U.S. Road Assessment Program (usRAP) Overview

usRAP Sponsors Federal Highway Administration has highlighted usRAP protocols as data-driven safety tools in Every Day Counts 3 Roadway Safety Foundation working with FHWA to encourage use of usRAP’s protocols and provide technical support to users Contact: Bruce Hamilton (brucehamilton@roadwaysafety.org)

usRAP Team MRIGlobal, Kansas City, MO Iowa State University, Ames, IA University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

usRAP Objectives Benchmark safety of road segments Allocate resources based on risks Infrastructure Enforcement Inform and provide guidance to motorists Foster collaboration

usRAP Objectives Focus on reducing risk of fatal and serious injury crashes Assure that highway safety improvement programs are based on rational assessment of risk

“Safer drivers in safer vehicles on safer roads”

ROAD ASSESSMENT PROGRAMS 2000 - EuroRAP 2003 - AusRAP 2004 - usRAP 2005 - iRAP

International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) iRAP is a not-for-profit organization based in the U.K. iRAP was established in 2005 to help coordinate the EuroRAP, AusRAP, and usRAP programs iRAP also took on a mission to apply RAP protocols in low- and middle-income countries RAP programs are now active in over 70 countries iRAP Global Technical Committee (GTC) assures technical quality of RAP protocols and tools

usRAP Phase I Phase II Phase III Star Rating Validation – Washington, Iowa Public Awareness Campaigns – Utah, Michigan 9

usRAP Protocols Risk Mapping Performance Tracking Star Ratings Safer Roads Investment Plans NOTE: All based on fatal and serious injury crashes

Risk Maps usRAP began developing risk maps in 2004 Illustrate crash risk levels for road segments using four different risk measures Roads are color-coded based on crash risk levels Maps are prepared using data on crash history and traffic volume levels Focus on fatal and serious injury crashes Homogeneous road segments Segment length sufficient to provide meaningful results

Example of usRAP Risk Map

Star Ratings Star ratings have been used since the inception of RAP programs Star ratings are assigned based on presence or absence of road design and traffic control features related to safety Over 50 safety-related design and traffic control features are considered Star ratings are in 1 to 5 scale: 5-star road (full range of known safety-related design and traffic control features) 1-star road (limited safety-related design and traffic control features)

What is a Safer Roads Investment Plan? Safer Road Investment Plan: A plan that suggests specific safety improvements at specific locations on a selected roadway network Input Data: Approximately 50 roadway and traffic characteristics for each 300-ft (100-m) segment of the roadway network Processing Software: web-based ViDA software Output: a safety improvement plan for your road network

How Can a Safer Roads Investment Plan Help Your Agency? Plan focuses attention of the priority locations for safety improvement on your road system and the appropriate type of safety improvement(s) for each location Requires a 30-minute investment in coding of on roadway attributes per mile of road All results are based on benefit-cost analysis—only improvements that meet a minimum benefit-cost ratio that you specify are suggested 7

ViDA Software Former usRAP Tools software (Version 2.2 model) has been succeeded by ViDA software (Version 3.0 model)

ViDA Sotfware Performs network-level safety planning analysis to develop star ratings and safer roads investment plans Web-based and easily accessed on-line Software usage is free for all highway agencies and their consultants Training is needed to use the software properly Training is provided at regular intervals free of charge 8

ViDA Sotfware Software uploads and processes input data for most roadway systems within a few minutes Displays results on-screen and in downloadable Microsoft Excel® files No detailed site-specific crash data needed Network-wide crash data is useful for calibration 9

Objectives of This Training Course Learn about ViDA Software A useful supplement to crash-data analysis approaches in identifying infrastructure improvement needs for agencies with good crash data With proper training, can be used by any highway agency or their consultants A unique tool for agencies without good crash data: no crash data available manual crash reports but no automated data files automated crash data files, but no location data other than verbal descriptions

Content of This Training Course Learn about ViDA Software Software Overview Data Acquisition Procedures Data Coding Manual Data Management/Quality Assurance Using the Software Practical Considerations/Discussion

What Will You Learn? Application and uses of star ratings Application and uses of safer roads investment plans How to use ViDA software Data needed for ViDA Tools software How to obtain data for ViDA software How to assure quality of data and analysis results How to use analysis results effectively in safety management

Why Are usRAP Protocols Proprietary? To assure protocols and software are applied in a technically accurate manner – adaptations must be approved To assure that protocols and software are not copied and sold by others usRAP protocols and software are copyrighted, but are made available free of charge to: highway agencies accredited vendors conducting studies for highway agencies

Questions?