added after every 

Task Force meeting.

The Task Force accomplishes its mission through 

subcommittees that focus on the five guides listed 

above as well as Work Zone Devices, Certification of 

Crash Test Laboratories / Computational Mechanics, 

and Delineation. The Task Force also meets as a 

whole to discuss their on-line publications and 

improvements to the website.

For more information on Task Force 13, please visit 

www.aashtotf13.org or contact Nick Artimovich at 

Nick.Artimovich@dot.gov.

At the Fall 2016 meeting in Miami, Florida, the Task 

Force presented this plaque to Nick Artimovich of the 

Office of Safety for his 17 years of service as the Task 

Force 13 Secretary.
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 12

WORKING BETTER TOGETHER:

PLANNERS AND SAFETY PRACTITIONERS 

CAN JOIN FORCES TO DO MORE

By: Chimai Ngo, Office of Safety

The FHWA Office of Safety and the Office of 

Planning, Environment, and Realty have jointly 

developed a guidebook entitled Building Links to 

Improve Safety: How Safety and Transportation 

Planning Practitioners Work Together. This guide 

book is designed to provide State DOTs, FHWA 

Division offices, metropolitan planning organizations 

(MPO), and local and tribal agencies a toolkit of 

strategies to integrate the safety and transportation 

planning processes.

The publication is written for both planners and 

safety practitioners and gives each group an introduction to the other’s planning processes, highlighting areas of overlap where opportunities exist to 

collaborate to improve safety and mobility. The guide 

offers strategies and practices based on questionnaires and interviews conducted with transportation 

planners and safety specialists in five States that 

have a successful track record of linking transportation and safety planning efforts (Arizona, 

California, Iowa, Oregon, and Virginia). It also 

provides actionable steps for planners, safety

specialists, and the broader community of State DOT 

engineers, city and county public works directors, 

and other transportation practitioners. 

A companion presentation will be also available in

early 2017 at http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/tsp/. For 

more information, please contact Chimai Ngo at 

chimai.ngo@dot.gov. 

NEW CASE STUDIES HIGHLIGHT USES 

OF GIS TO ADVANCE HIGHWAY SAFETY

By: Esther Strawder, FHWA Office of Safety

The Office of Safety’s Roadway Safety Data 

Program (RSDP) team has been working directly 

with State and local transportation agencies across 

the country to identify noteworthy practices and 

success stories that can be broadly applied to 

improve roadway safety nationwide. Program staff 

recently released a new set of case studies focused 

on innovative ways to use GIS to advance highway 

safety. 

Among the agencies identified is the Delaware 

Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), 

which is successfully using GIS to incorporate safety 

into elements of the transportation-planning process. 

Integrating GIS-based safety analysis into the 

planning process promotes a data-driven decisionmaking process, which in turn leads to better safety 

decision making. Integrated safety data also helps 

agencies develop performance-based approaches to 

planning and programming that help them meet the 

requirements for accessing Federal safety funds. 

The principal benefit of a data-driven, GIS-based 

safety analysis is an improved ability to identify and 

prioritize high-crash locations and to glean factbased information that can be integrated into 

transportation plans alongside other elements that 

drive the planning process, such as congestion, air 

quality, and sustainable design, among others.

Further west, Iowa, which has successfully used GIS 

to implement a snowplow project that provides realtime weather and road condition information. To 

gather this information, the Iowa DOT used its 

existing communications infrastructure and the 

snowplows deployed on a regular basis in the winter.

The project has made it possible for Iowa DOT to: 

• Combine “Plow Cams” and the agency’s 

“Track A Plow” website to show garage 

supervisors real-time road conditions, helping 

them better manage resources.

• Provide real-time information on road 

conditions to assist the public in making safe, 

informed travel choices when weather is bad.

• Help control costs while eliminating the need 

for laborious record keeping.

Iowa’s “Track A Plow” website allows supervisors to view 

the roadway from onboard cameras, which gives them a 

view of road conditions in real-time. 
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 13

In addition, Colorado is using GIS to spatially 

integrate roadway data with crash data, develop 

safety performance functions (SPFs), visualize data, 

and implement the Level of Service of Safety (LOSS) 

method to assess a roadway’s safety performance. 

The principal output of LOSS is a collection of 

calibrated SPFs for highway types and intersection 

configurations. By analyzing these, analysts can 

develop sophisticated predictive and diagnostic 

tools, which in turn informs policies or safety 

countermeasures to maximize crash reductions 

across the State—and within budget constraints.

Another recent case study examines the effective 

use of usRAP and UPlan by the DOTs in Kentucky

and Utah, respectively. The United States Road 

Assessment Program (usRAP) is a tool 

transportation agencies can use to rate their 

roadways for safety and identify strategies for 

systematic improvement. UPlan is an interactive 

mapping platform that helps the Utah DOT visualize 

its data, track its assets, and strengthen its 

transportation planning through better analysis and 

collaborative information. Both programs include 

data collection and analysis methods that facilitate 

highway safety improvements. In addition, UPlan 

deploys usRAP protocols for risk mapping and has 

customized these protocols to provide maps and 

data for a series of safety performance measures. 

For more in-depth information on how GIS can be 

used to improve safety in your state, check out the 

case studies at http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/rsdp/

safety_casestudies.aspx. For examples of other 

noteworthy practices in using data to improve 

roadway safety, visit http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/rsdp/

noteworthy_practices.aspx. For additional questions, 

please contact Esther Strawder at: 

esther.strawder@dot.gov

ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE?

New Handbook Offers Guidance for 

Installing of Shoulder and Center Line 

Rumble Strips on Non-Freeway Facilities

By: Cathy Satterfield, FHWA Office of Safety and Abdul 

Zineddin, FHWA Office of Safety R&D

Center line and shoulder rumble strips are proven 

safety countermeasures for reducing roadway 

departure crashes, including head-on crashes and 

run-off-road crashes, but not all roadways are good 

candidates for rumble strips. So how do practitioners 

know where rumble strips can be most 

advantageous for reducing roadway departures?

The Office of Safety and Office of Safety R&D 

developed the new Decision Support Guide for the 

Installation of Shoulder and Center Line Rumble 

Strips on Non-Freeways to provide a framework that 

will inform center line and shoulder rumble strip 

installation decisions. It describes methods for 

identifying appropriate locations for installation, 

assessing the potential crash reductions and benefitcost ratio, and developing performance metrics for 

safety. In addition, the guide addresses special

considerations for rumble strip installations – such as 

bicyclist activity, potential noise impacts, pavement 

quality, and maintenance activities. It also identifies 

variability in current practices.

The decision-support framework covers policy 

development for systematic rumble strip installation 

and provides a flowchart for decision-making for 

sites that can benefit from installation but do not 

Crash rate map for Utah from the usRAP Web site. 

Source: usRAP.
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 14

meet criteria for systematic installation. The 

framework can also be applied to sites that are

identified based on crash history, such as for 

Highway Safety Improvement Program selection. 

Within this framework, this guide describes who may 

be involved in the decision-making process and at 

what points those individuals’ inputs should be 

sought. It also provides an overview of safety 

performance measures that can be presented to 

policy makers and stakeholders. Performance 

metrics described in this guide can be used to inform 

stakeholders of rumble strip benefits.

For more information on applying rumble strips as a 

roadway departure countermeasure, please contact 

Cathy Satterfield at cathy.satterfield@dot.gov or 

Abdul Zineddin at abdul.zineddin@dot.gov. 

CLEARINGHOUSE FOR OLDER ROAD 

USER SAFETY OFFERS A RANGE OF

RESOURCES

By Guan Xu, FHWA Office of Safety

As America’s driving population ages, resources 

addressing the needs of those drivers become 

increasingly important. Just over a year ago, the 

Roadway Safety Foundation, with support from the 

Federal Highway Administration and National 

Highway Traffic Safety Administration, launched the 

Clearinghouse for Older Road User Safety 

(ChORUS) at www.roadsafeseniors.org. 

ChORUS serves as a centralized, user-friendly, and 

dynamic source of information pertaining to highway 

safety for aging drivers, passengers, pedestrians, 

and cyclists. Built as a comprehensive resource, 

ChORUS offers a wealth of information useful to 

researchers, engineers, industry, the media, and the 

general public. Safety practitioners will find that 

ChORUS offers quick, easy access to design 

guidelines for the aging population, technical 

documents, case studies and success stories, and 

information about innovative financing solutions. 

From retroreflective signage that helps older drivers 

navigate at night, to high-visibility crosswalks that 

allow drivers to more easily see pedestrians, to leftturn lanes that improve sight distance at 

intersections and prevent deadly right-angle crashes, 

infrastructure solutions are integral to enhancing

safety for the aging road user. 

Learn more about the many resources that can help 

your agency make the roads safer for older drivers. 

Visit https://www.roadsafeseniors.org/, or contact 

Guan Xu at guan.xu@dot.gov. 

NEW GUIDE HIGHLIGHTS STATE 

PRACTICES TO MITIGATE TREE, UTILITY 

POLE COLLISIONS

By: Joseph Cheung, FHWA Office of Safety

Roadway departures account for about half of all 

fatal crashes that occur each year in the United 

States, according to the Fatality Analysis Reporting 

System (FARS). The FHWA Roadway Departure 

(RwD) Strategic Plan defines a roadway departure 

crash as one that occurs after a vehicle crosses an 

edge line or a center line, or otherwise departs the 

traveled way. FARS data also show that 40 percent 

of these crashes involved a collision with a fixed 

object. Roadside trees and utility poles comprise 63 

percent of the fixed objects struck, making them the 

most harmful event in 14 percent of all fatal crashes.

By working to reduce run-off-road crashes that 

involve collisions with trees and utility poles, States 

can reduce fatal crashes significantly. To help 

agencies address this safety concern, the Office of 

Safety recently released a guide entitled Noteworthy 

Practices: Roadside Tree and Utility Pole 

Management. The practices described within this
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 15

report offer a snapshot of many alternative 

approaches in use by State agencies. Leveraging a 

comprehensive 2014 roadway departure survey, 

FHWA was able to examine responding States’ 

levels of engagement with all aspects of roadway 

departure, including crashes into trees, utility poles, 

and other fixed objects. The resulting report provides 

agencies with examples of a dozen successful—and 

immediately deployable—tree and pole practices in 

use today. 

These practices, which range from complex, multimillion dollar contract solutions to in-house efforts 

that can be accomplished with minimal resources, 

have been drawn from every region of the United 

States as well as from previous research. In this 

report, readers will learn how Washington is using 

network analysis to target problem locations, how 

New Jersey is using utility poles that absorb crash 

energy to mitigate the severity of crashes, and how 

Nebraska has adopted the practice of re-establishing 

clear zones during resurfacing, restoration, and 

rehabilitation (3R) activities. Other case studies 

highlight successful practices applied to address

roadway departures involving tree and utility pole

collisions in culturally sensitive or environmentally 

constrained areas. 

For additional information, contact Joseph Cheung at 

joseph.cheung@dot.gov. 

NEW CASE STUDIES SHOWCASE RSAS 

TAILORED TO TRANSIT

By: Becky Crowe, FHWA Office of Safety

Incorporating a transit access focus into the RSA 

process is a unique undertaking due to the 

complexity of facility ownership. In many instances, 

transit agencies are responsible for providing local 

service to the community and operate on roadways 

maintained by the State or local road agency or a 

private authority. However, lighting and intersection 

traffic signals may be maintained by different 

sections within a locality’s transportation or public 

works agency. The transit agency may work with the 

locality to solicit input, but the transit agency is

ultimately responsible for planning routes, operating 

service, and selecting and maintaining transit stop 

locations. The transit agency may need to work with 

a variety of agencies or entities to install the transit 

stops and any associated amenities. A Transit

Access RSA provides the opportunity for these

agencies to improve their working relationships as

they identify and address safety concerns related to 

transit use and access.

An RSA focus area in Orlando, FL showing possible intersection improvements. (Map data: 

©Google).
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 16

To help Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies 

understand and address the conditions and road 

safety issues that affect transit users, the FHWA 

recently published four case studies focused on

improving access to transit using Road Safety Audits 

(RSA). The RSA locations included urban and 

suburban areas with transit facilities and included a 

multidisciplinary team of planners, engineers, transit 

managers and operators, and law enforcement. This 

multidisciplinary perspective was critical to defining 

approaches to improving transit rider safety using the 

4-E approach to safety.

In response to the issues identified during each of 

the RSAs, a variety of opportunities were identified, 

including improving ADA compliance, evaluating the 

need for pedestrian crossing measures, implementing corridor access management techniques, and 

increased separation of modes. In one location, a 

Road Diet was suggested to allow for on-street 

parking, a bike lane, bus-pullout bays, and a combination of curb bulbouts and a pedestrian refuge 

island at a busy intersection. Any or all of these 

configurations would serve to improve pedestrian 

access and safety.

The Improving Access to Transit Using Road Safety 

Audits: Four Case Studies case studies document is 

available today! For more information about Road 

Safety Audits, or to learn how you can tailor your 

RSA to address a specific safety concern, visit: 

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/

rsa/resources/ or contact Becky Crowe at: 

rebecca.crowe@dot.gov.

NEW SPEED SETTING AND SPEED 

MANAGEMENT RESOURCES NOW 

AVAILABLE!

By: Guan Xu, FHWA Office of Safety

Speeding is a complicated problem that involves the 

interaction of many factors including public attitudes, 

road user behavior, vehicle performance, roadway 

design and characteristics, posted speed limits, 

enforcement strategies and judicial decisions. To 

help tackle this complex and cross-cutting safety 

issue, the Office of Safety has developed a set of 

case studies and fact sheets designed to illustrate 

how to set appropriate speeds and to highlight some 

effective speed management countermeasures.

Speed Limit Basics [PDF, 1.25 MB] provides 

introductory information about various types of speed 

limits and speed concepts and the available 

technical tools and informational guide for setting 

different type of speed limits.

Speed Management Countermeasures: More than 

Just Speed Humps [PDF, 1.37 MB] talks about the 

variety of speeding countermeasures that are 

available and which factors should be considered 

when selecting the most appropriate one.

Speed Management Case Study: Georgia 

Department of Transportation Setting Speed 

Limits with Help from USLIMITS2 [PDF, 1.01 MB] 

provides an overview of how the Georgia DOT used 

an engineering speed study supplemented by the 

USLIMITS2 tool to evaluate existing speed limits in 

Greenville, Georgia.

Speed Management Case Study: Reducing 

Excessive Speeding in Rural Communities in 

Iowa [PDF, 1.15 MB] explains how several 

communities in Iowa employed a variety of traffic 

calming techniques to inform motorists of incrementally reduced speed limits on the approaches to 

town centers, encouraging them to slow down and 

comply with the slower, safer speed limits.

RELIABILITY OF ROADWAY SAFETY 

MANAGEMENT METHODS SERIES:

SYSTEMIC SAFETY PROGRAMS

By: Frank Gross (VHB), Joshua DeFisher (VHB), Yanira 

Rivera (FHWA), and Stuart Thompson (FHWA)

High-quality data and reliable analytical methods are 

the foundation of data-driven decision making. The 

new Reliability of Roadway Safety Management 

Methods series demonstrates the value of more 

reliable methods and the limitations of traditional 

methods in roadway safety management. The series 

includes a guide that demonstrates opportunities to 

employ more reliable methods to support systemic 

safety analysis and decisions. 
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 17

The Systemic Safety Programs guide identifies and 

describes the systemic approach as a process that is 

complementary to the crash-based approach. In the 

crash-based approach, agencies select and treat 

sites based on the types of crashes that occur at a 

location. In the systemic approach, agencies select 

and treat sites based on site-specific geometric and 

operational attributes known to increase crash risk. 

Together, these two approaches support a 

comprehensive approach to safety management. 

The guide has several objectives: 

1. Raise awareness of the systemic approach to 

roadway safety management. 

2. Characterize typical projects implemented 

through a comprehensive safety 

management program. 

3. Demonstrate the value of integrating systemic 

approaches as part of a comprehensive 

safety management program. 

4. Provide information on allocating funding to 

systemic projects within a comprehensive 

safety management program.

The target audience for the Systemic Safety 

Programs guide includes data analysts, project

managers, and program managers involved in 

projects that impact highway safety. The guide 

provides information to the user toward implementation of more reliable methods for systemic safety 

programs. This guide will help users to:

• Understand how the systemic approach 

relates to the roadway safety management 

process.

• Understand the complementary nature of the 

systemic approach and crash-based 

approach.

• Understand the high-level strengths and 

limitations of systemic and crash-based 

approaches.

Understand the value of integrating systemic 

approaches as part of a comprehensive 

roadway safety management program.

• Allocate funding to systemic projects within a 

comprehensive roadway safety management 

program. 

• Identify the data requirements to employ 

systemic approaches to roadway safety 

management.

The guide begins by introducing the roadway safety 

management process and the purpose of safety 

programs. It describes the similarities, differences, 

strengths and limitations of the crash-based and 

systemic methodologies and includes a discussion of 

how they support a comprehensive approach to 

safety management. 

Systemic improvements are generally low-cost and 

widely implemented at sites characterized by specific 

geometric and operational attributes (i.e., those 

factors known to increase crash risk). This provides 

an effective way to address safety concerns at a 

large number of sites, particularly for sites that have 

few, if any, crashes, but which cumulatively account 

for a large percentage of crashes in a jurisdiction. 

For example, there may be few high-crash locations 

on local or rural roads, but these roads may 

collectively represent a relatively large safety 

concern statewide.

Similar to the crash-based approach, a primary 

challenge related to systemic improvements is 

justifying the project cost. Using the crash-based 

approach, an agency can often justify project costs 

based on the expected crash reductions at the 

proposed site. This can be a challenge for systemic 

Using the Systemic Approach, agencies select and 

treat sites based on site-specific geometric and operational attributes known to increase crash risk.
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 18

projects, particularly when the improvements target 

sites with no recent crash history. Instead of focusing 

on site-specific benefits, there is a need to focus on 

system-level benefits, which can be substantial. 

The guide demonstrates the value of implementing 

projects through both crash-based and systemic 

approaches using empirical examples that provide 

estimates of average project costs and benefits 

based on sample systemic projects. Using an 

optimization equation, the guide demonstrates how 

an agency can use average project cost and benefit 

information to allocate funding to different project 

types, including crash-based and systemic projects. 

The following example presents an optimization 

exercise, assuming hypothetical safety projects and 

a budget of $10,000,000. The question is how to 

allocate a safety program budget between relatively 

high-cost, high-impact projects and low-cost, lowimpact projects. In this example, the breakeven 

threshold is 2.0 crashes per site per year. For sites 

with more than 2.0 crashes per year, an agency can 

achieve relatively attractive benefits through highercost and higher-impact projects. For sites with less 

than 2.0 crashes per year, an agency can achieve 

relatively attractive benefits through lower-cost and 

lower-impact projects.

The final sections of the guide summarize the data 

requirements to employ, and available tools and 

resources to support, a comprehensive approach to 

roadway safety management. The guide also 

explores future research needs to enhance the state 

of the knowledge on the systemic approach as a 

conclusion to the guide. 

For more tools to support your safety data and 

analysis needs, visit the Roadway Safety Data and 

Analysis Toolbox. For more information contact 

Stuart Thompson at stuart.thompson@dot.gov.

TWO NEW INFORMATIONAL GUIDES 

ASSIST WITH INTEGRATING DATADRIVEN SAFETY ANALYSIS

By: Jerry Roche, FHWA Office of Safety

The FHWA Office of Safety recently published two 

new informational guides to assist with integrating 

data-driven safety analysis into agencies’ business 

practices. Funding and input for these documents 

was provided by the Highway Safety Manual 

Implementation Pooled Fund Study. The first is State 

Policies and Procedures on the Use of the Highway 

Safety Manual (HSM), a report designed to assist 

States in developing policies and procedures on the 

use of the HSM. Transportation functions addressed 

in the guide include transportation planning and 
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 19

programming, engineering and design, operations 

and maintenance, and roadway safety management. 

The report provides noteworthy examples of existing 

language in States’ policy documents and 

procedures manuals as well as sample policy and 

procedures language that can be adapted to a 

State’s individual needs. The HSM provides methods 

for estimating safety performance that help 

practitioners, managers, and executives effectively 

implement strategies to reduce the number and 

severity of traffic crashes. 

The second document is Scale and Scope of Safety

Assessment Methods in the Project Development 

Process, an informational guide that assists State 

and local agencies in identifying and applying 

suitable methods for quantitatively assessing the 

safety performance impacts of project development 

decisions, such as comparing various design 

alternatives. The guide suggests assessment 

methods that may be suitable for answering safety 

performance-related questions that typically arise 

during each phase of the development process and 

for projects of various types. It also provides 

examples that illustrate the thought process for 

selecting a safety assessment method. This 

information on safety performance can then be 

considered in concert with other project criteria to 

make more informed highway investment decisions.

For additional information and resources to help 

implement the HSM into your project development 

process, visit the Roadway Safety Data Program

web page. Also, don’t forget that FHWA’s Every Day 

Counts Data-Driven Safety Analysis Initiative offers 

valuable training and technical assistance 

opportunities to State and local agencies on how to 

implement the HSM. For more information on these 

publications, please contact Jerry Roche at 

jerry.roche@dot.gov.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE NOW 

AVAILABLE FOR DATA BUSINESS 

PLANNING TO SUPPORT STATE, TRIBAL,

AND LOCAL SAFETY DATA INTEGRATION!

By: Stuart Thompson, FHWA Office of Safety, and Robert 

Scopatz, VHB

Under the Fixing American’s Surface Transportation 

(FAST) Act and associated FHWA rulemaking, 

States are required to have in place a safety data 

system that can be used to perform analyses

supporting the strategic and performance-based 

goals in the SHSP and HSIP on all public roads. 

Further, States are required to incorporate specific, 

quantifiable, and measurable anticipated 

improvements for collection of Model Inventory of 

Roadway Elements (MIRE) Fundamental Data 

Elements (FDE) into their State Traffic Records 

Strategic Plan update by July 1, 2017. [23 CFR 

924.11(b)]. 

State, Tribal, and local agencies are now challenged 

to develop a fully linked system that includes 

essential data elements, provides geolocation data, 

includes the FDE subset of the MIRE, and has 

analysis and evaluation capabilities. 

The FHWA Office of Safety intends to provide 

agencies with technical assistance to help meet 

these requirements. FHWA is currently seeking 

State, Tribal, and local agencies interested in 

submitting project ideas for technical assistance 

implementing safety data integration to support 

safety decision making. Ideal projects will illustrate 

one of the following:

• State-led data collection.

• Tribal-led data collection.

• Local agency-led data collection.

• Other support agency (LTAP, TTAP, MPO, 

RPC) approach. 

Selected State, Tribal, and local agencies will have 

the chance to participate in demonstration projects to 

energize agencies with similar interests and 

challenges. FHWA will select up to seven projects 

with the intention of assisting agencies in

implementing the first five of steps of the nine-step 

An effectively integrated safety data program 

helps agencies both address gaps in collected data 

as well as eliminate redundancy, which will 

stretch transportation dollars and maximize their 

impact on road safety.
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 20

safety data integration process shown. At the 

conclusion of the projects, agencies will receive a 

clearly defined plan for implementing the remaining 

four steps. 

If your State, Tribal, or local agency is interested in 

learning more about the opportunity—or would like to 

submit a project for consideration—please contact 

your FHWA Division Office Safety Engineer. 

Download Safety Data Integration Guide today! For 

more information contact: Stuart Thompson, 

stuart.thompson@dot.gov

FHWA RELEASES VERSION 2016 OF 

THE INTERACTIVE HIGHWAY SAFETY 

DESIGN MODEL 

By: Abdul Zineddin, FHWA Office of Safety R&D

On September 30, 2016, the Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA) released version 12.0.0 of 

the Interactive Highway Safety Design Model 

(IHSDM), a suite of software analysis tools for 

evaluating the safety and 

operational effects of 

geometric design decisions. 

The NEW 2016 Release

expands the IHSDM Crash 

Prediction Module (CPM) by 

implementing draft Highway 

Safety Manual (HSM) crash 

predictive methods for six or more lane and one-way 

urban/suburban arterials developed under National 

Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 

project 17-58. 

IHSDM supports the Data-Driven Safety Analysis 

initiative as part of FHWA’s Every Day Counts 3

(EDC3) efforts. The Crash Prediction Module (CPM),

for example, is a powerful tool that implements 

AASHTO’s HSM Part C Predictive Methods for rural 

two-lane highways, rural multilane highways, 

urban/suburban arterials, and freeways/interchanges. Typical applications of the CPM include 

evaluating the safety impact of highway 

improvements, comparing the relative safety 

performance of design alternatives, and assessing 

the safety cost effectiveness of design decisions. 

IHSDM includes six evaluation modules, which 

provide quantitative information on the expected 

safety and operational performance of a highway 

design: crash prediction, policy review, design 

consistency, traffic analysis, intersection review and 

driver/vehicle. 

IHSDM software can be downloaded free of charge 

at www.ihsdm.org. For more information, contact 

Abdul Zineddin at abdul.zineddin@dot.gov
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 21

HOT OFF THE PRESS: SAFETY PUBLICATIONS PORTFOLIO 

Your colleagues in the Office of Safety have been busy this year! Check out our newest products (released 

between July 1 and December 31, 2016)! 

Data-Driven Safety Analysis

 DDSA infographic--How healthy is your road system?

 DDSA infographic—Project Development

 DDSA NJ Case Study Video

 DDSA MN Case Study video

 Scale & Scope of Safety Assessment Methods in the Proj Dev Process

 State Policies and Procedures on the Use of the Highway Safety Manual

Road Safety Audits:

 Motorcycle Road Safety Audit Case Studies

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/rsa/resources/docs/fhwasa16026.pdf

Roadway Departure

 Decision Support Guide for the Installation of Shoulder and Center Line Rumble Strips on Non-Freeways

 Roadside Tree and Utility Pole Management Noteworthy Practices

Road Diets:

 Fall 2016 Road Diet newsletter

 Road Diet Policies: Expanding Beyond a Single Implementation 

 Road Diets FAQ

 Debunking Road Diet Myths

 Did You Know a Road Can Go on a Diet? Get the Facts!

Highway Safety Improvement Program:

 HSIP National Scan Tour Final Report

 HSIP Safety Performance Targets Timeline

 HSIP 2015 National Summary Report

Strategic Highway Safety Plan

 SHSP Quick Reference Guide

 Strategic Highway Safety (SHSP) Plan Leadership Briefing Packet

Intersection Safety

 Intersection Safety Implementation Plans
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 22

ATTRI: USING ADVANCED 

TECHNOLOGIES FOR SAFETY AND 

MOBILITY AT INTERSECTION CROSSINGS 

By: Mohammed Yousuf, FHWA ATTRI Program Manager 

For the transportation community, evolving 

technologies mean safer and more efficient travel 

with expanded options. For people with disabilities, 

they mean opportunity through access to improved 

mobility like never before. 

The U.S. DOT Accessible Transportation 

Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI) is 

committed to conducting research and developing 

innovative applications to realize the full potential of 

these evolving technologies. The program aims to 

improve the mobility of travelers with disabilities 

through research, development, and implementation 

Publications Portfolio (continued)

Safety Performance Measurement:

 Safety Performance Measures Q&A

 Safety Performance Measures Resources & Support

 Metropolitan Planning Organization Safety Performance PM Fact

 Serious Injury Conversion Tables and Summary

 The National Definition For Serious Injuries MMUCC 4th Edition

 Article on New National Definition for Serious Injuries in National Law Enforcement Liaison Newsletter

 Safety Target Coordination Report

Roadway Safety Data Program:

 Roadway Safety Data Program Noteworthy Practice: State Traffic Records Coordinating Committee

 Tennessee’s Horizontal Curve Database: Roadway Safety Data and Analysis Case Study

Pedestrian Safety:

 Ped Forum newsletter, Summer 2016

 Ped Forum newsletter, Fall 2016

Speed Management:

 Speed Limit Basics

 Speed Management Countermeasures: More than Just Speed Humps

 Speed Management Case Study: Georgia Department of Transportation Setting Speed Limits with Help 

from USLIMITS2

 Speed Management Case Study: Reducing Excessive Speeding in Rural Communities in Iowa

GIS Case Studies:

 GIS DVRPC Integrating Safety and Planning

 GIS CO Level of Safety Service Implementation 

 GIS Real Time Data Integration in Iowa
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 23

of transformative technologies, applications, or 

systems for people of all abilities to effectively plan 

their personal and independent travel.

At the U.S. DOT, safety is always a priority, so 

ensuring the safety of our intersections is one of 

ATTRI’s key focus areas. In particular, ATTRI is 

researching applications that provide for Safe 

Intersection Crossings.

Safe navigation of crosswalks can be a significant 

challenge for people who need more time to traverse 

an intersection. For example, if there is no 

pedestrian refuge area mid-intersection, then signal 

light duration becomes very important to the 

individuals on the intersection crossing. 

Within this application area, providing safe 

intersection crossing assistance for all travelers as 

they interact with existing traffic, signals, vehicles, 

and assistive devices is critical. 

It is imperative that technological solutions—

including product design—focus on assistive tools for 

people with visual impairments, cognitive challenges, 

and mobility issues. Assistive tools may be in the 

form of personal nomadic devices, wearable 

technologies, and kiosks on streets corners to allow 

for ubiquitous access to connected services.

Applications in this area should, for example, provide 

guidance, notifications, and alerts in various 

communication formats to assist pedestrians as well 

as all transportation users. This will allow users to 

navigate safely through intersections using real-time 

information when needed and at the right moment to 

promote decision making and actions. 

These applications could include the following 

components: 

• Pedestrians interface with traffic signals

• Vehicles

• Nomadic devices 

• Automated intersection crossing assistance

• Beacons

• Electronic tags 

The applications should provide contextual 

information including geographic information and 

crowdsource-based information on curb cuts, bus 

stop locations, side walk grade and slope, and any 

disruption of the built environment (e.g., damaged 

infrastructure, dead ends, potholes, etc.) to aid all 

travelers. 

Additional examples could include futuristic and 

innovative approaches to solving this issue with 

automated intersection crossing assistance, 

technical design solutions, or integrated beacons or 

electronic tags to interact with the built environment. 

Using these advanced technologies for safety and 

mobility at intersection crossings, along with 

improvements in other priority topics in the 

development of ATTRI applications, transportation 

mobility will be enhanced for all road users. 

Join the Initiative to Keep ATTRI Moving 

Forward

ATTRI is a joint U.S. DOT initiative, co-led by the 

FHWA and FTA, with support from the Intelligent 

ATTRI relies on collaborative efforts to develop and 

test applications that provide guidance, 

notifications, and alerts in various communication 

formats to assist pedestrians and all users of the 

transportation system.

Safe navigation of crosswalks can be a key challenge 

for people who need more time to traverse an 

intersection.
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 24

Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office 

(JPO) and the following Federal partners: 

• Interagency Committee on Disability 

Research (ICDR) 

• National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA)

• National Institute on Disability, Independent 

Living, and Rehabilitation Research 

(NIDILRR)

• U.S. Access Board

• U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, 

Development and Engineering Center

• U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability 

Employment Policy (ODEP)

ATTRI also relies on collaboration with research 

institutions, international partnerships, and private 

industry.

The success of ATTRI relies on these partnerships 

and collaborations and the collective efforts of 

several stakeholders. Thus, the program is exploring 

further cooperation with new and existing partners to 

test and develop technology applications and 

prototypes. 

For more information about the USDOT ATTRI 

program and to learn how you can join our efforts, 

visit www.its.dot.gov/research_archives/attri/ or 

contact Mohammed Yousuf at 

mohammed.yousuf@dot.gov. 

KSP TEACHES TEENS TO DRIVE SAFELY 

AROUND LARGE TRUCKS

By: Sherry H. Bray, Kentucky State Police

The Kentucky State Police (KSP) Commercial 

Vehicle Enforcement Division is reaching out to 

students across the Commonwealth with a safe 

driving campaign called “Teens and Trucks.” The 

program was developed by the Commercial Vehicle 

Safety Alliance (CVSA) to educate young drivers 

how to safely drive around large trucks and buses 

and to reduce crashes involving trucks. 

KSP Officer Steve Douglas was in Corbin, Kentucky, 

recently teaching the class to high school students.

“The Teens and Trucks program is a great outreach 

tool for student drivers,” said Douglas. “Often times, 

driving courses focus on basic techniques, which is 

important, but many of these teens never receive 

instruction about maneuvering around large trucks.”

Douglas says even though the course is targeted at 

teens the concept of the campaign is important for 

drivers of all ages.

“All drivers need to commit to sharing the road with 

other drivers—especially large trucks,” added 

Douglas. “Some motorists are under the false 

impression that because a truck driver sits up high 

they can see more of the road. When in fact, 

compared with passenger vehicles, trucks have 

more blind spots.”

Blind spots, also called “No-Zones,” are areas 

around large trucks where the truck driver cannot 

see a passenger vehicle. (see diagram below). 

These No-Zone areas are where passenger cars 

disappear from the view of the truck or bus driver 

and are where a majority of crashes occur. 

Photo courtesy of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.

“As a driver, if you can’t see the mirrors on the 

commercial trucks you are passing or maneuvering 

around, you can be sure that the truck driver doesn’t 

see you either,” noted Douglas. 

He also emphasized to the students the importance 

of leaving plenty of space when passing large trucks 

or buses. 

“Truck drivers work hard to get up to normal highway 

speeds, sometimes shifting through as many as 15 

gears,” added Douglas. “For this reason, and 

because trucks take longer to stop due their size, I 

encourage the students to provide ample room when 

passing and not to cut off the truck.”

KSP Major Shawn Hines serves as Director for the 

Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division and 

approved the program for implementation by agency 

personnel.

“Through education and working together, we can 

continue to reduce truck-involved crashes on 

Kentucky roadways,” said Hines. “Many of our 

officers who are teaching this program are parents 

themselves. They know how important it is for these 
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 25

Photo courtesy of the Kentucky State Police.

young drivers to learn about sharing the road with 

large vehicles.” 

KSP reports that in 2015, a total of 9,932 large trucks 

were involved in collisions, with 108 of those 

resulting in a fatality. School and commercial buses 

accounted for an additional 1,566 crashes during the 

same time period.

Hines says that the teen demographic is important 

when reducing the number of crashes.

“While teenage drivers only account for 6 percent of 

licensed Kentucky Drivers, they were involved in 15 

percent of all crashes on our roadways last year,” 

notes Hines. “We need to be more proactive in 

educating our teens about safe driving habits, and 

this program is a great resource for them. If we can 

create good habits early, maybe they will stick with 

these teens into their adult lives as drivers.”

To learn more about the “Teens and Trucks” 

program, visit the CVSA website: http://cvsa.org/

program/programs/operation-safe-driver/resources/

teens-and-trucks-youth-safe-driving-campaign/

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

Lifesavers National Conference on Highway 

Safety Priorities, Charlotte, NC, March 26-28, 

2017 (http://lifesaversconference.org/). The 

Lifesavers Conference brings together a combination 

of public health and safety professionals, 

researchers, volunteers, and practitioners who are 

committed to sharing best practices, research, and 

policy initiatives. Drawing more than 2,000 

participants in 2015, the annual Lifesavers 

conference provides a forum for the presentation of 

proven countermeasures and initiatives that address 

today’s critical highway safety problems. Examples 

of workshop topics include: 

• Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement

• Distracted and Impaired Driving 

• Older Drivers

• Highway Safety Priorities

• Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motorcycle Safety

• Teen Traffic Safety

National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 3–7, 

2017 (http://tinyurl.com/7gfbykk). This annual event 

is intended to raise awareness about the importance 

of traveling safely through work zones and paying 

attention to both driving activities as well as the 

locations of workers as the public passes through a 

work zone area. Maryland will host the national kickoff event on Tuesday, April 4, at 11 a.m.

5th International Conference on Roundabouts, 

Green Bay, Wisconsin, May 8-10, 2017

(http://tinyurl.com/zeurqkw). Sponsored by the TRB

Committee on Roundabouts, the International 

Roundabout Conference brings hundreds of 

transportation professionals together as a community 

of roundabout proponents and practitioners. This 

triennial conference provides a forum for the 

exchange of technical, policy, planning, operational, 

and administrative information on all aspects of 

roundabouts, including the safety and operational 

performance that this unique intersection provides 

for all modes.

First International Roadside Safety Conference, 

San Francisco, California, June 12-15, 2017

(http://tinyurl.com/jzm7z8b). TRB is sponsoring the 

First International Roadside Safety Conference, the 

theme of which is “Safer Roads, Saving Lives, 

Saving Money.” The objective of the conference is to 

reduce deaths and injuries associated with run-offroad crashes by promoting the use of new or 

improved cost-effective safety treatments within 

existing roadside infrastructure. Subthemes include:

• Innovations in Roadside Safety Hardware 

and Features

• Advancements in Roadway Safety Features

• Roadside Safety Design and Hazard 

Mitigation Simulation, Testing, and Evaluation 

Methods

• Vehicle Technologies and Safety 

Considerations

• Roadway Departure Data Collection and 

Analysis

• Safety Policy, Guidelines, Plans, Programs, 

and Strategies
Winter 2017: Volume 11 Issue 1 Safety Compass Newsletter • 26

Attending TRB? Be sure to visit the FHWA Office of Safety at Booth 823 in the TRB 

exhibit hall! 

If you are attending the 96th Annual Transportation Research Board meeting this January, be sure to stop by 

booth 823 in the exhibit hall to check out all the Office of Safety has to offer.

We will be featuring free materials from all of our program areas, including:

• The Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP)

• Intersection Safety

• Local and Rural Road Safety

• Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety

• Roadway Departure Safety

• The Roadway Safety Data Program

• Speed Management

We will be holding live demos of our offerings!

Exhibit Hours will be as follows:

Sunday, January 8, 4:00p.m.-7:00p.m.

Monday, January 9, 9:00a.m.-4:00p.m.

Tuesday, January 10, 9:00a.m.-4:00p.m.

For more information, please contact Tara McLoughlin at 202-366-2176 or tara.mcloughlin@dot.gov

The Safety Compass Newsletter

is a publication of the U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 

Federal Highway Administration.

The Federal Highway 

Administration publishes the Safety 

Compass newsletter three times a 

year. We can be reached at:

FHWA Office of Safety

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE

Room E71-320

Washington, DC 20590

The Safety Compass is available online at the FHWA Office of Safety

website at: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/newsletter/safetycompass/.

We welcome your comments and highway safety-related articles. The 

purpose of this newsletter is to increase highway safety awareness and 

information and to provide resources to help save lives.

We encourage readers to submit highway safety articles that might be of 

value to the highway safety community. Send your comments, questions 

and articles for review electronically to Tara McLoughlin at:

tara.mcloughlin@dot.gov.