In an effort to reduce traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries, Congress included a requirement in SAFETEA–LU for all states to develop and implement a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP). While all states accomplished this by October 2007, the pace, vigor, and effectiveness of SHSP implementation has varied.   Properly designed peer exchanges can help states evaluate the effectiveness of their SHSP implementation activities and inform implementation investment decisions. Peer exchanges can provide states with new ideas and approaches for overcoming SHSP implementation barriers. Several SHSP national peer exchanges have been held over the past few years that focused broadly on plan development and implementation strategies. No guidebook exists, however, for an individual state to use for developing and implementing a peer exchange that is focused narrowly on evaluating or improving its own SHSP. All SHSP stakeholders could benefit from having a guidebook to help them plan and conduct a state-level SHSP peer exchange. The SHSP peer exchange envisioned in this research would be voluntarily requested by an individual state; invited peers would constitute an expert panel that collaborates with the host state to improve its SHSP and strengthen its implementation efforts.

 

 

The objective of this research was to produce a guidebook to aid states in planning and conducting state-level peer exchanges as a means to identify strategies, tactics, and practices to improve their SHSP and its implementation. Budget constraints and limits on travel currently being experienced by many jurisdictions may, however, affect their ability to conduct or participate in a face-to-face SHSP peer exchange. These and other obstacles to conducting such a peer exchange need to be examined and potential solutions identified.  The guidebook includes a flexible and easily adaptable template that states can use to plan and conduct such a peer exchange, as well as reference and supportive material that would be useful to peer exchange organizers and participants.

STATUS: 

The Guidebook has been published as NCHRP Report 764 Using Peer Exchanges to Improve the Effectiveness of Strategic Highway Safety Plans and is available HERE.

A PowerPoint presentation that provides an overview of the project and its results may be downloaded HERE.