Traffic Safety Camera Program – Portland, Oregon

Vision Zero Success Story – Behavioral

Background

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) implemented the traffic safety camera program in 2016 to reduce speeding in neighborhoods and save lives. The traffic safety cameras were installed along corridors in the City’s High Crash Network. The High Crash Network included 30 streets; a composite of the top 20 high crash streets for driving, the top 20 for bicycling, and the top 20 for walking. The City identified four corridors for the traffic safety cameras:

• SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.
• SE Division Street.
• SE 122nd Avenue.
• NE Marine Drive.

By early 2018, PBOT installed eight (8) systems along the four (4) high crash corridors enforcing each direction of travel. In advance of each traffic safety camera, a speed reader board (SRB) displayed a driver’s speed. When drivers exceeded the posted speed limit, the traffic safety camera system engaged and photographed the driver and the front and rear of the vehicle.

Media Campaign – Boulder, Colorado

Vision Zero Success Story – Communications & Outreach

Background

In 2017, the City of Boulder developed and implemented a robust communication and outreach program, called “Heads Up Boulder,” to continue its goal of eliminating all serious traffic crashes involving all modes of transportation. The City also aimed to increase Vision Zero awareness and enhance public involvement.

The City promoted Vision Zero safety education campaigns across multiple social media platforms and at community events. The communication ranged from traditional outlets (high visibility bus ads and television interviews) to social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat).

“Heads Up Boulder” aimed to build greater awareness of traffic safety citywide and for all users of the transportation system. In addition, the campaign focused on 18-24 year olds. This population is the age group involved in the most crashes. The City developed tailored outreach programs to reach this demographic. For instance, due to the popularity of the Snapchat mobile application platform with this target audience, the City developed ads specifically for the platform.

The City also partnered with local advocacy groups and the University of Colorado Boulder to increase the influence of the campaigns, as many of the crashes involving 18-24 year old persons occurred near the University.

Safest Driver Contest – Boston, Massachusetts

Vision Zero Success Story – Behavioral

Background

The City of Boston’s Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) championed the inaugural “Safest Driver Contest.” As a partnership between the Vision Zero Task Force, MONUM, and the Transportation Department, the Safest Driver Contest held its first season in 2016 and a second season in 2019. Similar contests have been held in other cities including Seattle, San Antonio, and Los Angeles.

The contest aimed to change driver behavior by offering incentives to participants who adopted safe practices while behind the wheel. Participants downloaded an app that used five performance evaluation metrics to assess each driver including braking, acceleration, speeding, cornering, and distraction. The app made calculations for these metrics based on the phone’s GPS, accelerometer, and gyroscope. The app collected and stored the monitored behaviors of individual drivers for each trip.

Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force and Speed Limit Setting Report – California

Vision Zero Success Story – Partnerships

Background

Motor vehicle collisions are a leading cause of unintentional injuries and deaths among all age groups in the United States. In 2017, approximately 3,600 deaths and over 14,000 serious injuries occurred as a result of traffic collisions in California, costing the State over $53.5 billion. Twenty-six percent of the collisions were speeding-related, which included vehicle speeds that were unsafe for conditions or in excess of the speed limit.

This spurred the legislature into action and in 2018, the California Assembly signed Assembly Bill 2363. This Bill required the establishment of a Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force. The Task Force aimed to evaluate the ways in which speed limits are set in California, suggested alternatives to the current speed-limit-setting process (85th-percentile method), and proposed policies to reduce traffic fatalities to zero. AB 2363 directed the California Secretary of Transportation to publish a Report of Findings following the conclusion of the Task Force activities and submit it to the Legislature.

Rainier Avenue South Redesign – Seattle, Washington

Vision Zero Success Story – Infrastructure

Background

The Rainier Valley neighborhood located in southeast Seattle is home to one of the City’s most culture-rich and diverse populations. Rainier Avenue South is a principal arterial street that connects residents and communities along the former regional rail corridor. The area surrounding Rainier Avenue South includes many land uses like retail, schools, and parks. These uses are pertinent to pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and drivers.

It was also the corridor with the highest number of traffic crashes in Seattle; the corridor had a per mile crash rate that is greater than other streets in the City that carry more than twice the volume of traffic as on Rainier Ave South. The City launched Vision Zero efforts in 2014, one of which was working with the community to redesign a one-mile segment of the eight-mile corridor for the pilot phase of the Rainier Avenue South Corridor Safety Project. The City implemented changes to the piloted segment between South Alaska Street and South Kenny Street over a weekend in August 2015.

Rainier Avenue South carries over 13,000 people daily on transit, is a freight and emergency response route, and serves between 19,700 and 26,600 vehicles each weekday. Studies in the corridor show that between 1,000 and 2,000 vehicles per day travel along the corridor at a speed greater than 10 miles above the 30 miles per hour (mph) posted speed limit. The total average number of annual crashes over the 10 years prior to the redesign was 95 crashes, 9 serious injury crashes, and 1 fatality crash.

Systemic Safety Analysis – San Diego, California

Vision Zero Success Story – Data

Background

In 2015, the City of San Diego adopted a Vision Zero approach to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on City streets by 2025. This approach included the development and implementation of strategies in the areas of engineering, enforcement, and education. A key element of the City’s Vision Zero program was to use data to select projects with the greatest safety benefit. This data-driven philosophy was encapsulated in the City’s Systemic Safety Analysis Reporting Program (SSARP). The Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at the University of California, Berkeley assisted with the development of SSARP, which included standardizing processes to perform crash analyses, identifying safety issues, and developing a list of low-cost proven safety countermeasures. The systemic safety approach evaluated the City’s entire roadway network, rather than individual high-crash locations, and identified high-risk roadway features correlated with common crash types.

State Programs Fund Rail Crossing Safety Improvements

Describe the state of roadway safety before the practice was implemented. What was the safety issue, problem, or gap?

Indiana and Nebraska needed a funding tool to help communities reduce rail crossing crashes and fatalities and to realize projects that had been unable to move forward.

What key challenges needed to be addressed before the practice could be implemented?

The key challenge was developing the respective communities’ funding tools.

Describe the practice.

As part of Indiana’s long-term transportation funding legislation, passed in 2017, lawmakers approved the Local TRAX rail overpass program to help communities reduce rail crossing crashes and fatalities. To fund the program, the Indiana Finance Authority will issue and distribute bonds.

Nebraska’s Grade Separation fund charges a $0.075 excise tax for each train mile operated by a railroad that transports freight in the State, and a $100 tax for each public grade crossing on the railroad’s line in the State. Every year, each railroad submits to the Department of Revenue a report of total train miles operated in the State during the previous year and the number of public grade crossings on its line. A total of 10 railroad entities that haul freight are taxed under this program. On average, the program generates approximately $3 million of revenue per year.

What technical and/or institutional changes resulted from the practice?

The Local TRAX program requires local governments to provide 20 percent of funding for land acquisition and construction, with the remaining 80 percent provided by the State. This funding match can be reached through any local partnership, including funding from the host railroad. Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) will also pay 100 percent of design and inspection fees for projects awarded under this program.

Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) Grade Separation Committee oversees and manages grade separation funds, which must be used for construction, rehabilitation, relocation, or modification of railroad grade separation facilities. New grade separation projects require closing a minimum of two public at-grade crossings: one at or near the location of the structure, and one or more at locations selected and approved by NDOT and the applicable local government. From 2000 to 2019, grade separation funds have helped construct 15 viaducts and approximately 30 grade crossings closures.

What benefits were realized as a result of the practice?

In 2018, INDOT awarded more than $121 million in State-matched funds to 12 communities to pursue high-priority railroad grade separations, crossing closures, and other safety enhancements at railroad crossings.

NDOT believes the train mile tax works well in Nebraska because it helps increase the number of grade separation construction projects, which in turn increases collaboration with railroads on transportation solutions. NDOT and the railroad companies share a common interest in hazard elimination, safety, and efficiency at crossings, and the train mile tax helps to financially achieve those goals.

Collaboration to Effectively Implement Railroad Crossing Safety Projects Yield Success Stories from Nevada and Louisiana

Describe the state of roadway safety before the new practice was implemented. What was the safety issue, problem, or gap?

Between the State department of transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and railroad partners, it was challenging to get all stakeholders on the same page in pursuit and implementation of rail-highway safety projects. The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) and Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LaDOTD) realized that a gap in information sharing among stakeholders could be stymied through consistent collaboration.

Describe the noteworthy practice.

NDOT railroad safety staff proactively began to meet quarterly with the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) regional manager to help ensure successful delivery of the State’s Railway-Highway Crossings (Section 130) Program. The regular quarterly meetings keep stakeholders engaged in pursuing a safer railroad crossing environment, and have proven so successful and efficient that NDOT and UPRR continue them to this day.

LaDOTD has held railroad safety committee meetings for more than 10 years. These meetings are used to review, update, and approve the State’s 3-year plan for rail-highway safety projects, and to explain projects and answer questions from committee members.

What technical and/or institutional changes resulted from the new practice?

NDOT and its rail partners are making great strides because of the regular collaborative meetings: development of a new master agreement, engineering design support for all public railroad crossings, and a railroad State action plan.

The meetings provide a platform for LaDOTD to highlight rail crossing safety across all stakeholders, present the railroad safety program, educate on rail-highway safety issues, answer questions about specific crossings or corridors, and collect ideas from rail partners to improve safety.

What benefits were realized as a result of the practice?

Effective communication among FHWA, FRA, railroad partners, and a State department of transportation can be a win-win solution to improve processes and increase safety at highway-rail crossings.

Education Efforts to Reduce Railway Fatalities: An Abundance of Innovative Resources and Ideas

Describe the state of roadway safety before the practice was implemented. What was the safety issue, problem, or gap?

Incorrect driver behavior is the number one reason for railway crossing collisions. According to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), an annual average of 1,790 collisions and 222 fatalities occurred at public railway-highway crossings from 2009-2018.

Describe the noteworthy practice.

Education is an effective way to help reduce these numbers and ensure drivers, pedestrians, and emergency responders are aware of the dangers of being on and around railroad tracks. Many States and organizations are producing engaging and effective outreach strategies, emphasizing that it is not only what you say—it is how you say it and who you say it to.

What technical and/or institutional changes resulted from the practice?

Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI) is a nonprofit organization providing public education programs in States to prevent collisions, injuries, and fatalities on and around railroad tracks. The State OLI program of North Carolina partnered with North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to perform and record a staged crash between a vehicle and a train. The train was traveling at 25 miles per hour, well below typical speeds for freight and passenger trains. The mock crash demonstrated the damage caused when a train collides with a motor vehicle, and the potential for fatal or serious injuries to the driver and passengers, even at this lower speed. The dramatic live demonstration and resulting videos were an innovative way for OLI and NCDOT to educate about the danger near railroads.

NCDOT created a railroad safety campaign, branded BeRailSafe, and a dedicated web page to provide free first-responder training and targeted outreach materials, safety tips, public outreach campaign information, and tools for communicating the risks associated with railways. BeRailSafe resources are grouped by target audience, including children, adults, and first responders, making it easy to find the right piece of outreach material for the right audience.

The FRA found that 59 percent of grade crossing crashes involve drivers between the ages of 20 and 49. To target such an important demographic, the State OLI program of Wyoming placed advertisements in event programs for Professional Bull Riders Association competitions, which typically attract this high-risk group in Wyoming. Teens spend numerous hours a day watching videos on mobile phones, making video campaigns an effective way to reach teen drivers. Noteworthy video projects include:

• OLI created a video series, called Ryan’s Brain, to educate new drivers about safe ways to interact with railways.
• Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) created an infographic-style video to demonstrate the value of freight trains to the public and remind drivers that while they have the ability to detour, train conductors do not.
• Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) Operation Lifesaver Program partners with schools to do safety presentations for school bus drivers, teens, and children. A variety of videos, ranging from cartoons to deadly crashes, are used to help convey the safety message. CTDOT also partners with the Department of Motor Vehicles to display OLI rail safety education videos.
• The National Safety Council created a provocative video showing past crashes to encourage drivers to respect the speed of a trains.

Improving Pedestrian Rail Crossing Safety with Hinged Pedestrian Gate Skirts

Describe the state of roadway safety before the new practice was implemented. What was the safety issue, problem, or gap?

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) converted an existing highway-railroad crossing to a pedestrian- and bicycle-only crossing when new roadway construction and land use changes occurred in New Britain, Connecticut. The converted railroad crossing design needed to safely accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists accessing a nearby busway station, multi-use trail, and other amenities.

In 2016, three pedestrians in Ramsey, New Jersey, died when hit by a train near the Main Street and Ramsey transit station. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), New Jersey Transit, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and local town officials worked together to find and implement a treatment to help prevent similar tragedies from occurring again.

What key challenges needed to be addressed before the new practice could be implemented?

The key challenge was getting agreement among professionals and the public on the chosen treatment.

Describe the new practice.

Both NJDOT and CTDOT identified a hinged pedestrian gate skirt as the most effective solution for the crossings. A hinged pedestrian gate skirt is a secondary horizontal bar that hangs under an existing pedestrian gate to help improve safety at rail crossings.

What technical and/or institutional changes resulted from the new practice?

Both Connecticut and New Jersey have installed hinged pedestrian gate skirts to better deter pedestrian violations.

What benefits were realized as a result of the practice?

This treatment deters pedestrians from going under a pedestrian gate that is in movement and in the down position. The pedestrian gate skirt pilot program found that descending gate violations decreased by 78 percent, and horizontal gate violations decreased by 54 percent. NJDOT reports no fatalities have occurred since installing the hinged pedestrian gate skirt. The low position of the gate skirt also benefits people who are blind or have low vision because the gate can be detected using canes or other mobility aids.