An official website of the United States government
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
(2015 National Roadway Safety Awards - Winner)
(2017 National Roadway Safety Awards - Winner)
Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) searched for ways to reduce intersection crashes in Connecticut. The geometry of an existing rotary, at the intersection of Routes 80 and 81 in Killingworth, allowed higher speeds and conflicts between entering and circulating traffic and could not support vehicles with a larger turning radius. The rotary experienced high crash rates and included numerous deficiencies. The most obvious deficiency was the lack of deflection on the entrances. As with most rotaries, this one was originally configured to give the right of way to the entering traffic, with traffic in the circle having to yield to incoming vehicles. The entrances had little if any deflection, which allowed for high entry speeds and increased the potential for a serious collision.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety performed a study on the extensive safety benefits of converting signalized and all-way stop-controlled intersections to modern roundabouts. Encouraged by these results, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) decided to convert some of its old traffic circles to roundabouts.
ConnDOT reviewed several sites and selected three pilot locations based on crash history, volumes, constructability, and the potential for improvement. Due to safety concerns, the rotary at the intersection of Routes 80 and 81 in Killington, Connecticut, was a prime candidate.
The existing rotary facility at the intersection of Routes 80 and 81 in Killington was replaced with a roundabout. To slow traffic on the approaches, ConnDOT created some deflection and added a truck apron around the central island. The overall dimensions of the intersection were not altered, but the east leg was realigned slightly to improve the angle of the intersection. In addition, ConnDOT installed raised splitter islands and raised truck “blisters” (raised truck aprons placed on the outside of the roundabout) on two of the four quadrants. ConnDOT removed some of the existing pavement to create a more circular intersection shape, which helped with deflection and slowed traffic.
Measurable reductions in crashes, injuries, and fatalities. Speeds are now within the range of 15-20 MPH for all movements, eliminating the significant speed differentials that existed previously. Comparing the latest available 3-year period (2009-2011) crash history to the 2005-2007 data, the total number of crashes was reduced from 20 to 10 (50% reduction), the number of injury crashes was reduced from 6 to 1 (83% reduction), and the number of injuries was reduced from 7 to 1 (86% reduction).
2013 National Roadway Safety Awards Noteworthy Practices Guide
Publication FHWA-SA-14-002
William Britnell
Connecticut Department of Transportation
860-594-3274
William.Britnell@ct.gov
Louisiana published their original Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) in September 2006. Using the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) SHSP as a point of departure, the State examined data and identified 11 high-priority emphasis areas with the most promise for driving down the human and economic costs of crashes. In 2009 Louisiana began the process of updating the SHSP with one of the primary stated objectives to “narrow the focus of the SHSP to the areas of greatest need and potential for success as identified through a detailed data analysis process.”
The update process included examination of the data and outreach to safety stakeholders. While attempting to narrow the focus, a careful look at the data revealed some difficulties in assessing the nature and true extent of two of the original emphasis areas – speeding and aggressive driving, and distracted driving. Aggressive driving is a difficult concept to define and involves several typical violations associated with driver behavior. The most often cited violation in aggressive driving crashes is “careless operation.” The 2005 crash report form introduced a new variable addressing distracted driving. However, in many cases, looking closer at the data revealed the factors contributing to distraction were often recorded as “unknown.”
The SHSP Implementation Team recognized aggressive driving and distracted driving represent significant safety problems. However, the Team believed a pragmatic and beneficial approach would be to establish task forces to examine these issues in greater depth before they could conduct the necessary emphasis area level analysis. This resulted in the creation of two Task Forces with the following roles:
By establishing the task forces on aggressive driving and distracted driving, Louisiana maintained a data-driven approach to defining SHSP emphasis areas with the greatest potential to reduce fatalities and serious injuries while acknowledging the potential significance of such topics.
To date, approximately 40 stakeholders representing the 4 Es of safety (engineering, enforcement, education, and EMS) have signed up for either the Distracted Task Force or the Aggressive Driving Task Force. The Task Forces are setting out to determine: 1) appropriate methods for analyzing the data to develop a clear picture of the problem; and 2) effective countermeasures. Once those tasks are accomplished, the intent is to transition the “developing” emphasis areas into full SHSP emphasis areas.
Dan Magri
Highway Safety Administrator
Louisiana Department of Transportation
and Development
225-379-1871
Dan.Magri@la.gov
Thirty percent of speeding crashes and 60 percent of roadway departure crashes occur on the 11,000 miles of Alabama’s state highway system. According to Wes Elrod, Transportation Planning and Modal Programs Assistant Bureau Chief, a review of the data and current countermeasures indicated a need for increased enforcement.
Until the flex funding option became available in FY 2006, the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) did not have a mechanism to provide direct financial assistance to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) for increased enforcement on the state system. The Highway Safety Office (HSO) distributes a significant proportion of its National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) funds to local governments and only a limited amount to DPS. Recognizing limited resources for traffic enforcement, ALDOT used HSIP flex funds to increase enforcement strategies identified in the strategic highway safety plan (SHSP) addressing behavior to complement infrastructure improvements and more effectively reduce roadway departure crashes. ALDOT flexed between five and eight percent of its HSIP funds annually from FY 2007 to FY 2010, resulting in $1.5 to $2.8 million spent on noninfrastructure safety projects each of the past four years.
The majority of the flex funds paid for overtime for state police troopers to conduct speed enforcement activities, which is a strategy in the state SHSP Risky Driving Emphasis Area. ALDOT worked with the state police to determine how much overtime enforcement they could handle given personnel levels and agreed on an appropriate amount of HSIP funds to flex each year.
ALDOT identified fatal and serious injury crash locations and provided crash maps to the state police. Using the Critical Analysis Reporting Environment (CARE) crash records system ALDOT identified the time of day and the type of crashes. Troopers then focused their overtime efforts on those times and locations. ALDOT divided HSIP funds among the 12 state police trooper posts proportionally based on the number of high-crash corridors in each area.
ALDOT closely monitored enforcement results and made adjustments as necessary. In quarterly reports, the state police provided the hours worked by each trooper and citations issued during overtime enforcement periods. ALDOT continuously evaluated results to ensure safety goals were met and whether the effort was a successful countermeasure for reducing both speeding and lane departure crashes.
Flexing HSIP funds for use by DPS for enforcement has resulted in a strong partnership between the state police and ALDOT staff, while addressing noninfrastructure emphasis areas from the SHSP. This effort has resulted in increased deployment of enforcement resources on the state highway system based on crash data. From 2007 to 2009 the number of fatal crashes involving speeding decreased 31 percent, from 369 in 2007 to 255 in 2009.
Waymon Benifield
Safety Management Section Administrator
Alabama DOT
Phone 334-353-6404
benifieldw@dot.state.al.us
Wes Elrod
Assistant Bureau Chief, Modal Programs
Alabama DOT
Phone: 334-353-6407
elrodw@dot.state.al.us