Spy Pond Partners April 2009 NCHRP 20-24(37C) – Comparative Performance Measurement Safety Performance Based on the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)

2 Spy Pond Partners Value of Comparative Performance Measurement for Safety Comparative performance measurement is a powerful technique for motivating and facilitating changes that result in improved performance Motivates organizations to pursue improvements by showing them what their peers have been able to achieve Highlights effective practices associated with states that “moved the needle” for traffic fatality rate during the timeframe Results adds to a growing compendium of best practices (construction delivery, pavement smoothness, safety…) Comparative performance provides a compelling basis for executives for further improvement and associated practices. Linking results to practice at a macro level in the case of safety has proved valuable not so much for discovering new practices, but for reinforcing and lending further support to already recognized best practices.

3 Spy Pond Partners Value of Comparative Performance Measurement for Safety (cont.) Looking at what multiple high performing states have done allows distillation of important practices Compared to the two other areas (on-time, on-budget and pavement smoothness), safety is more "mature" with respect to performance measurement and use of performance data to target improvements. A single "take away" from the interviews with top performing states, it is the critical importance of being able to FOCUS activities based on credible and timely data. Safety practitioners have institutionalized use of performance data for discovery of what works well and what doesn't. Continued work towards improving comparability of safety data across states is important – it will be valuable as federal performance measures are explored for reauthorization.

4 Spy Pond Partners Final Set of Performance Measures Primary Performance Measure % change in 3 year average between and in total fatalities per 100 million VMT Secondary Performance Measure (tie breaker or screening) 3 year average Fatality rate Supplemental Performance Measures % change in 3 year average between and in total fatalities per 100 million VMT (most recent portion of the time period) % change in 3 year average between and in urban fatality rate (fatalities on roads with urban functional classification divided by 100 million VMT on roads with urban functional classification) % change in 3 year average between and in rural fatality rate (fatalities on roads with rural functional classification divided by 100 million VMT on roads with rural functional classification) Change in 3 year average of total number of fatalities

5 Spy Pond Partners Performance Results

6 Spy Pond Partners Methods for Identification of Top Performing States Four methods used – recommendations reflect “union” across methods 1. Straight ranking based on percentage change in fatalities 2. Screen out states with lower than national average fatality rate, then rank based on percentage change in fatalities 3. Geographic peer groupings - select top state within each of 5 geographic zones (see next slide) – based on percentage change in fatalities, with absolute fatality rate as tie-breaker 4. Urban/Rural peer groupings – 5 groups based on percentage of fatalities on urban classified roadways – select top state within each group – based on percentage change in fatalities, with absolute fatality rate as tie-breaker

7 Spy Pond Partners Peer Groupings - Geographic Regions Used by FHWA for Travel Monitoring – 5 regions (

8 Spy Pond Partners Peer Groupings - % of Fatalities on Urban Roadways Group 1 Less than 15 percent of fatalities on Urban Classified Roads (9 states) ME, MS, MT, ND, SC, SD, VT, WV, WY Group percent of fatalities on Urban Classified Roads (15 states) AL, AS, ID, IN, IA, KS, KY, MN, NE, NH, NM, OK, OR, UT, WI Group percent of fatalities on Urban Classified Roads (14 states) AK, CO, DE, GA, LA, MI, MO, NC, OH, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA Group percent of fatalities on Urban Classified Roads (8 states) AR, CA, FL, HI, IL, MD, NV, NY Group 5 Over 60 percent of fatalities on Urban Classified Roads (4 states) CT, MA, NJ, RI

9 Spy Pond Partners Summary Results and Recommendations for Best Practice Identification * tied or close second

10 Spy Pond Partners Selected States Top Performing States - Interviewed Tier 1 Top Performers Alaska Colorado Connecticut Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota New York Utah

11 Spy Pond Partners Findings Improvements in safety performance were the result of: Coordinated, Focused Efforts on the 4E's (Engineering – Enforcement – Education - Emergency Response) with no big surprises, no silver bullets Solid Leadership Dedicated Resources Committed Players

12 Spy Pond Partners Findings High degree of consistency across states interviewed in what people felt was important

13 Spy Pond Partners Findings Key factors leading to good performance were: Leadership and Interagency Partnerships Performance Targets and Continuous Monitoring of Progress Support Legislation to Reduce Highway Fatalities Use timely and accurate data to target programs and countermeasures for greatest payoff Maximize coordination across state and local law enforcement agencies Pursue creative and proactive public communications and messaging

14 Spy Pond Partners Safety Data for Comparative Performance Measurement Shift to use of fatalities to fatalities+injuries to provide a more robust basis for comparison Fatalities are relatively rare events – random variations impact performance results Continue work on consistency across states on definition and reporting of serious injuries. Support improvements to timeliness of both crash and VMT data States that have achieved quick turnaround have reported significant benefits in terms of willingness to use the data to target resources where they will have the greatest payoff Improve locational accuracy of crash data (particularly for local roadways) Quantification of both enforcement activities and engineering improvements to allow for cross state comparison would be of value % of freeway miles with shoulder rumble strips by year (for engineering) % of annual nighttime/weekend VMT represented by enforcement activities.