Overview Fact Sheet

Description:
This fact sheet provides a brief overview of the systemic safety approach along with the benefits and how it can be used.

Target Audience:
State Departments of Transportation (Safety Engineer, Planning Offices, DOT Districts), Local Transportation Agencies (Public Works Directors, Transportation Directors, Highway Engineers, County Engineers, MPOs), Federal (FHWA Division Offices)

Uses:
The fact sheet can be used to introduce the concept to DOT and MPO personnel and officials, elected officials, and the public and educate them about the benefits of the approach.

Narrated Presentation

Coming Back Soon!

Applying the Systemic Safety Approach on Local and Rural Roads

Description:
This flyer is one in a series of local and rural road safety briefing sheets.

Target Audience:
Local Transportation Agencies

Uses:
The briefing sheet introduces the systemic approach to safety to local transportation agencies.

Systemic Safety Project Selection Tool

Description:
This report provides information on the Systemic Safety Project Selection Tool including a step-by-step process for conducting systemic safety analysis; analytical techniques for determining a reasonable balance between the implementation of spot safety improvements and systemic safety improvements; and a mechanism for quantifying the benefits of safety improvements implemented through a systemic approach.

Target Audience:
State Departments of Transportation (Safety Engineer, Planning Offices, DOT Districts), Local Transportation Agencies (Public Works Directors, Transportation Directors, Highway Engineers, County Engineers, MPOs)

Uses:
The tool helps States learn about and apply the systemic approach to safety.

Supplemental Case Studies

Description:
These case studies supplement the Systemic Safety Project Selection Tool and demonstrate how agencies can apply systemic safety analysis for pedestrian crashes and when limited roadway data available.

Target Audience:
State Departments of Transportation (Safety Engineer, Planning Offices, DOT Districts), Local Transportation Agencies (Public Works Directors, Transportation Directors, Highway Engineers, County Engineers, MPOs)

Uses:
These case studies can be used in conjunction with the Systemic Safety Project Selection Tool to apply systemic safety analysis under these scenarios.

State Guidelines

Texas – Systemic Safety Widening Report: This report presents the application of a proposed systemic approach to project selection for highway widening with a focus on reducing single-vehicle run-off-road (SVROR) and opposite direction (head-on) crashes in Texas.

Developing Methodology for Identifying, Evaluating, And Prioritizing Systemic Improvements: This report proposes two systemic approaches for the State of Texas, one to project selection and one to roadway characteristic classification.

Other Systemic Safety Resources

NCHRP Report 955: Quantitative Approaches to Systemic Safety Analysis
This report provides guidance to state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other transportation agencies on how to apply a systemic safety management approach for identifying safety improvement projects.

Quick Start Guide: Systemic Safety Analysis
This guide describes tips and strategies for using resources your agency already has to perform systemic safety analysis, as defined in the Systemic Safety Project Selection Tool. A scenario implementing each task is woven throughout to help illustrate the concepts.

Take Action Before a Crash Occurs: Use a Systemic Approach to Safety
This flyer describes why the systemic approach to safety is an important part of the safety management process.

United States Roadway Assessment Program (usRAP)
usRAP is a program that assesses and benchmarks the relative safety of roads using roadway inventory data and/or crash history.  The program provides highway safety planners a solid, data-driven foundation for developing highway safety plans.  Modeled on research and software developed in Europe and Australia, RAP programs are used in more than 70 countries around the world.  The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety provided the initial funding to start-up the usRAP program, which is now managed by the Roadway Safety Foundation in Washington, DC.   

Archived News

Check out the following article in the May/June 2013 edition of Public Roads:

Using Risk to Drive Safety Investments
by Howard Preston, Richard Storm, Karen Scurry, and Elizabeth Wemple

May/June 2013. Public Roads

Contact

For training and technical assistance, apply online through the safety peer-to-peer program at http://rspcb.safety.fhwa.dot.gov/p2p/p2p_app.aspx

For other questions related to the systemic approach to safety, contact Matt Hinshaw at matthew.hinshaw@dot.gov.