A Guide and Toolkit for Strategic Decision-Making to Improve Traffic Safety

NCHRP Research Report 928: Identification of Factors Contributing to the Decline of Traffic Fatalities in the United States from 2008 to 2012 successfully identified major contributors to the decline in fatalities during this period. The report indicated the most significant contributors to the drop in traffic fatalities were the substantial increase in teen and young adult unemployment, decreased alcohol consumption, and reductions in gross domestic product (GDP)/per capita income. Vehicle design improvements also contributed to the decline significantly, as did the decline in rural vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) and increased enforcement of driving while under the influence (DUI) laws. However, in recent years, traffic fatality rates in the United States are increasing compared to the traffic fatality rates reported between 2005 and 2011. Achieving safety targets will require the use of multiple types of strategies that aim to reduce traffic fatalities because not a single discipline is expected to be able to produce the desired reductions in fatalities and serious injuries. While the effectiveness of many individual strategies has been studied, the effect that a combination of multiple strategies using engineering, enforcement, education, and emergency medical service approaches will have on crashes is not clear. Research is needed to assist practitioners in selecting and implementing multidisciplinary safety strategies and countermeasures to improve traffic safety. The objective of this project is to develop a guide and toolkit for strategic decision-making to improve traffic safety. The products of this research will provide multidisciplinary strategies and countermeasures for improving serious injury and fatality trends.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5152
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $450000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 17-103

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Project Managers:

  Brooks, Mike

• Start Date: 20231113
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injuries; Decision making; Fatalities; Guidelines; Traffic crashes; Traffic safety
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01772202
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 17-103
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: May 25 2021 11:29AM