1. Safety Corridors Mike Quintana, New Mexico
Department of Transportation,
Traffic Safety Bureau
Alan Ho,
Federal Highway Administration
New Mexico Division
Logos
Importance of strong partnerships

2. New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) Traffic Safety Bureau (TSB)
Mission: reduce traffic fatalities & injuries 
by developing & supporting a comprehensive, multi-strategy approach:
Enforcement: Deterrence, Prevention
Education: Media, Training
Legislation & regulation
Data management & analysis.

3. Reduce Crashes & SAVE LIVES
Goal: Reduce crashes and fatalities by 20%,
New Mexico, saving 20 to 40 lives/year
12 Safety Corridors
2 per NMDOT district
based on crash/fatality data
3 - 5 year history
length determined by:
data clusters – serious injury and fatality crashes
consult with LE - enforceability
The purpose of safety corridors is to reduce crashes and save lives
authorized by New Mexico Statute Section , Subsection A (allows DOT to designate safety corridors),
and Section , subsection D (doubles fine for speeding in the corridor).
or until the Transportation Programs Division Director determines,
designation as a Safety Corridor is no longer necessary.
another section in the same district will be designated as a Safety

4. Who The 4E’s Engineering Education Enforcement Emergency Services
Our program is developed around the 4E concept.

5. Who Building your team-Possible players
State
New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT)
Traffic Safety Bureau (TSB) /Highway Safety Office (HSO)
DPS State police
MTD IRIS van Motor Carrier safety
Federal
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admin (FMCSA)
Local agencies LE
City police departments
Sherriff’s offices
Tribal police
Fire
EMS
For NM building a team involves local/state/ and federal partners

6. Who Building your team-Possible players
TOGETHER WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Together we make a difference

7. WHO Crash Fatalities in New Mexico by Age and Sex, 2005
It’s important to review data in several formats
The chart above is crashes by age and sex
Note the largest percentage group are males ages 19-34

8. Where Geographics 5th largest state
121,355 square miles (316,332 square km)
Approximately 128,635 lane miles
Safety corridors about 150 highway miles?
Largely rural
Population less than 2 million statewide
The 12 NM safety corridors account for only about 150 highway miles
Add north America map with NM highlighted as background

9. Where pilot Limited to 2 per district 6 NMDOT districts Length
Other states designate from border to border
NM focus on the high crash sections
Shortest 7 miles
Longest 38 miles
Majority miles
Enforcement input on workable length
Road conditions
weather patterns
Trauma centers
Rural roads
Statewide program
Corridors are a regional approach at looking at traffic patterns
We have been doing STEP at the city and county levels for many years
Again this a statewide program and….

10. Where are our and fatalities happening in NM?
About 70% of fatalities are on rural highways

11. Why data driven FATALITIES HIGH RATE ON RURAL HIGHWAYS
Approximately 70% of NM fatals
Serious injuries
Overall crashes

12. When 3-5 year history Each runs for at least 3 years
Evaluate crash data
Type of crashes
Time of day
Day of week
When numbers come down move to new location
Selected NM corridor locations will run for 3 years
The program will then be reviewed and evaluated before expanding the program or relocating the sites

13. Crashes in Corridors by Year
How – Data Analysis
Crashes in Corridors by Year
District
Corridor
FY 01
FY 02
FY 03
FY 04
FY 05
total
Enforcement Began 1
I 10 mp 76 93
106 85
436
3/1/2004
I 10 mp 35-75 66 74 78 69 64
351
11/26/2003 2
US 82 mp 2-16 41 50 44 36 28
199
7/1/2002
US 70 mp 61 83 79
349
5/1/2003 3
I 25 mp
240
261
273
287
216
1277
12/1/2005
I 40 mp
130
110 90
117
153
600 4
I 40 mp 39 49 22 30
170
12/5/2003
US 64 mp 16 12 23 8 19
12/10/2003 5
US 64 mp 40-67
340
334
341
323
401
1739
5/23/2006
NM 502 mp 4-20 77 62
368
11/15/2005 6
I 40 mp 55 53 71
3/9/2005
US 491 mp
116
115 86 34
374
3/16/2005
1281
1271
1278
1218
1166
6214
Green start of corridors vs first full year (get rid of enforcement began column)
Red high numbers
if we only go by high numbers we would capture mostly 4 lane highways leading into urban areas
Only metropolitan areas: Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Farmington would be surrounded by the corridors
2/district helps capture the rural segments orange numbers
orange roads that might get bumped out if went purely on high numbers but we all know they are problem sections
82 rural 2-lane mountainous curves
491 (old 666) rural high concentration high profile always in the news, including ped, alcohol
502 commuter traffic bulk of crashes during am 6-9, pm 3-6 peaks weekday (verify)
wildlife/livestock 82, 64 Clayton-Raton
This 150 miles represents about 3%of the state’s total crashes

14. Crashes in Corridors by Year
District
Corridor
FY 01
FY 02
FY 03
FY 04
FY 05
FY 06
total 1
I 10 mp 76 93
106
102 68
521
I 10 mp 35-75 66 74 78 69 70 44
401 2
US 82 mp 2-16 41 50 36 29
236
US 70 mp 85 61 83 42 47
396 3
I 25 mp
204
241
256
260
292
295
1548
I 40 mp
130
110 90
117
184 98
729 4
I 40 mp 39 49 22 30 25
187
US 64 mp 16 12 23 8 20 14 5
US 64 mp 40-67
NM 502 mp 4-20 77 79 65
454 6
I 40 mp 55 53 71 48
300
US 491 mp 46 33
224
842
848
884
866
915
734
4355

15. How – Graphic Analysis Graphic review
We just got this information before coming this week
The preliminary data for the year 2006 shows a 20% decrease in total crashes
total crashes decreasing form 915 to 734
with the data being reported on 11 of the 12 corridors

16. Crash Map Comparison 6 of 12 have alcohol related crashes
Alcohol involved crashes contribute to about 3% total crashes
likewise the corridors represent 3% of the state’s total crashes.
Note corridors corresponding to the alcohol crash concentrations:
half of the corridors correspond to the high oh crashes
I-10 Anthony to Las Cruces
I-25 south of Albuquerque
I-40 east of Alb
i-40 thoureau
491 gallup
64 bloomfield to kirtland (Farmington)
6 of 12 have alcohol related crashes

17. How - Partnerships Legislative actions (state or local)
Develop guidelines/criteria
Develop standard signage plans
Districts responsible for signage
Funding for enforcement, signage, other corridor needs
Enforcement
Paid/earned media
Partnerships
4E’s - engineering
enforcement
traffic cops
reconstructionist
education
emergency services
ambulance
fire ER
Media – TV
news
commercials
PSAs
radio
print
newspapers
newsletters
magazines
posters
flyers
restaurant table tents

18. How Legislative Double Speeding Fine Zone Authorization
New Mexico Statute
Speed regulation
A (4) the posted speed limit …as double fine zones…
B (3) to protect workers in construction zones posted as double fine zones or other safety zones posted as double fine zones as designated by NMDOT
It helps to have legislative support
Here’s the NM law passed in 2004 allowing for double fines

19. How Guidelines/Criteria The Foundation of Program
5 year history of serious injury and fatality crashes in a moving 5 mile stretch
Crash Investigation Unit (review of contributing factors)
Review of Existing Law Enforcement and Engineering initiatives (what already exists, don’t duplicate)
District Engineer review/approval of proposed safety corridor
Public awareness campaign (community buy-in)
Review of Equipment and sign needs
The foundation of the NM safety corridor program is based on these 6 steps

20. How Develop standard signage plans
Standard plans
Coordinate with state and federal engineers
Developed in accordance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD)

21. How - Enforcement High Visibility Enforcement
Corridor overtime funding
100 Days of Summer Campaign
A corridor could have multiple enforcement agencies; State police, county sheriffs, Tribal police, Metropolitan police, Motor transportation police (regulation of big trucks)
In addition we will be running the 100 days of summer
which will add additional enforcement through our peak summer travel months

22. Funding for enforcement, signage, other corridor needs
Overtime wave enforcement
Special overtime funding – NHTSA/State
Signage
Districts – FHWA/State
Enforcement
402 NHTSA funds
Road fund (state)
For example, in 2007 NM has invested an additional $600,000
for overtime enforcement to work the safety corridors areas.
Explain Wave enforcement
signage
HE – Hazard Elimination 152
Sanction funds 154 open container/164 repeat offender???

23. How Enforcement Targeted enforcement Time of day Day of week
Type of crashes
Tie back to I-25 commuter traffic needs enforcement

24. How Earned Media Kick Off Events Community presentations
Media is an important component of our campaign
Kick Off Events
Community presentations
Radio/TV talks shows
Newspaper articles

25. How Paid media
TV spots
Radio
Print
Billboards
Bus panels
Flyers

26. How - Media No such thing as Bad press
Editorial cartoon from the Las Cruces Sun News
JUST BECAUSE WE SHOULD!

27. How - Media No such thing as Bad press
I-25 South, Albuquerque
KOAT Channel 4
Radio talk shows

28. state Rural or Interstate
Speed related crashes
corridor
state Rural or Interstate
state
% Rural or Interstate
% all state
FY 01 52
1069
1837
4.86%
2.83%
FY 02 50
965
1729
5.18%
2.89%
FY 03 63
1037
1847
6.08%
3.41%
FY 04 61
1000
1940
6.10%
3.14%
FY 05 54
845
1714
6.39%
3.15%
FY 06 34
636
1336
5.35%
2.54%
total
314
5552
10403
5.66%
3.02%

29. Statewide program – big picture look at crashes in NM
Some of the worse crash locations in the state
Note that many corridors reflect traffic coming into metro areas:
Albuquerque, Las Cruces/ El Paso, Gallup, Farmington
Higher concentration of traffic correlates to higher number of crashes
Trauma Level one Centers: UNM Hospital in Albuquerque or El Paso

30. SAVE LIVES Reduce Crashes & Conclusion
The purpose of the safety corridor program is to reduce crashes and save lives.
Bigger picture…

31. Questions?

32. Mike Quintana
New Mexico Department of Transportation
Traffic Safety Bureau
Alan Ho
New Mexico
Federal Highway Administration