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On the federal level
The major federal agency responsible for roads and highways is the U.S. DOT,
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). FHWA plays a key role in developing best
practices for roadway safety and promotes research into important roadway safety
issues and countermeasures. Improving the roadway environment for older drivers
and pedestrians is another FHWA activity. FHWA has division offices located in
each state. Additionally, FHWA has established four resource centers that can
provide community leaders and elected officials like you with roadway safety information.
A complete description of division offices and resource centers is included in
Chapter 4 of this Guide. Contact numbers for the FHWA Division Offices and Resource
Centers are listed in Chapter 4. The National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is another federal agency that has
an important role in ensuring driver and passenger safety on our roads. Like the
State Highway Safety Office described above, NHTSA focuses on the behavioral aspects
of roadway safety: driver performance; safety belt, child safety seat, and air
bag use; motorcycle, pedestrian, and bicycle safety; and public information. The
agency has 10 offices across the United States that help integrate FHWA and NHTSA
safety programs. Contact information for the 10 NHTSA regional offices are listed
in Chapter 4. At this point you have compared
your trouble spot with the nine most hazardous roadway conditions, completed the
Road Problem Checklist, and identified those "movers and shakers" in
your community who can make changes happen.
What comes next? Collaboration! The information
you have already collected can be put to good use here. It is time to provide
the information you have collected to your community's transportation professionals
to objectively study the road problem you have identified and to put it in context
with other highway problems known in your community. Then the process of determining
the relative safety priority of each problem and when and how it can be fixed
can begin. |
