Introduction: Overview of Roadway Safety Management Safety Analysis in a Data-limited, Local Agency Environment: July 22, Boise, Idaho 1 Module 1

Introduction: Learning Objectives Define nominal and substantive safety Discuss different approaches to safety projects Define key steps of the roadway safety management process Introduce safety analysis tools 2

Introduction 3 “Road safety management is in transition. The transition is from action based on experience, intuition, judgment, and tradition, to action based on empirical evidence, science, and technology…” Ezra Hauer (May 2005)

How do you define Safety? Definitions of Safety  Personal – Do I feel safe? Based on personal experiences Level of comfort or discomfort  Engineer – design meets standards and/or crash frequency below threshold  Legislation – Fatal and injury crashes 4

Nominal vs Substantive Safety 5 Which model more closely resembles what stakeholders are likely thinking? 11-ft lanes 12-ft lanes

A facility may be “nominally safe” but have a lower actual safety performance (i.e. substantive safety) 6

Different approaches to safety 7

Different approaches to safety Data-driven and science-based Site-specificSystemic 8

Common data elements 9

Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Roadway Safety Management Process HSM Part B (Chapters 4 – 9)

Network Screening 5 key steps 11

Desired Outcomes Identify contributing circumstances to crashes at the site Understand site conditions Identify crash patterns Gain insight on countermeasure selection Site diagnosis process STEP 1: Review safety data STEP 2: Assess supporting documentation STEP 3: Assess field conditions 12

Selecting Countermeasures Key Steps 13

Identify Data Needs Assess Expected Project Benefits Estimate Project Costs Perform Economic Evaluation Consider Non-Monetary Impacts Economic Appraisal 5-14 Key Steps:

Project Prioritization Is the alternative economically justified? Prioritization Methods Ranking by economic effectiveness Incremental benefit-cost analysis Optimization methods Remember though! include non-monetary considerations 5-15

Implement and evaluate the effectiveness of countermeasures Implement countermeasures Evaluate countermeasures – how well is it working for us? Should we do more of these projects? Are there ways to improve?  We can evaluate A single project at a specific location, or A group of similar projects, or A group of projects. 16

Potential resources & tools 17 AASHTO Highway Safety Manual usRAP FHWA CMF Clearinghouse FHWA Systemic Tool

Highway Safety Manual

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FHWA Systemic Safety Project Selection Tool 1.Identify Target Crash Types and Sites 2.Screen and Prioritize Candidate Locations 3.Select Countermeasures 4.Prioritize Projects 5.Identify Funding Source and Implement Systemic Program 6.Evaluate Systemic Program 20

Summary Substantive safety is key to informed and defensible decisions Approaches in roadway safety management allows for implementation at all levels of data availability Resources and tools are available to support activities 21

End Module 1 Questions? 22