Fall 2021, Volume 15, Issue 3

 Message from the Associate Administrator for Safety, Cheryl Walker

The Safe System Approach: Tested Strategies to 

Achieve Zero Deaths

In June, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its early estimates of 

crash fatalities for 2020, and the news is grim. An estimated 38,680 people lost their lives on our 

roadways in 2020, an increase of 7.2 percent from 2019. Seeing the sheer number of fatalities 

increase is particularly troubling because the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) estimates that

vehicle miles traveled decreased by 13.2 percent in 2020.

All of us who work on roadway safety felt so disheartened in seeing these numbers. Since 2016, we 

had seen a decrease—albeit modest—in the number of fatalities. When we first became aware that 

traffic volumes would be decreasing in 2020, we hoped that one positive outcome would be a decrease 

in the number of fatalities. Instead, fatalities increased, highlighting even more of a need to change our 

traditional strategies to save lives.

We truly are at a crossroads in safety. Do we stay the course and keep doing things as we have, 

hoping to make incremental progress? Or—do we make changes so that we can see the safety 

outcomes improve by leaps and bounds, as we all work together toward zero deaths? We know the 

answer. 

Rather than accepting fatalities and serious injuries as a normal consequence of traveling on our 

roadways, the Safe System Approach sets the ethical imperative that no one should die or be seriously 

injured while using our roadways. The Safe System Approach aims to eliminate all fatalities and 

serious injuries for all road users by accommodating human mistakes and keeping impacts on the 

human body at tolerable levels. The Safe System Approach is giving us new hope and tested 

strategies to achieve our goal of zero deaths.

Zero is our goal. A Safe System is how we get there.

Cheryl Walker,

Associate Administrator 

for Safety
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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in this issue...

 What’s New?........................................................................................................................................................................ 2

Safety Stories ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................2

 Safety-Driven Changes and Improvements................................................................................................................. 3

Barrier Design for Motorcyclist Safety ....................................................................................................................................................................3

Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement (AWZSE) in Pennsylvania........................................................................................................4

The Intersection of Transportation and Public Health .......................................................................................................................................6

 Learning Together.............................................................................................................................................................. 8

Every Day Counts (EDC) Safety Summit Series – Sharing Your Success .......................................................................................................8

Summer STEPs to Improve Pedestrian Safety.......................................................................................................................................................8

Testing Technological Solutions for Vulnerable Road Users............................................................................................................................9

 Data and Analysis..............................................................................................................................................................12

The 2019 State Performance Target Assessments Are In............................................................................................................................... 12

Selecting Projects and Strategies to Maximize Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) Performance .............................. 13

 New Resource Roundup..................................................................................................................................................15

Promoting the Value of HSIP to Decision Makers............................................................................................................................................ 15

FHWA Releases a Primer on Safe System Approach for Pedestrians and Bicyclists .............................................................................. 16

Training Updates from the National Highway Institute (NHI) ...................................................................................................................... 16

 Announcements.................................................................................................................................................................18

Upcoming Conferences and Events...................................................................................................................................................................... 18

WHAT’S NEW?

Safety Stories

By Chimai Ngo, FHWA Office of Safety, and 

Kevin Elliott, ARA

Transportation safety boils down to 

people, including transportation 

practitioners themselves. Those who 

design and deploy safety treatments 

travel the roads like everyone else. 

Many times, they are saved by those 

treatments. 

This is a series of stories about real 

people, including transportation 

practitioners, who were saved from 

harm by the safety strategies and 

countermeasures we promote every 

day. Their stories underscore the 

importance of making safety a top 

priority in the transportation industry. 

Michael Kennerly, Iowa

Department of Transportation

(DOT)

Michael Kennerly was saved by his 

own work. 

Michael is the Design Bureau 

director for Iowa DOT. Part of his job 

involves deploying proven safety 

countermeasures on Iowa highways. 

He and his team had recently 

designed and installed a cable 

median barrier on a highway 

segment. This segment is a stretch 

of roadway Michael regularly drives 

himself. 

One foggy morning, a driver was too 

close to the cars in front. That driver 

slammed on the brakes, causing a 

chain reaction of cars suddenly 

SHARE YOUR STORY

Do you have a story to share or know 

someone in your organization whose 

life was saved by safety treatments or 

whose career was inspired by a safety 

story? If so, please contact Chimai 

Ngo at chimai.ngo@dot.gov. 
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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stopping. Michael was able to pull 

into the median to avoid a crash, but 

the semitruck behind him was not 

able to do the same. The truck 

collided with and destroyed 

Michael’s vehicle, but also pushed

his vehicle against the cable median 

barrier that Michael’s team had 

designed. 

“If that median barrier had not been 

there, that semi would have pushed 

me into oncoming traffic,” Michael 

said. “It’s times like that that remind 

you what we do saves lives.”

Juan Carlos Rivera-Ortiz, FHWA 

Juan Carlos Rivera-Ortiz, a highway 

engineer for FHWA, had a roadway 

departure crash on an expressway 

during his college years in Puerto 

Rico. A median guardrail saved his 

life and prevented a possible crash 

with drivers traveling in the opposite 

direction. 

A driver in the opposite lane crossed 

over to Juan Carlos’ lane, nearly 

hitting Juan Carlos head-on. Luckily, 

Juan Carlos was able to react in time 

to get out of the way, but that meant 

his vehicle left its travel lane to the 

roadside.

“Thanks to the guardrail I am a 

transportation safety engineer, and I 

promote safety in every project as a 

former State safety engineer, as a 

university professor, as an FHWA 

employee, and as a citizen,” Juan 

Carlos said.

SAFETY-DRIVEN CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Barrier Design for 

Motorcyclist Safety

By Guan Xu, FHWA Office of Safety

Motorcycle riders continue to be 

overrepresented in fatal traffic 

crashes. According to NHTSA’s

Traffic Safety Facts on motorcycles, 

5,014 motorcyclists died in 2019. 

This accounted for 14 percent of 

traffic fatalities, while motorcycles 

only represent about 3 percent of 

registered motor vehicles and less 

than 1 percent of vehicle miles 

traveled.

The Motorcyclist Advisory Council 

(MAC), established by FHWA under 

requirements of Fixing America’s 

Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, 

was tasked with providing 

recommendations to address certain

infrastructure issues related to 

motorcyclist safety. One of the 

issues specified in the FAST Act and 

discussed in the MAC 

recommendation report is barrier 

design. 

The purpose of roadside barrier 

systems is to reduce the severity of 

injuries and the number of fatalities 

by controlling and mitigating crash 

forces. While barrier systems have 

been designed and proven to be 

beneficial for motor vehicles, they do 

not currently address the problems 

associated with motorcycle crashes. 

Research and experiments have 

been conducted on some of the

treatments designed to mitigate the

safety impacts and risks that barriers

create for motorcyclists. MAC 

recommended that FHWA evaluate 

the existing options for barrier 

applications in the United States and

identify cases where no treatments

to address barrier risk to 

motorcyclists have been developed. 

The newly published Synthesis on 

Barrier Design for Motorcyclist 

Safety aims to address the barrier 

design issues evaluated and 

recommended by MAC. 

Through a comprehensive literature 

review, the synthesis examined the 

characteristics of motorcycle-related 

crashes. The synthesis also 

examined the role of helmet use and

the motorcyclist’s position at the time 

of the crash on the overall crash 

condition. The review concluded that 

motorcyclists are more vulnerable 

than drivers of motor vehicles and 

are therefore more likely to be 

severely injured when they crash 

into a barrier system. It also 

concluded that addressing the 

Cover of Synthesis on Barrier 

Design for Motorcyclist Safety.

(Source: FHWA)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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challenges associated with barrier 

systems is critical for reducing the 

severity of injurious and number of 

fatalities associated with 

motorcyclist-barrier crashes. 

The synthesis also identified and 

summarized:

• New barriers and retrofit 

systems currently in use or 

under development that are 

intended to improve motorcyclist 

safety while also retaining 

existing benefits for motor 

vehicles. 

• Testing parameters for upright 

and sliding impacts into roadside 

safety barriers that should be 

investigated during planning, 

development, and research of 

testing standards in the United 

States. 

• Current gaps and needs 

concerning barrier design for 

motorcyclist safety and research 

proposals that should be 

considered for future projects to 

address the gaps and needs. 

For more information, please visit 

the FHWA Motorcycle Safety web 

page or contact Guan Xu at 

guan.xu@dot.gov. 

Automated Work Zone 

Speed Enforcement 

(AWZSE) in Pennsylvania 

By Benjamin Snyder, P.E., Senior Project 

Engineer, RK&K

Program Need and Enabling 

Legislation

In 2020, crashes within a work zone

in Pennsylvania accounted for 816 

injuries and 15 fatalities, including 

one worker present in the work zone. 

Improving the safety of workers and 

the motoring public within work 

zones needs to be a focus as we 

work toward the goal of zero 

fatalities on Pennsylvania roadways.

In order to improve safety within 

Pennsylvania work zones, on 

October 19, 2018, the State 

legislature passed Act 86 of 2018. 

This legislation enables automated 

speed enforcement to be used 

during a 5-year pilot in active work 

zones that receive Federal aid. The 

Pennsylvania DOT, Pennsylvania 

Turnpike Commission (PTC), and 

Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) 

support the operation of this 

program.

Program Background

Pennsylvania’s AWZSE program 

involves deploying a mobile unit to 

an active work zone. This mobile unit 

detects the speed of each passing 

vehicle. If a vehicle is traveling at 

least 11 miles per hour (mph) over 

the posted speed limit, two images 

of the front of the vehicle and two 

images of the rear are captured. The 

two front images are captured to 

identify the front plates on 

commercial vehicles.

PennDOT and PTC determined that 

a joint program between the two 

agencies was the best approach. 

This ensured consistency between 

programs on each agency’s 

roadways and consolidated the 

efforts of program startup. A 

program administrator team is 

developing, coordinating, and 

executing the program on behalf of 

Pennsylvania DOT and PTC. The 

program administrator team is also 

responsible for scheduling the 

enforcement units, performing 

quality control checks on the 

violation database and the field 

deployments, and developing 

reporting statistics for the program. A 

jointly procured system administrator 

is responsible for all services 

associated with the field 

deployments, including speed 

detection and image capture, 

violation tracking, violation payment 

services, and all back-office 

processes.

Program Details

The system administrator is required 

to provide two advance warning 

signs before the location of the 

enforcement unit. These signs have 

been developed in coordination with 

Pennsylvania DOT and PTC and are 

approved by FHWA. These roll-up 

signs are 48 x 48 inches and are 

mounted on portable x-frame sign 

Vehicles used for automated speed 

enforcement in Pennsylvania work 

zones featuring enforcement 

signage. (Source: Pennsylvania DOT)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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stands capable of variable heights to 

ensure visibility over temporary 

barrier or channelizing devices.

The mobile units used for the 

program are vehicle-mounted 

systems capable of detecting speeds 

and capturing images over a 52-inch 

glare screen. The units are managed 

by an operator throughout the 

enforcement shift. This allows for 

continued confirmation that advance 

warning signs remain upright and in 

place throughout the deployment 

and that workers remain present 

during the deployment. A notice 

identifying the location of the 

enforcement vehicle at the work 

zone is affixed to the top of the 

enforcement vehicle.

Project Selection

The program administrator team 

reviews historical speed data at the 

proposed work zone locations to 

identify areas where excessive 

speeding is an issue. The team also 

reviews the traffic control plans to 

identify any geometric features of the 

work zone where speeding may 

cause issues and determines the 

exposure to the workers. Workers 

are less protected when behind 

channelizing devices compared to a 

barrier. These operational, 

geometric, and worker exposure 

considerations all go into project 

prioritization to ensure the 

deployments are located where they 

provide the highest possible safety 

benefit for motorists and workers.

Deployments

The first test deployments began in 

November 2019. These test 

deployments allowed all parties to 

further refine their processes, and 

ensure any issues encountered 

during this stage did not impact or 

delay the start of live enforcement. 

The program entered a mandatory 

60-day pre-enforcement period from 

January to March 2020. Live 

enforcement began on March 9, 

2020, upon expiration of the 60-day 

pre-enforcement period. As currently 

established, the program will operate 

through early 2024.

Deployments are scheduled jointly 

between the agencies on a weekly 

basis. Seventeen units are available 

for deployments across the State, 

with roughly 10 units available for 

Pennsylvania DOT roadways and 

seven units available for turnpike 

roadways. Each unit is capable of 

working two shifts per day, generally 

meaning a day shift and night shift, 

resulting in a maximum deployment 

potential of 34 shifts per day.

Results

Between March 9, 2020, and April 

30, 2021, the program issued more 

than 375,000 notices of violation. 

Approximately 14 percent of those 

violations have been issued to 

repeat offenders.

Over the past year and a half, 

volumes were down and speeds 

were up during the first few months 

of operation. Speeds normalized 

between June and November 2020

as more traffic returned to the 

roadways, with 20–25 percent of 

vehicles speeding and 2–5 percent

of vehicles excessively speeding.

Analysis of speed data collected 

from the enforcement units indicated 

that vehicles are more likely to 

speed in barrier-protected work 

zones than channelizer-protected 

work zones. Through March 31, 

2021, the program has deployed 800 

units to barrier-protected work 

zones, half as often as to 

channelizer-protected work zones 

(1,600). Yet these deployments to 

barrier-protected work zones have 

resulted in 230,000 potential 

violations—nearly double the 

number as channelizer-protected 

work zones (124,000).

Significant reductions in speed have 

been observed in two specific work 

zones that AWZSE has been 

consistently deployed to since 

program startup. These two work 

zones saw a 4–6 mph drop in 

speeds after about six months of 

AWZSE operation.

In accordance with Act 86 of 2018, 

the AWZSE program team prepares 

an annual legislative report for the 

prior calendar year. This report is 

submitted to the chairs of the 

Pennsylvania Senate Transportation 

Committee and House 

Transportation Committee. The 

report includes a general program 

Advance warning sign. (Source: 

Pennsylvania DOT)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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summary from the prior calendar 

year as well as legislatively 

mandated statistics and reporting. 

Summary

Providing workers and motorists 

within Pennsylvania work zones with 

an additional tool to improve safety 

is the most important part of this 

program. Pennsylvania DOT, PTC, 

and PSP are committed to delivering 

a quality program that benefits the 

workers and motoring public within 

Pennsylvania. Improving safety on 

our roadways is everyone’s 

responsibility, and this program 

supports that mission.

For more information, visit 

https://workzonecameras.penndot.g

ov/ or email Dan Farley at 

dfarley@pa.gov, Chad Smith at 

chsmith@paturnpike.com, 

Mahmood Shehata at cmshehata@pa.gov, or Benjamin 

Snyder at c-bensnyde@pa.gov. 

The Intersection of 

Transportation and Public 

Health

By Hillary Isebrands, FHWA Resource Center 

Safety & Design Technical Service Team; 

Jerry Roche, FHWA Office of Safety; and 

Holly Kostrzewski, Minnesota Toward Zero 

Deaths Program Director

Public Health and Traffic Safety

Public health is the science of 

protecting and improving the health 

of people and their communities. 

Public health professionals’ primary 

responsibilities include promoting 

healthy lifestyles, preventing injuries, 

and responding to infectious 

diseases. Two of these three core 

functions align with those of 

transportation safety professionals: 

promoting healthy lifestyles and 

preventing injuries.

When you think about the biggest 

opportunities in injury prevention, 

what’s the most common risk-taking 

activity that nearly every one of us 

does each day? It is transportation—

by walking, biking, or driving or riding 

in a motor vehicle. When you think 

about the biggest opportunity in 

promoting healthy lifestyles, what is 

an important way to live healthier? It 

is becoming more active—by 

walking or biking.

How Can Public Health 

Professionals Help a Local 

Transportation Agency?

Public health professionals are 

experts at interdisciplinary 

partnerships, because they’re 

trained to work collaboratively across 

disciplines in their mission to protect 

the public. They’re trained to 

communicate sensitive subjects, and

they have experience educating the 

public about positive and negative 

behaviors. For example, they’re 

involved with child and teen 

checkups, nutrition, diabetes 

prevention, smoking cessation, 

wellness, exercise, and substance 

abuse. They concern themselves 

with the care of babies, children, 

teens, and sick and older 

populations; they go into homes, 

schools, and facilities. Changing 

personal behaviors is directly 

applicable to traffic safety.

Public health professionals also 

track communities’ injuries and 

deaths and try to prevent them. 

According to the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention, the public 

health injury prevention approach 

has four steps: define the problem, 

identify risk and protective factors, 

develop and test prevention 

strategies, and assure widespread 

adoption of effective injury 

prevention principles and strategies. 

Interdisciplinary safety teams, such 

as a Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) 

coalition, or participating in the 

development of a local road safety 

plan (LRSP) fit well within the role of 

public health professionals. It’s 

essentially a public health model for 

traffic safety. If your community is 

trying to improve traffic safety, public 

health professionals can help get the 

players to the table. They can help 

with framing and communicating the 

message to other stakeholders, 

elected officials, and the public, and 

they have a knack for seeking and 

leveraging funding opportunities. 

Holly was 18; she was driving her car near an intersection and didn’t see the 

approaching vehicle. The collision left Holly with a traumatic brain injury.

“That moment of my life—you might say was the ‘intersection of my life,’ which 

resulted in the trajectory of my entire career and my life forward. I truly believe 

that everything happens for a reason, and I believe that I didn’t choose my career 

path—my career path chose me. I knew of public health professions because my 

mom was a nursing director, but I never thought of the link to transportation. I 

wish that more people in public health knew about traffic safety as a 

specialization.”

– Excerpt from interview with Holly Kostrzewski
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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How Can Transportation 

Professionals Help a Local Public 

Health Agency?

Likewise, there are things that local 

transportation agencies can assist 

public health professionals with. First 

and foremost, there’s the 

infrastructure. A primary way for 

people to maintain a healthy lifestyle 

(and reduce future healthcare costs) 

is mobility and exercise, including 

walking, running, or biking. This 

requires the presence and 

maintenance of sidewalks, shareduse paths, and roads. Many 

progressive transportation agencies 

are now providing enhanced active 

transportation infrastructure, with 

features such as protected bike 

lanes, bike boxes, road diets, 

roundabouts, and leading pedestrian 

intervals at signalized intersections. 

In addition, transportation agencies 

often have data, such as the number 

of vehicles, pedestrians, and 

bicyclists traveling along a roadway 

or passing through an intersection, 

which are helpful to public health 

agencies that need metrics for grant 

applications or post-project reports. 

Engaging public health leaders with 

development and implementation of 

LRSPs is also a great way to 

establish and enhance relationships 

to reduce fatal and serious injury 

crashes. 

A Shared, Common Goal

At the core, public transportation and 

public health share a common goal. 

If you’re a State, county, or city 

engineer, you’re very concerned that 

your citizens and visitors arrive 

safely at their destinations. And the 

same is true for public health. 

Transportation and public health 

professionals are concerned about 

protecting people both inside and 

outside our communities. We need 

to collaborate more and be 

interdisciplinary partners to achieve 

zero deaths on the roads across the 

country. And so, how can we better 

link arms and help each other figure 

out why our fatalities are rising, and 

what we can do collectively instead

of individually?

An Example of Interdisciplinary 

Partnership

Led by the Departments of Public 

Health, Public Safety, and 

Transportation, the Minnesota TZD 

partnership is supported by eight 

regional coalitions including Native 

American Tribes in the regions. This 

enables regions to look at data 

specific to their geographic areas to 

identify factors leading to fatal and 

serious injury motor vehicle crashes, 

and then work with their constituents 

to implement proven 

countermeasures. These 

countermeasures commonly include 

the 4 E’s: education, engineering, 

enforcement, and emergency 

medical services. The regional TZD 

coordinators are co-funded by the 

Minnesota Department of Public 

Safety and Minnesota DOT. These 

partnerships have resulted in 

projects such as Minnesota’s 

LRSPs, a program that started in 

2010 and produced LRSPs for the 

State’s 87 counties. Minnesota TZD 

regions provide a public health 

perspective and bring a public health 

lens to the challenges and solutions 

associated with fatal and serious 

injuries crash on the local road 

system.

Fostering interdisciplinary 

partnerships is key to success. The 

regional coordinators nurture these 

partnerships with other safety 

disciplines, including educators, 

engineers, emergency medical 

services, and law enforcement at the 

State and local levels. We need to 

make sure everybody is 

interdisciplinary. If the champion of 

safety in your organization leaves 

their job today and goes somewhere 

else, the team they had been a part 

of will still be talking because we’ve 

all devoted ourselves to building 

those interdisciplinary partnerships. 

As Aristotle said, “The whole is 

greater than the sum of its parts.”

For more information, please contact 

Hillary Isebrands at 

Hillary.isebrands@dot.gov, Jerry 

Roche at jerrry.roche@dot.gov, or

Holly Kostrzewski at

holly.kostrzewski@state.mn.us.
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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LEARNING TOGETHER

Every Day Counts (EDC)

Safety Summit Series –

Sharing Your Success

By Karen King, FHWA Office of Safety and 

FHWA Virginia Division Office

Sharing Success and Expanding 

Implementation to Save Lives

Join us for the EDC Safety Summit 

Series in September to learn more 

about deploying life-saving 

initiatives, overcoming challenges, 

sharing your own success stories, 

and building your network!

This free, virtual summit is 

scheduled each Wednesday in

September 2021 and will highlight 

the seven EDC safety initiatives and 

share how they can save lives. The 

series will benefit those who are just 

beginning to implement these 

initiatives, those who are further 

along and could gain from peer-topeer engagement, and those with 

success stories to share. It will 

include opportunities to discuss hot 

topics with peers and establish 

relationships that can boost success 

now and in the future. 

Register here!

Safety Summit Schedule and 

Featured EDC Innovations

• Sept. 1: Safe Transportation for 

Every Pedestrian (STEP)

• Sept. 8: Data-Driven Safety 

Analysis

• Sept. 15: Reducing Rural 

Roadway Departures, including 

High Friction Surface Treatment

and SafetyEdgeSM

• Sept. 22: 

Intersection/Interchange 

Geometrics

• Sept. 29: Road Diets

We are also showcasing your EDC 

success stories and other safety 

successes you’d like to shine a light 

on. This is an amazing opportunity to 

get word out on your achievements!

The summit will take place from 10 

a.m. to 2 p.m. eastern time each day 

and is open to all State, local, and 

Tribal stakeholders. Participants can 

join for as many Wednesdays as 

they desire.

If you have any questions please 

contact Karen King at 

karen.king@dot.gov or 804-775-

3363.

Summer STEPs to Improve 

Pedestrian Safety

By Becky Crowe, FHWA Office of Safety

Using a variety of media and training 

events, this summer FHWA’s STEP 

program highlighted national issues 

facing pedestrian safety. Summer 

STEP outreach efforts included 

forums, new videos, and roadside 

audit technical assistance.

Forums

In June and July 2021, STEP hosted 

a series of State DOT discussion 

forums highlighting the following 

strategies: 

• Developing a statewide 

crosswalk inventory and 

countermeasure plan (Oregon 

DOT).

• Creating a regional pedestrian 

exposure model (Wisconsin 

DOT).

• Applying context classifications to 

implement complete streets and 

countermeasures (Florida DOT).

• Testing and piloting new 

countermeasures for pedestrian

crossing safety along major 

arterials (Virginia DOT).

During each session, FHWA staff 

and representatives from dozens of 

State DOTs shared resources to 

help implement these strategies to 

improve pedestrian crossing safety. 

Virtual scan tours and peer-to-peer 

Snapshot of the FHWA STEP speed video. (Source: FHWA)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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exchanges held in 2020 focused on 

inventory methods, systemic 

analysis, and arterial safety for 

pedestrians. These topics inspired 

the 2021 STEP summer sessions. 

New Videos

STEP is also creating two animated 

videos to focus on fundamental 

safety issues for pedestrian fatalities. 

The first video explains the 

relationship between vehicle speed 

and pedestrian crash risk. The 

second video illustrates challenges 

for people trying to cross multilane 

roadways—roads with two or more 

lanes in each direction. Speed and 

multilane crossings are especially 

problematic for people crossing 

arterials and other high-speed or 

high-volume roadways. These same 

issues are also featured in issue 

briefs and social media posts as part 

of the FHWA STEP UP campaign. 

The speed video explains how 

higher vehicle travel speeds 

decrease stopping sight distance, 

increase the chances of fatal 

pedestrian crashes, and decrease

the driver’s cone of vision 

approaching crosswalks. The 

animated speed video shares 

options for countermeasures such as 

refuge islands and road diets that

enhance visibility of pedestrians in 

crosswalks and slow speeds of 

approaching vehicles.

The multilane crossing video 

demonstrates how crash risk 

increases with longer crossing 

distances and restricted visibility of 

people in crosswalks. The multithreat crash type occurs on multilane 

roads—where other vehicles in 

adjacent travel lanes obstruct the 

view of people in the crosswalk. The 

multilane video shows a revised 

game plan for multilane crossings, 

such as advance yield markings and 

signs, parking restrictions, and 

improved bus stop locations. 

Road Safety Audit Technical 

Assistance

The STEP team is also supporting 

agencies in Missouri, Washington, 

Maine, North Carolina, and 

Tennessee with road safety audits, 

technical assistance, and workshops 

that promote the “Spectacular 

Seven” countermeasures. To ask 

about technical assistance offered 

through the STEP program, contact 

Becky Crowe at

rebecca.crowe@dot.gov or Peter 

Eun at peter.eun@dot.gov. To learn 

more about the STEP “Spectacular 

Seven” countermeasures, visit the 

STEP web page. 

Testing Technological 

Solutions for Vulnerable 

Road Users

By Karen Timpone, FHWA Office of Safety; 

Stephanie Roldan, Ph.D.; and Mafruhatul 

Jannat, Ph.D.

Despite an overall reduction in traffic 

fatalities in the past decade, the 

number of pedestrian and bicyclist 

fatalities has continued to increase. 

In 2019, 6,205 pedestrians were 

killed in traffic incidents. Fatality data 

from 2019 also show that the 

greatest proportion of pedestrian 

fatalities occurs at non-intersection 

locations (73 percent), in urban 

settings (82 percent), and at night 

(76 percent). Compared to 

signalized intersections, nonintersection locations, such as 

marked mid-block crossings, may 

have less frequent and predictable 

patterns of use and are less likely to 

be equipped with the physical and 

electronic infrastructure required to 

support other dynamic safety 

treatments such as rectangular 

rapid-flashing beacons. To address 

this gap, FHWA and the Intelligent 

Transportation Systems Joint 

Program Office are exploring 

connected wireless vehicle and 

pedestrian technology to provide 

accessible, cost-effective mid-block 

crossing safety treatments available 

on-demand. One area of research is 

communication among pedestrian 

devices, infrastructure, and vehicles 

to improve safety as part of the 

vehicle-to-pedestrian research 

program. 

Due to their increasing availability 

and continuous technological 

Warning signal for drivers. (Source: 

FHWA)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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improvements, smartphones are a 

promising candidate for rapid 

deployment of connected pedestrian 

safety applications. However, 

smartphone-based systems face 

critical challenges related to 

pedestrian and driver safety, 

including comprehension, usability, 

and consistency of use. In an effort 

to develop a smartphone-based 

safety system to improve pedestrian 

safety at mid-block crossings, FHWA 

developed the smartphone-based 

mid-block pedestrian crossing invehicle warning application (app).

The mid-block app allows 

pedestrians to signal their intent to 

cross at a marked mid-block 

crossing when they are within a 

predefined region surrounding an 

enabled crosswalk. The pedestrian 

crossing signal sends a warning 

message to drivers who are using 

the same app within a geofenced 

region around the crosswalk. The 

warning notifies drivers that a 

pedestrian is ahead to improve 

driver awareness and prepare 

drivers to yield or stop to allow the 

pedestrian to cross. The 

effectiveness of the mid-block app 

was tested in a multiphase study to 

evaluate driver response and 

pedestrian usability.

Phase 1

The U.S. Department of 

Transportation recently completed 

phase 1 of the Smartphone-Based 

Mid-Block Pedestrian Crossing 

project. Phase 1 focused on a 

scenario in which a driver reacts to 

an in-vehicle alert as a pedestrian is 

crossing at a marked mid-block 

crossing that does not have an 

active traffic control device (e.g., 

traffic signal, pedestrian beacon). 

The mid-block app was tested with 

80 participant drivers on a closed 

track at Turner-Fairbank Highway

Research Center in McLean, 

Virginia. The participants drove a 

route in which they approached a 

mid-block crossing four times. In one 

of the approaches, a researcher who 

acted as a pedestrian was present at 

the crosswalk and activated a 

crossing alert. The crossing alert 

triggered an audio-visual in-vehicle 

warning consisting of the message 

“Pedestrian Ahead,” which was 

delivered via a smartphone mounted 

on the dashboard. In another 

approach to the crosswalk, the 

pedestrian was present but did not 

activate the crossing signal. The 

order in which participant drivers 

either received or did not receive a 

crossing signal was counterbalanced 

across the sample. As shown in the 

graph, drivers who had received the 

in-vehicle alert were more likely to 

have stopped to allow the pedestrian 

to cross. Although no alert had been

provided on the second encounter 

with a pedestrian, drivers who had 

received an in-vehicle alert on their 

first encounter approached the 

crosswalk more slowly than drivers 

who had never received a warning. 

These results suggest that the invehicle warning may reduce conflicts 

at marked mid-block crosswalks,

which motivated further investigation 

of the app’s effectiveness.

Phase 2

Although testing indicated favorable 

driver response to the mid-block 

app’s pedestrian safety alert, phase 

1 did not gather information about 

pedestrians’ interactions with the 

app. Considering that the mid-block 

app relies on pedestrians to 

Mid-block pedestrian crossing in-vehicle warning system. (Source: FHWA)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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voluntarily trigger the in-vehicle 

warning, phase 2 employed a twopart assessment of pedestrians’ 

attitudes toward and interactions 

with the app. 

The first part of phase 2 brought 

participants of varying ages together 

for focus groups to collect feedback 

on the app’s clarity and interface,

from the perspective of a pedestrian.

An even number of participants was

split into two groups (those younger 

than 46, and those 46 or older). The 

mean age was 48. Interviewees 

were asked about their willingness to 

accept and use a variety of potential 

smartphone-based interfaces aimed 

at improving pedestrian safety. 

Participants discussed points of 

confusion or dissatisfaction related 

to app interfaces, as well as the 

features they considered most 

valuable. This feedback was used to 

modify the pedestrian component of 

the mid-block app interface to 

improve clarity and support proper 

use. Specifically, messages were 

added to emphasize that the 

crossing alert was active and to 

remind users that activating the alert 

did not guarantee safety.

After the focus group, the modified 

mid-block app was field tested with 

participant pedestrians at three live 

mid-block crossing locations. The 

pedestrian field study explored 

participants’ comprehension of the 

app’s role in supporting safe 

crossings, and how the app

influenced crossing behavior in 

different roadway settings when an 

approaching vehicle was present or 

was not present. Participants also 

completed a questionnaire to provide 

feedback on their satisfaction with 

and acceptance of the mid-block 

app.

In the phase 2 field study, crossing 

locations with various features were 

selected to explore the influence of 

roadway setting (rural, suburban, or 

urban), crossing configuration, and 

surrounding infrastructure on 

pedestrians’ use of and attitudes 

toward the mid-block app. Sixty

participants were instructed to 

activate the pedestrian warning 

before entering the crosswalk 20 

times. On 10 of these crossings, a 

vehicle that had received the invehicle pedestrian alert approached 

the crosswalk and yielded to allow 

the pedestrian to cross. Participant 

crossing behavior was measured, 

including the time it took participants 

to enter the crosswalk after they had

activated the warning, the time it 

took participants to exit the 

crosswalk, and participants’ looking 

behavior toward the approaching 

vehicle before and during crossing. 

In general, any smartphone app

designed to assist pedestrians with 

crossing a road might influence 

crossing behavior. Therefore,

pedestrian behavior while using the 

mid-block app was compared with 

pedestrian behavior while using a 

non-connected app that had been 

designed to make pedestrians more

conspicuous. The non-connected

app, referred to as the flashing app, 

consisted of a high-contrast flashing 

pattern. The flashing app was 

deployed in half of the trials in a 

controlled, randomized order. At the 

end of the experiment, participants 

rated both apps on preference, 

effectiveness, and acceptance.

The results of the pedestrian field 

experiment indicate that pedestrian 

crossing behavior was similar when 

using either the mid-block app or the 

flashing app. Safety-related 

behaviors, such as waiting to enter 

the crosswalk after participants had 

activated the signal and looking 

Percent of trials with and without a warning in which drivers stopped or did 

not stop ahead of the crosswalk. (Source: FHWA)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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toward the approaching vehicle 

before and during crossing, were 

observed during use of both apps. In 

later trials, participants entered the 

crosswalk more quickly after they 

had activated the app and completed 

crossings more quickly. 

Roadway setting also influenced the 

delay between when participants 

activated the app and when they 

entered the crosswalk. The shortest 

delay occurred at the urban location, 

followed by the suburban and rural 

locations. At the urban location, 

participants over 46 years old waited 

significantly longer to enter the 

crosswalk than participants under 46

years old. In the post-experiment 

questionnaire, participants rated the 

mid-block app and the flashing app 

similarly on preference, satisfaction, 

and acceptance. Participants 

thought the mid-block app was more 

helpful than the flashing app for 

detecting hazards.

The outcomes of the pedestrian field 

test provide preliminary evidence 

that, when compared to the flashing 

app, the mid-block app neither 

promoted nor discouraged safe 

crossing behaviors. Participants

appeared to remain aware of the 

need to maintain their own safety,

and they perceived the mid-block 

app as having an added benefit over 

the flashing app. Although 

pedestrian crossing behavior while 

using the mid-block app was not 

compared to unassisted crossing 

behavior, the field observations and 

survey responses suggest that 

pedestrians reliably comprehended 

and deployed the mid-block app 

without having introduced

significantly more risk than a nonconnected alternative.

Finally, the information collected 

from all experiments conducted in 

phases 1 and 2 are used to provide 

recommendations and near-term 

needs for larger-scale field testing. 

Larger-scale testing could explore 

interactions between drivers and 

pedestrians using the app in a realworld urban-like setting. A widerscale deployment would allow 

researchers to evaluate the 

conditions under which participants 

most often use the app and perceive 

the app to be most valuable. In 

addition, researchers could explore 

the use of and response to the app 

over time. Natural variations in 

crossing conditions, such as 

weather, traffic volume, and crossing 

geometry, and the proportion of the 

population with access to the app, 

may have important implications for 

consistency of use and, therefore, 

effectiveness.

For more information, contact Karen 

Timpone at Karen.timpone@dot.gov. 

DATA AND ANALYSIS

The 2019 State Performance 

Target Assessments Are In

By Danielle Betkey, FHWA Office of Safety

FHWA has completed the State 

safety performance target 

assessments for calendar year (CY) 

2019. This year is the second cycle 

of States setting safety performance 

targets and FHWA assessing 

whether States have met them or 

have made significant progress

toward meeting them. A State is 

determined to have met their targets 

or made significant progress toward 

meeting them when at least four of 

the five safety performance targets 

have been met, or if the actual 

outcome for the target is better than 

the baseline performance. 

For CY 2019, a total of 22 States (42 

percent) met or made significant 

progress, as compared to 27 States 

Safety performance target assessment for U.S. States and territories. (Source: 

FHWA)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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(52 percent) for CY 2018. For CY 

2019, a total of 30 States (58 

percent) did not meet or make 

significant progress, as compared to 

25 States (48 percent) for CY 2018.

Comparing CY 2018–2019 safety 

performance target assessments, 16 

States (31 percent) met or made 

significant progress for both CY 

2018 and CY 2019, and 19 States 

(37 percent) did not meet or make 

significant progress for either CY 

2018 or CY 2019. There were 11 

States (21 percent) that met or made 

significant progress for CY 2018, but 

did not meet or make significant 

progress for CY 2019. Conversely, 

six States (12 percent), did not meet 

or make significant progress for CY 

2018, but met or made significant 

progress for CY 2019.

It is important to note that each State 

uses its own State-specific 

methodology when setting annual 

safety performance targets. 

Therefore, some States may have 

set aggressive targets and did not 

meet those targets, while other 

States may have set more attainable 

targets and met those targets. For 

this reason, it is difficult to draw any 

conclusions about a State’s safety 

program based solely on the safety 

performance target assessment as it 

does not fully depict each State’s 

unique approach.

FHWA has recently updated the 

Transportation Performance 

Management website to include the 

CY 2019 safety performance target 

assessment. The website provides a 

glimpse into each State’s safety 

performance targets, which 

represent annual performance levels 

as we all work toward the long-term 

goal of zero fatalities. The website

also displays historical data and 

information on how States set their 

safety performance targets. The 

website includes the results for each 

State for the CY 2018–2019 safety 

performance target assessments.

FHWA shares the vision of zero 

fatalities on our Nation's roadways.

States’ annual safety performance 

targets represent an important step 

in helping States work toward the 

goal of eliminating traffic deaths and 

serious injuries on our Nation’s 

roadways.

For more information, please contact 

Danielle Betkey at 

Danielle.Betkey@dot.gov. 

Selecting Projects and 

Strategies to Maximize 

Highway Safety 

Improvement Program 

(HSIP) Performance 

By Karen Scurry, FHWA Office of Safety

Background

The purpose of the HSIP is to 

significantly reduce fatalities and 

serious injuries on all public roads 

and for all road users. The purpose 

of the HSIP is consistent with the 

Safe System Approach principle that 

death and serious injuries are 

unacceptable, and FHWA’s longterm vision of zero fatalities on our 

Nation’s roads. To achieve this 

vision, State and local agencies use 

a data-driven roadway safety 

management process to plan, 

design, and implement highway 

safety improvement projects under 

the HSIP. While States are 

proactively addressing safety needs 

through this program, there may be 

opportunities to enhance current 

project planning and selection 

practices to maximize HSIP 

performance. The Selecting Projects 

and Strategies to Maximize Highway 

Safety Improvement Program 

Performance guide highlights those 

opportunities. 

Overview of the Guide

The guide explains how State DOTs, 

metropolitan planning organizations, 

and other agencies can use 

economic analysis methods and 

safety management approaches to 

have the greatest potential to reduce 

fatalities and serious injuries. The 

guide discusses how projects affect 

safety performance, presents current 

approaches for highway safety 

management, and provides 

considerations for new economic 

methods and strategies that may 

improve upon current methods. 

The performance of the HSIP 

depends on the performance of its 

Cover of Selecting Projects and 

Strategies to Maximize Highway Safety 

Improvement Program Performance. 

(Source: FHWA)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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projects. The performance of each 

project largely depends on the 

effectiveness of countermeasures 

and where they are installed. This 

guide presents fundamental 

analytical methods and a conceptual 

framework for maximizing the 

effectiveness of the HSIP by 

increasing the individual 

performance of HSIP projects. The 

best-performing, most cost-effective, 

highest-priority HSIP projects deliver 

the greatest reductions in fatalities 

and serious injuries at the lowest 

costs. To address fatal and serious 

injury crashes, agencies should 

focus on the change in fatal and 

serious injury crashes, rather than all 

crashes or all injuries, when 

identifying and selecting projects. 

Benefit-cost analysis allows analysts 

to quantify and compare the benefits 

and costs among highway safety 

improvement projects. The benefit 

cost ratio (BCR) is the best measure 

of economic performance for 

projects, countermeasures, and the 

overall program. Because the HSIP 

is constrained by a budget, projects 

that improve safety performance 

most cost-effectively should 

maximize HSIP performance. BCR 

allows agencies to rank projects by 

performance and select the bestperforming combination of projects.

Analysts can use BCR in terms of 

reduced fatal and serious injury 

crash costs per dollar spent (BCRKA) 

to quantify and rank the performance 

of individual projects or the overall 

program. States can improve HSIP 

performance by increasing the 

average BCRKA of implemented 

projects or by adding funding. 

The guide also presents an 

alternative way to calculate BCR 

based on the ratio of maximum 

monetary potential for safety 

improvement at a site and the 

countermeasure score (CM score) 

for proposed improvements, rather 

than estimated benefits and costs. 

CM score is a new measure 

proposed in this guide that 

represents the life cycle project costs 

to reduce 1 percent of crashes at 

any applicable location, providing a 

more comprehensive way to 

compare countermeasure 

effectiveness than offered by 

currently available measures such 

as crash modification factors 

(CMFs).

This guide presents case studies 

using data from two States that 

illustrate how agencies can apply 

BCRKA and the CM score to prioritize 

projects. In these case studies, the 

BCRKA method resulted in selecting 

projects expected to prevent more 

fatal and serious injury crashes than 

the current project selection methods 

used by the two States. While BCRKA

is appropriate to prioritize projects 

and alternatives among different 

locations, analysts can use CM 

scores to select among 

countermeasures at a given location. 

CMFs, costs, and service lives used 

in determining CM scores have a 

large effect on the relative 

comparison between 

countermeasures. The CM score 

method holds promise but requires 

further evaluation to confirm the 

case study findings.

Key Recommendations

To maximize performance of the 

HSIP, agencies can: 

• Measure the performance of 

proposed programs or project 

selection scenarios in terms of 

expected lives saved and serious 

injuries prevented to help focus 

the HSIP on fatal and serious

injury crashes.

• Rank proposed projects by BCR 

based on the potential for 

reducing fatal and serious injury 

crashes and select the highestranked projects to offer the 

maximum predicted safety 

performance of the HSIP. 

• Express BCR in terms of 

potential monetary safety 

benefits and costs. Monetary 

potential for safety improvement 

measures a location’s estimated 

contribution to the safety 

performance of a project 

independent of countermeasures. 

The CM score measures a 

countermeasure’s ability to 

impact the safety performance of 

a project independent of where a 

countermeasure is implemented.

• Develop more planning-level 

safety performance functions and 

CMFs in terms of fatal and 

serious injury crashes, average 

project costs (or range of costs), 

and other data that support the 

BCRKA prioritization method.

Benefits 

There are opportunities to use the 

recommendations presented in the 

guide to save more lives and prevent 

more serious injuries with the HSIP. 

While more complete and higher-
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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quality data will help identify 

locations and projects with the 

greatest potential to improve safety, 

States can implement the concepts 

and methods of BCR-based 

prioritization with almost any level of 

data. Researchers can assist 

practitioners by developing new tools 

that apply the methods presented in 

the guide and expanding the library 

of available safety performance 

functions, CMFs, and implemented 

countermeasure data.

Every phase of the HSIP and project 

development process has a potential 

impact on the safety performance of 

the resulting projects. Ensuring that 

agencies are selecting projects and 

strategies to maximize HSIP 

performance will help reduce 

fatalities and serious injuries across 

the country.

For more information please contact 

Karen Scurry at 

Karen.scurry@dot.gov. 

NEW RESOURCE ROUNDUP

Promoting the Value of 

HSIP to Decision Makers

By Karen Scurry, FHWA Office of Safety 

The HSIP saves lives, and it’s 

important to promote the value of 

HSIP to decision makers who

determine how and where to invest 

limited HSIP dollars. The FHWA 

Office of Safety recently published 

promotional cards that Federal, 

State, and local safety champions 

can use to promote the value of 

HSIP to decision makers. There are 

three cards, each focused on a 

different theme: 

• Return on investment – put your 

HSIP funds to work, and get 

everyone home safely. 

• Be proactive – take action before 

the crash happens using a 

systemic approach to safety.

• Data-driven decisions – use data 

to invest your HSIP funds 

effectively. 

Each card contains general 

messaging on the front and a case 

study example on the back. 

Agencies can customize the back to 

feature their own examples using the 

PowerPoint version of the file. 

Consider how you might use these 

cards to encourage design 

engineers, district engineers, and 

directors to prioritize safety and 

maximize opportunities to advance 

highway safety improvement 

projects that have the greatest 

potential to reduce the State's 

roadway fatalities and serious 

injuries.

Here are some ideas: 

• Use the cards as-is to illustrate 

how other agencies are 

successfully implementing HSIP. 

This might be helpful if: 

o Your agency is hesitant to 

implement highway safety 

improvement projects at 

locations with no history of 

crashes. 

o Safety data collection and 

analysis are a challenge for 

your agency.

o There are additional 

opportunities to maximize 

lives saved through the HSIP. 

• Customize the cards to 

showcase a successful HSIP 

story in your State or agency. It

might be helpful to share 

noteworthy practices among

districts or regions. 

HSIP promotional cards. (Source: FHWA)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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• Apply the card’s messaging in 

your talking points to various 

transportation leaders or other 

safety stakeholders. The content 

from the promotional cards can 

be easily translated into talking 

points or a presentation. 

Through continued outreach and 

communication about the value of 

highway safety improvement 

projects and the HSIP, we can 

achieve our long-term vision of zero 

deaths on our Nation’s roads. For 

more information or to ask 

questions, please contact Karen 

Scurry at karen.scurry@dot.gov.

FHWA Releases a Primer on 

Safe System Approach for 

Pedestrians and Bicyclists

By Tamara Redmon, FHWA Office of Safety,

and Karen King, FHWA Office of Safety and 

FHWA Virginia Division office

Are you interested in learning how 

the Safe System Approach relates to 

bicycle and pedestrian safety? Then 

the Primer on Safe System 

Approach for Pedestrians and 

Bicyclists is for you! This primer 

examines how pedestrians and 

bicyclists are included in the five

distinct elements of the Safe System 

Approach:

1. Safe Speeds

2. Safe Roads

3. Safe Vehicles

4. Safe Road Users

5. Post-Crash Care

The primer provides approaches that 

can be taken now at the Federal, 

State, and local levels to implement 

a Safe System Approach. Since the 

Safe System Approach inherently 

prioritizes pedestrians and bicyclists 

by focusing on eliminating fatal and 

serious injuries, this primer will help 

start the conversation and work 

toward formalizing the Safe System 

Approach. 

For more information, contact Karen 

King at karen.king@dot.gov or 

Tamara Redmon at 

tamara.redmon@dot.gov.

Training Updates from the 

National Highway Institute

(NHI)

By Thomas Elliott, FHWA NHI training 

program manager, and Christine Kemker, 

NHI senior marketing specialist contractor 

NHI is focused on providing 

innovative and relevant training that 

meets the needs of the 

transportation industry. This fall, NHI 

has added two recently released 

courses for highway safety 

practitioners:

• NEW: Where Highways Meet 

Rails: Crossing Safety (FHWANHI-380126)

• UPDATED: Interactive Highway

Safety Design Model (IHSDM) 

(FHWA-NHI-380100)

Where Highways Meet Rails: 

Crossing Safety

More than 200,000 highway-rail 

grade crossings exist across the 

United States, more than half of 

which are under jurisdiction of a 

public authority. To keep these 

crossings safe for vehicles, bicycles, 

and pedestrians, FHWA offers funds 

through the Railway-Highway 

Crossings (Section 130) Program to 

eliminate hazards at public highwayrail grade crossings. In fiscal year

2020, $245 million was allocated to 

improve safety at railway-highway 

crossings.

States interested in using Section 

130 funds or other grants to improve 

their highway-rail crossings should 

enroll their personnel in NHI’s 

newest course, Where Highways 

Meet Rails: Crossing Safety. This 

course will help practitioners who are 

responsible for planning, 

engineering, design, construction, or 

maintenance of highway-rail 

crossings navigate the planning and 

funding process and maximize the 

safety impact of their rail projects. 

The training provides information on 

highway-rail crossings and grade 

crossing components, including 

program/project development and 

administration. Participants will learn 

to evaluate highway-rail crossings 

for safety issues and identify 

regulations and requirements 

applicable to the crossings. 

In addition, the course is offered in a 

unique training format. Inspired by 

massive open online courses 

Cover of Primer on Safe 

System Approach for 

Pedestrians and Bicyclists. 

(Source: FHWA)
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

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(MOOC), the training combines 

independent self-paced elements 

that have interactive learning 

opportunities with peers and expert 

instructors. In an efficient and 

effective way, this MOOC-like format 

allows participants to fit the training 

into their schedules while also 

benefiting from the experience of 

other industry professionals. 

Learners will have opportunities to 

discover local area examples (rural 

crossings, metropolitan crossings, or 

both) by working through focused 

application assignments. This tailors 

each participant’s experience based 

on relevant data and involves their 

local stakeholders.

This innovative, learner-focused 

format expands the depth of material 

that participants can study and 

maintains opportunities for 

engagement, both with the virtual 

instructor and with industry peers, 

while allowing participants to work at 

their own pace. With this approach, 

NHI is getting the information into 

the hands of people who can use it

while minimizing disruptions. 

Virtual materials include video, text, 

electronic publications, learnerbased research, and the latest 

edition of the Highway-Rail Crossing 

Handbook. The course simulates the 

work that highway-rail crossing 

planners and engineers perform on a 

regular basis, and participants will 

have opportunities to apply the 

material in hands-on activities. 

This course is expected to take an 

average of 16 hours over 12 weeks 

(1.5–2 hours a week). During this 

time, participants can work through 

the course materials and 

assignments at their own pace. At 

the end of the 12-week course, 

participants who pass the final exam 

with a 70 percent or more earn 1.6 

continuing education credits (CEUs). 

Interested practitioners can register 

for Where Highways Meet Rails: 

Crossing Safety, along with other 

safety training courses, at 

https://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/. 

Interactive Highway Safety Design 

Model (IHSDM)

Estimating roadway project safety is 

an integral part of the road safety 

audit process. While traditional 

methods of crash and roadway 

analysis rely on subjected or limited 

quantitative measures of safety 

performance, IHSDM employs 

evidence-based models to quantify 

safety impacts. 

First released in 2003, the IHSDM 

software provides a suite of tools to 

evaluate the safety and impact of 

highway design decisions. With 

version 16.0.0 released in 

September 2020, the updated 

IHSDM – Highway Safety Manual

(HSM) Predictive Method remains a 

state-of-the-art tool for safety and 

operational performance analysis. 

The software supports FHWA’s datadriven safety analysis initiative and 

can automate design policy checks, 

safety performance evaluations, and 

economic impact assessments for 

roadway design projects. 

To help highway design 

professionals maximize their 

application of the software, NHI 

offers an updated virtual training on 

IHSDM application and output 

evaluation. This training benefits any 

personnel working with IHSDM or 

applying its results. 

IHSDM is a blended online training. 

It combines independent self-paced 

web-based modules with live 

instructor-led web conference 

sessions. This blended learning 

environment offers flexibility to 

planners, designers, and engineers 

interested in taking this course. 

Participants will start off at their own 

pace, asynchronously learning the 

basics of IHSDM through guided 

online lessons. The virtual instructorled sessions dive into the application 

of IHSDM modules, and participants 

will learn how to synthesize IHSDM 

outputs to make real-world 

decisions. By the end of the training, 

participants will be able to make, 

justify, and defend geometric design 

and investment decisions throughout 

the highway design process. 

Through this virtual course, 

participants will get hands-on 

experience with each of the five 

IHSDM modules: Crash Prediction, 

Design Consistency, Policy Review, 

Traffic Analysis, and Driver/Vehicle, 

along with its economic analysis tool. 

With real highway design analysis 

and evaluation activities, participants 

will be able to quantify and compare 

the safety and operational 

performance of their design 

decisions, beyond a simple check 

against design standards. 

With 12 hours of training time, 

participants who pass the exam with 

a 70 percent or higher earn 1.2 

CEUs. More important, participants 

will be empowered to make 

quantitative, data-driven highway 
SAFETY COMPASS NEWSLETTER · Fall 2021: Volume 15 Issue 3

– 18 –

design decisions to improve safety 

and operations. 

The IHSDM-HSM Predictive Method 

2020 release can be downloaded for 

free at https://www.ihsdm.org/. 

Practitioners can register for the 

IHSDM training course at 

https://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/. 

For more information, please contact 

Thomas Elliott at 

Thomas.elliott@dot.gov. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Upcoming Conferences and

Events

American Society of Civil 

Engineers (ASCE) 2021 

Convention

The ASCE 2021 Convention will be 

hosted virtually October 6–8, 2021. 

Intelligent Transportation 

Systems (ITS) World Congress

The ITS World Congress will be held 

October 11–15, 2021 in Hamburg, 

Germany.

National Safety Council Safety 

Congress and Expo

The National Safety Council Safety 

Congress and Expo will be hosted 

October 11–13, 2021, in Orlando, 

FL.

International Conference on 

Transportation and Safety 

Hosted by the World Academy of 

Science Engineering and 

Technology, the International 

Conference on Transportation and 

Safety will be hosted virtually 

October 21–22, 2021. 

American Association of State 

Highway and Transportation 

Officials (AASHTO) Annual 

Meeting

The AASHTO Annual Meeting will be 

held October 26–29, 2021, in San 

Diego, CA.

American Public Transportation 

Association (APTA) TRANSform 

Conference and Expo

APTA’s TRANSform Conference and 

Expo will be hosted in Orlando, FL,

November 7–10, 2021. 

National League of Cities (NLC)

City Summit

The NLC City Summit will be hosted 

virtually and in-person November 18-

20, 2021, in Salt Lake City, UT.

2021 Intelligent Transportation 

Systems (ITS) America Annual 

Meeting

The 2021 ITS America Annual 

Meeting will be hosted December 7 

– 10, 2021 in Charlotte, NC.

Transportation Research Board

(TRB) Annual Meeting 2022

The TRB 101st Annual Meeting will 

be held January 9–13, 2022, in 

Washington, DC.

The Safety Compass Newsletter is a publication of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

FHWA publishes the Safety Compass Newsletter 3 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 Newsletter 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.