Enhancing Behavioral Traffic Safety Efforts to Engage Underserved Communities

Traffic crash fatalities disproportionately affect underserved communities, in particular people of color. This long-standing and systemic problem reinforces the need to implement highway safety programs more equitably, with an increased focus on underserved communities. State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) and other safety organizations have undertaken a variety of efforts to more effectively engage underserved communities, but these state and local efforts are fragmented and not documented. SHSOs, their subrecipients, and other safety organizations would benefit from information regarding past and ongoing efforts that effectively engage underserved communities to address critical safety issues. Identifying lessons learned, recommendations to effectively engage with underserved communities, communication methods, and metrics to evaluate outcomes would help bolster engagement and outreach efforts with underserved communities. For the purpose of this project, underserved communities are defined as areas of persistent poverty and historically disadvantaged communities. The objective of this research is to document efforts undertaken by SHSOs and other highway safety organizations to achieve effective engagement with underserved communities, including people of color, and to develop a noteworthy practices guide.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5572
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $500000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project BTS-34

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program

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

  Governors Highway Safety Association

  444 N. Capitol Street, NW, Suite 722
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, D.C.  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Retting, Richard

• Start Date: 20240715
• Expected Completion Date: 20270714
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Highway safety; Safety programs; State highway departments; Traffic safety; Underserved communities
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01886953
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project BTS-34
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Jul 4 2023 1:04PM