Number 374 April 2009

Traffic Safety Facts

Traffic Tech – Technology Transfer Series

U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Traffic Safety Performance Measures for States 

and Federal Agencies

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and 

the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) have 

agreed on a minimum set of performance measures to be 

used by States and Federal agencies in the development and 

implementation of behavioral highway safety plans and programs. An expert panel from NHTSA, State Highway Safety 

Offices, academic and research organizations, and other key 

groups assisted in developing the measures.

Performance measures are required for each State’s traffic safety activities. Federal regulation 23 CFR 1200.10(a)(1) 

requires States to develop a performance plan each year 

that includes at least one performance measure for each goal 

enumerated in the plan. Audits of NHTSA’s impaired driving program by the DOT inspector general and NHTSA’s 

high-visibility enforcement programs by the Government 

Accountability Office have emphasized the importance 

of developing and refining a common set of performance 

measures that cover key traffic safety program areas and 

that will be used by all States and NHTSA (as well as other 

Federal agencies dealing with traffic safety). These examples 

illustrate the importance of establishing a common set of 

performance measures that cover key safety program areas 

that will be used by all States and NHTSA.

Several types of performance measures were developed to 

satisfy different needs:

■ Outcome measures – used to set national and State goals, 

allocate resources and measure overall progress (may 

include crashes, injuries, or fatalities, and may be presented as numbers, rates, percentages, or ratios);

■ Behavioral measures – provide a link between specific activities and outcomes by assessing whether the activities 

have influenced behavior (may include observed behavior 

on the road such as direct observations of seat belt use or 

vehicle speed, or self-reported behavior, program awareness, and attitudes obtained through surveys); and

■ Activity measures – document program implementation 

and measure specific actions taken to reduce crashes, 

injuries and fatalities (a variety of actions taken by law 

enforcement, courts, media, education, and others).

The three types of performance measures work together to 

document overall highway safety program performance. 

Activity measures document what was done; behavior measures document whether the activities changed behavior; 

and outcome measures document whether the behavior 

change reduced crashes, injuries, and fatalities.

The initial minimum set of performance measures contains 

14 measures: 10 core outcome measures, 1 core behavior measure, and 3 activity measures. The measures cover the major 

areas common to State strategic highway safety plans and 

use existing data systems.

Core 

Measures Description

Data 

Sources

C-1 Number of traffic fatalities (3-year or 5-year 

moving averages)

FARS

C-2 Number of serious injuries in traffic crashes State crash 

data files

C-3 Fatalities/VMT (including rural, urban, and 

total fatalities)

FARS, FHWA

C-4 Number of unrestrained passenger vehicle 

occupant fatalities, all seat positions 

FARS

C-5 Number of fatalities in crashes involving a 

driver or motorcycle operator with a blood 

alcohol concentration of .08 g/dL or higher

FARS

C-6 Number of speeding-related fatalities FARS

C-7 Number of motorcyclist fatalities FARS

C-8 Number of unhelmeted motorcyclist fatalities FARS

C-9 Number of drivers 20 or younger involved in 

fatal crashes

FARS

C-10 Number of pedestrian fatalities FARS

B-1 Observed seat belt use for passenger 

vehicles, front seat outboard occupants

Survey

A-1 Number of seat belt citations issued during 

grant-funded enforcement activities 

Grant activity 

reporting

A-2 Number of impaired-driving arrests made 

during grant-funded enforcement activities

Grant activity 

reporting

A-3 Number of speeding citations issued during 

grant-funded enforcement activities

Grant activity 

reporting

C = Core measures; B = Behavioral measure; A = Activity Measures
The minimum set of performance measures and the areas 

where additional work is required represent the general consensus but not the unanimous opinion of the panel. 

States will set goals for and report progress on each of the 11 

core outcome and one behavioral measures annually, beginning with their 2010 Highway Safety Plans and Annual 

Reports. States should define and use additional performance measures for their other high-priority highway safety 

areas as appropriate. NHTSA will use the core measures as 

an integral part of its reporting to the Congress, the public, 

and others.

NHTSA and GHSA will work actively and cooperatively 

to support the implementation of these measures and 

to develop additional or improved measures needed to 

monitor traffic safety outcomes, behavior, and activities. 

NHTSA and GHSA agreed to the need for three additional 

measures, but acknowledged that further development and 

refinement was necessary prior to implementation of these 

measures. The definition of “serious injury crashes” also 

needs to be standardized.

1. Traffic injury data for outcome measures. NHTSA and 

GHSA convened a working group in 2008 to assist each 

State in identifying the best way to report serious injuries 

for core outcome measure C-2 using the State’s current 

crash data file and to move toward common and improved 

injury data definitions and reporting practices.

2. Public awareness surveys to track driver attitudes and 

awareness of highway safety enforcement and communication activities and self-reported driving behavior. 

GHSA and NHTSA will convene a working group in 2008 

to develop and test a basic set of survey questions including information on seat belt use, impaired driving, and 

speeding. States will begin reporting survey information 

in their 2010 Highway Safety Plans and Annual Reports.

3. Speed-monitoring for measuring speed levels and tracking trends. Since State DOTs typically are responsible for 

traffic monitoring, NHTSA, FHWA, and GHSA will work 

with AASHTO to convene a working group in 2008 to 

review objectives and resources and develop guidance for 

appropriate speed reporting capability. Work will begin 

by 2009 toward establishing speed monitoring and reporting systems.

4. Law enforcement activities to track both regular operations and special activities such as high-visibility 

enforcement campaigns. States will report the number of 

citations and arrests from all grant-funded enforcement 

activities for activity measures A-1, A-2, and A-3 annually beginning with their 2010 Highway Safety Plans 

and Annual Reports. States will extend reporting as the 

necessary reporting technologies and systems are developed and implemented. NHTSA and GHSA convened 

a working group in 2008 to assist States in improving 

arrest and citation data collection and reporting. The 

Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation is under 

contract to work with GHSA and NHTSA to develop 

more comprehensive performance measures for enforcement activities by May 2009.

The following points apply both to the 14 measures in the 

initial minimum set and to the additional measures to be 

added as outlined above.

■ NHTSA, with the assistance of the States, will develop 

uniform definitions, protocols, and reporting requirements for each recommended performance measure. This 

is critical for measures requiring data that all States do not 

collect and report at present.

■ NHTSA will assist States in establishing data collection 

and analysis systems for all measures that not all States 

report at present.

■ As additional measures from the developmental activities 

are added to the minimum set, not all States may be able 

to implement them immediately.

■ Some behavior and activity measures may be reported 

only from a portion of a State. For example, seat belt use 

observations currently sample only a portion of each 

State’s roads.

■ All core outcome and behavior measures should be 

reported on a calendar year basis. That is, all counts of 

fatalities and serious injuries should be from January 1 

to December 31 and belt use should be reported for the 

calendar year in which surveys were conducted. Activity 

measures should be reported on a federal fiscal year 

(October 1 to September 30) basis.

How to Order

Download a copy of Traffic Safety Performance Measures for 

States and Federal Agencies (22 pages plus appendices) from 

http://www.dot.gov, or write to the Office of Behavioral 

Safety Research, NHTSA, NTI-130, 1200 New Jersey Avenue 

SE., Washington, DC 20590, fax 202-366-7394. Patty EllisonPotter, Ph.D., was the project manager for this study.

TRAFFIC TECH is a publication to disseminate information about 

traffic safety programs, including evaluations, innovative programs, and new publications. Feel free to copy it as you wish. If you 

would like to receive a copy, contact Angela H. Eichelberger, Ph.D., 

Editor, fax 202-366-7394, e-mail: angela.eichelberger@dot.gov.

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., NTI-132

Washington, DC 20590