American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials

Special Committee on Research and Innovation

FY2023 NCHRP PROBLEM STATEMENT

Problem Number: 2023-G-04

Problem Title

Incorporating Safe System Approach into the NCHRP 500 Series

Background Information and Need For Research

The NCHRP 500 Series identifies proven, tried and experimental safety strategies for each of the emphasis areas in AASHTO’s original 1998 Strategic Highway Safety Plan. FHWA and the States partnered through a pooled fund study to develop reliable estimates of the effectiveness of the safety improvements identified as strategies in the NCHRP Report 500 Guidebooks. Through this research, 38 studies for various countermeasures have been completed or are currently in progress with the results presented in the FHWA Crash Modification Factor Clearinghouse and used to support State’s safety investment decisions.

While the information presented in the NCHRP 500 series guides is still useful and referenced in many national reports, a lot has changed over the last 20+ years. In 2010, AASHTO published the Highway Safety Manual. In 2014, AASHTO adopted Towards Zero Deaths: A National Strategy on Highway Safety and in 2018 the National Safety Council published a Road to Zero: A Vision to Achieve Zero Deaths by 2050. Technology is advancing at rapid pace and has the potential to change traffic safety as we know it. Many agencies are beginning to implement a Safe System Approach. There is an opportunity to update these guides and provide guidance to agencies on safety strategies and countermeasures of the future.

The proposed research supports several key strategies for improving safety management in AASHTO’s Toward Zero Deaths National Strategy. Specifically, the proposed research will “Develop data analysis methods and tools for use at state, regional, and local levels across all stakeholders, including cost-benefit analysis for behavioral programs” and “Implement analysis tools that support data-driven decision making”. In addition, the Toward Zero Deaths Roadmap identifies Focused Safety Priorities and Strategies as an essential element for success, and includes specific mention of the NCHRP 500 series.

Literature Search Summary

The NCHRP Report 500 series is the subject literature and other efforts have not replicated the proposed research. There are, however, several relevant efforts that could support this research project. The following are just a few guides and resources that have focused on components of one or more of the emphasis areas from the NCHRP 500 series and would serve as content to update the guides:

● FHWA Proven Safety Countermeasures

● FHWA Crash Modification Factors Clearinghouse

● NHTSA Countermeasures that Work

● Evaluation of Low Cost Safety Improvements Pooled Fund Study

● Unsignalized Intersection Improvement Toolkit

● NCHRP Report 600: Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems

● Intersection Safety: A Manual for Local Rural Road Owners

● NCHRP Report 988: Rural Transportation Issues: Research Roadmap

● Roadway Departure Safety: A Manual for Local Rural Road Owners

● Speed Management: A Manual for Local Rural Road Owners

● Non-Motorized User Safety: A Manual for Local Rural Road Owners

● Improving Pedestrian Safety at Unsignalized Crossings

● Guide for Improving Pedestrian Safety at Uncontrolled Crossing Locations

● A Guide for Maintaining Pedestrian Facilities for Enhanced Safety

● Pedestrian Countermeasure Policy Best Practice Report

● Risk Factors Associated with High Potential for Serious Crashes

● Wrong Way Driving Road Safety Audit Prompt List

● Agricultural Equipment on Public Roads

There has also been much research internationally and in the U.S. on the Safe System Approach, which include the following:

● Safe System Assessment Framework

● Safe Systems Framework

● A Safe System-Based Framework and Analytical Methodology for Assessing Intersections

● Primer on Safe System Approach for Pedestrians and Bicyclists

● Implementing Safe Systems in the United States: Guiding Principles and Lessons from International Practice

The following could serve as examples to guide the development of an online toolbox related to the NCHRP Report 500 series:

● FHWA Crash Modification Factors Clearinghouse

● Unsignalized Intersection Improvement Toolkit

● FHWA Roadway Safety Data Program Toolbox

Research Objective

The objective of this research is to update the guides to align with AASHTO’s current priorities and Safe System principles, as well as reflect the most recent research and identify new innovations to help achieve our goal of zero deaths on our nation’s roads. The research should focus on what would be most useful to Federal, State and local transportation professionals. The output should include an online version that is searchable by crash type, contributing factor, facility type and other variables to support countermeasure selection.

The objective can be accomplished using a phased approach with suggested major tasks as follows:

Phase I: Define scope

● Convene focus group(s) of federal, state and local transportation professionals to gather input on priority crash types and desired toolkit content and capabilities. Priority crash types shall address Safe System (e.g. pedestrian, bicyclist and speeding) and consider rural priority crash types (e.g. run off road, head on, unsignalized intersections).

● Conduct literature review to identify new and innovative countermeasures, current research on safety effectiveness and other relevant information as identified by the focus group.

● Provide information for each countermeasure, including considerations on implementing the strategy (e.g. engineering, human factors, behavioral, cost).

● Propose how the toolkit will coordinate with other tools (e.g. CMF Clearinghouse)

● Identify options for long-term maintenance of the toolkit.

● Develop recommended content of priority crash types for review by subject matter experts and panel.

● Develop recommended technical requirements of the toolkit for panel review.

● Finalize content and technical requirements for the toolkit based on subject matter expert and panel feedback.

Phase II: Develop toolkit

● Develop toolkit based on final content and technical requirements from Phase I.

● Facilitate user testing of toolkit.

● Update toolkit based on feedback from testing.

● Develop materials to promote and demonstrate use of the toolkit, including but not limited to flyers, tutorial video, and webinar.

Urgency and Potential Benefits

This research has the following benefits:

● Help analysts consider a broader list of countermeasures

● Applicable to majority of crash types

● Improve the efficiency of countermeasure selection

● Link to State analysis tools

● Enhance usability of the NCHRP 500 Guidebooks

● Provide access to the most current information

● Allow for ease of updating information ensuring it is current

● Advance implementation of the Safe System approach in the US

● Increase awareness of a valuable tool for implementing safety projects

Without the update of this project, the usefulness of the past project will continue to be diminished. If these are not updated in a timely manner, a complete redevelopment will be required instead of an update which would drastically increase future costs.

This research tied for top priority for the AASHTO Committee on Safety.

Implementation Considerations

The NCHRP 500 series is a significant research outcome that provides practitioners with useful information and data on countermeasures. The research is very dated at this time, however, as most CMFs used in those guides have been surpassed by newer/better studies. An update/refresh of these guides would bring back much of their relevance to today's federal, state and local transportation practitioners. The research results would inform State Strategic Highway Safety Plan updates and Highway Safety Improvement Program implementation efforts and help state DOTs shift more toward a Safe system philosophy and eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on the nation’s roads. Additional products and activities that will help create awareness and facilitate implementation of the research results include, but are not limited to testing with the user community, creating and disseminating a promotional flyer, developing a how-to video tutorial, delivering presentations at safety and design related webinar(s), AASHTO and TRB Committee meetings, conferences and peer exchanges. The new toolkit could be linked to and referenced in other Federal, State and local resources such as Federal safety program guidance, State safety program manuals or policies, FHWAs CMF Clearinghouse, NHTSA Countermeasures that Work and other similar technical resources.

An important implementation consideration is long term maintenance of the toolkit. While this will be an extremely beneficial resource, it should be updated on a regular basis as new safety countermeasures become available for use by federal, state and local transportation practitioners. Part of this research should be to explore options for the appropriate agency/entity to lead long-term maintenance of the toolkit.

Recommended Research Funding and Research Period

$600,000 30 months

Problem Statement Author(S): For each author, provide their name, affiliation, email address and phone.

Kelly Campbell, Idaho Transportation Department, Kelly.campbell@itd.idaho.gov 208-334-8105

Frank Gross, VHB, fgross@vhb.com, 919-334-5602

Karen Scurry, FHWA, karen.scurry@dot.gov, 202-897-7168

Potential Panel Members: For each panel member, provide their name, affiliation, email address and phone.

Robert Peterson, California Transportation Dept. Robert.peterson@dot.ca.gov

Geoff Wood, New York State Department of Transportation, Geoffrey.Wood@dot.ny.gov, (518) 457-8900

Derek Leuer, MnDOT, derek.leuer@state.mn.us

Sam Harris or David Adams, GDOT, sharris@dot.ga.gov, eadams@dot.ga.gov

Kelly Campbell, ITD, kelly.campbell@itd.idaho.gov 208-334-8105

Person Submitting The Problem Statement: Name, affiliation, email address and phone.

Adnan Qazi, P.E.

Arkansas Department of Transportation

AASHTO Committee on Safety, Research Subcommittee Chair

501-569-2642

Adnan.Qazi@ardot.gov