AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan--Technology Transfer Plan

In December 1997, the Board of Directors of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) endorsed a Strategic Highway Safety Plan that was developed by the AASHTO Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety. This plan represents a bold step; it envisions a concerted effort across all aspects of highway safety to achieve the ambitious goal of reducing fatalities by 5,000 to 7,000 per year by 2004. This goal is ambitious because there have been only slight fluctuations from the level of about 42,000 deaths per year for more than a decade. The plan is also bold in that it recognizes that AASHTO, through its traditional focus on the highway infrastructure, cannot alone achieve these reductions in fatalities. In addition to efforts to improve the design, operation, and maintenance of the highway system, the plan requires increased focus on (1) the driver, (2) the processes used to educate and regulate drivers, (3) the special needs of older drivers and pedestrians, (4) enforcement, (5) enhanced vehicle safety, and (6) better data and tools to analyze safety data. The need to increase the awareness of safety is highlighted throughout the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan. Efforts are needed to increase understanding by practitioners, the public, and decisionmakers about issues in highway safety to change behaviors, to increase support for safety programs and projects, and to use the most effective practices to ensure the highest level of highway safety. It is critical that the proper messages get delivered to each target audience. To achieve the goal of reducing fatalities by 5,000 to 7,000 per year by 2004, safety officials around the country need to consider and then proactively incorporate into their own plans the relevant strategies from the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan. Before implementing strategies, safety officials need to make an assessment of where their safety-related programs are in relation to the plan's emphasis areas. NCHRP Project 17-18(03), "Guidance for Implementation of the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan," is developing guidelines in 13 emphasis areas to assist state and local highway agencies in reducing injuries and fatalities. Also, NCHRP Project 17-18(05), "Model Approach to Reducing Statewide Injuries and Fatalities," is developing an integrated management process for coordinating the engineering, enforcement, and education efforts within a jurisdiction. A technology transfer plan targeted at appropriate levels within the transportation community is needed to implement the products from these two projects. The objectives of this project are to develop (1) an assessment tool for state DOT safety officials to use to compare their strategic safety plans or current safety efforts against the best practices identified in the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan and (2) a technology transfer plan to implement the products from NCHRP Projects 17-18(03) and 17-18(05). The contractor has submitted the revised draft final report. The report will not be published, but will be used by the Project 17-18 Panel to develop the technology transfer activities for implementing the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=439

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $150000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 17-18(07)

• Sponsor Organizations:

  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

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Project Managers:

  Niessner, Charles

• Performing Organizations:

  Roy Jorgensen Associates, Incorporated

  3735 Buckeystown Pike
  Buckeystown, MD  United States  21717-
• Principal Investigators:

  Griffith, Steven

  Grenke, William

• Start Date: 20010703
• Expected Completion Date: 20021230
• Actual Completion Date: 20021230
• Source Data: RiP Project 6088

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Highway safety; Implementation; Planning; Research projects; Strategic planning; Technology transfer
• Identifier Terms: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; National Cooperative Highway Research Program
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Education and Training; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01459463
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Cooperative Highway Research Program
• Contract Numbers: Project 17-18(07)
• Files: RiP, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 1:04PM