Background

In many states (especially rural states) the predominance of traffic fatalities take place in rural locations (out-side of urbanized areas) for a variety of reasons. However, because traffic volumes are much lower on rural roads the crash frequencies at rural locations don’t reach the number of crashes or crash severity at single location to trigger a “black spot” safety improvement. Hence, most black spots are likely to be in urban areas or densely traveled corridors and the majority of fatalities are likely to be in rural area with low traffic volume location. To ultimately improve all road safety, statewide, black spot analysis and systematic improvements must both be addressed. Because this systematic improvement is relatively new concept in the US, agencies are only now beginning to apply systematic improvements and have questions regarding how much of their safety budgets should be devoted to each and how to achieve the greatest safety improvement give available resources.

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this project is to prepare a synthesis of both types of analysis and examine agencies that have applied both to better understand the trade-offs.

The project tasks include: (1) Prepare a draft of a detailed outline of the White Paper, including section titles, subtitles and writing assignments. Submit the draft outline to the Panel for review. (2) Prepare a draft survey of practice focused on the State’s practices relative to safety improvement program development and investment. Submit the draft survey to the Project Panel for review. (3) Prepare draft write-ups for the four selected case studies, documenting the following types of information:
• DOT/Contact person
• Organizational structure - Centralized or Decentralized
• Safety Program Focus – Black Spot or System Wide
• Safety Emphasis Areas
• Key Strategies
• Investment Practices
• Program Strengths
• Program Weaknesses
• Suggested Refinements 
( 4) Prepare draft write-ups for the four selected case studies, documenting the following types of information:
• DOT/Contact person
• Organizational structure - Centralized or Decentralized
• Safety Program Focus – Black Spot or System Wide
• Safety Emphasis Areas
• Key Strategies
• Investment Practices
• Program Strengths
• Program Weaknesses
• Suggested Refinements
(5) Submit the draft White Paper to the Panel and participate in a review meeting in Des Moines. (6) Revise the first draft White Paper based on the review comments and submit the final draft to the Panel for review. (7) Revise the final draft White Paper and submit the final version.

Status: The project has been completed. The final report has been published as Research Results Digest 345: Alternate Strategies for Safety Improvement Investments.