Boone County’s Local Road Safety Plan

Summary

The systemic approach is particularly apt for specific crash types that occur less regularly or in areas where crashes are more widespread, as opposed to clustered. The systemic approach uses site characteristics to evaluate risk despite limited crash numbers. This is especially applicable for Kentucky’s Local Road Safety Plan (LRSP) program due to the lack of sites with a history of severe crashes. As one example, Boone County’s LRSP sought to reduce deaths and serious injuries within the county by recognizing and prioritizing roadway safety improvements through the systemic approach.

Michigan Adopts the Safe System Approach in the Strategic Highway Safety Plan

Summary

In the past, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) used a more traditional approach to transportation safety – placing responsibility for traffic safety on individuals and focusing on improving human behavior, controlling speeding through education and enforcement, and reacting based on crash history. However, like most States, fatal and serious injury crashes weren’t coming down fast enough. So, when it was time to update their Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP), MDOT pushed for the inclusion of the Safe System Approach (SSA).

2020 Vision Zero Speed Management, Freemont, California Case Study

Summary

Speeding, exceeding the posted speed limits, or traveling too fast for conditions was a contributing factor in almost 29 percent of all fatalities in 2021. Of the 42,939 fatalities that occurred on our Nation’s roadways that year, 12,330 were speeding-related—an increase of 7.9 percent from 2020 (Stewart 2023). Speed is fundamental in dictating injury risk for all road users in any crash, especially for vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as pedestrians and bicyclists (Corben 2020).

This is one of ten case studies accompanying the Safe System Approach for Speed Management Report. Read the full report here. 

Promoting Vision Zero: Case Study from Richmond, VA

Background

The City of Richmond, the capital of Virginia, is among the oldest cities in the U.S. The City formed a Safe and Healthy Streets Commission in 1966 as one of earliest multidiscipline initiatives of its kind in the nation and helped lay the groundwork for their Vision Zero plans and program.

Innovative Materials Procurement Practices Lead to Improved Local Road Safety

Summary

To accelerate the process of purchasing federally funded safety devices and installing them on local and rural roads to address safety concerns, State departments of transportation (DOTs) are developing innovative approaches to materials procurement and installation. These methods are resulting in faster installation of proven, low-cost safety countermeasures that are saving lives today.

Force Accounts Lead to Faster, More Cost-Effective Completion of Life-Saving HSIP Projects

Summary

Alternative contracting methods such as public agency force accounts can increase the pace and decrease the cost of delivering safety improvement projects. This approach to project delivery is an efficient and effective tool for both improving safety as well as reducing the time and cost to install proven, low-cost safety solutions.

Design-Build Contracting

Summary

Across the Nation, State agencies are regularly challenged to find innovative mechanisms to install life-saving safety improvements faster, preventing crashes now instead of in 3 or 5 years, which is often the anticipated timeline when agencies use traditional contracting methods on such projects. Florida and Missouri are examples of States that are putting a unique twist on the Design-Build (DB) contracting method to overcome this challenge.

Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contracting Can Hasten Implementation of HSIP-Funded Safety Projects

Summary

Alternative contracting approaches are becoming more widely used across the Nation. These methods can streamline Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) project delivery, save money, and increase the rate at which needed safety improvements are installed. In the case of IDIQ contracting, agencies are able to “bundle” low-cost safety projects under a single contract.

Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Vision Zero Rapid Response Program

Summary

This document highlights Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) Rapid Response program (RR Program or RR team) and shows how the program takes a systemic approach to safety and aligns with the Safe System principles to achieve Vision Zero in Denver.

City Of Bellevue, WA: Video Analytics Towards Vision Zero Program