Final Scope

For decades, public safety has been a priority for state departments of transportation (DOTs) as they strive to reduce traffic crashes. To support these efforts, the FHWA Office of Safety developed a list of proven safety countermeasures that include brief descriptions, information sheets, and additional references. These measures have been field-tested and proven to reduce crashes. The initial effort consisted of nine measures that any state DOT could implement. Today, in 2023, there are 28 such measures available.

The objective of this synthesis is to document state DOT practices regarding the implementation of FHWA proven safety countermeasures.

Information to be gathered includes (but is not limited to):

 ·       FHWA proven safety countermeasures piloted, implemented, or adopted as policy or procedures by state DOTs;

o   The extent/scale/frequency to which each countermeasure has been implemented, examples include (but are not limited to):

§  FHWA everyday counts EDC stages of implementation; and

§  Factors influencing differences in implementation within the state (such as geographic location, climate, traffic volume, crash history, etc.).

·       State DOTs evaluation of FHWA’s proven safety countermeasures after implementation; and

·       The existence of barriers for implementation of FHWA’s proven safety countermeasures, and state DOTs modifications/strategies to overcome obstacles:  

o   Modification consists of physical changes made to how countermeasures are implemented; and

o   Strategies consists of the approaches or methods used to implement the countermeasures.

Information will be gathered through a literature review, a survey of state DOTs, and follow-up interviews with selected agencies for the development of case examples. Information gaps and suggestions for research to address those gaps will be identified.

 Information Sources (Partial):

·       The initial source for information is the FHWA Office of Safety.  https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures

·       Literature searches for states that have already tested and/or implemented proven safety countermeasures and have published research on their efforts should be available on TRID (http://trid.trb.org) or state DOT’s public websites.

TRB Staff
Arefeh Nasri
Phone: 202-334-2763 
Email: anasri@nas.edu

Meeting Dates
First Panel: October 3, 2023, Washington, D.C.
Teleconference with Consultant: November 3, 2023, 11:00 am- 12:00 pm EST 
Second Panel: June 4, 2023, Washington, D.C.

Panel Members
Phillip Bobitz, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Florencia Allenger, California Department of Transportation
Ryan Doyle, Michigan Department of Transportation
Tim Scott Nye, North Carolina Department of Transportation
Don Butler, Nebraska Department of Transportation
Bonnie S. Polin, Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Bernardo Kleiner, Transportation Research Board