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ROADWAY SAFETY FOUNDATION

1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 750
Washington, DC 20005
(P) 202-857-1200
(F) 202-857-1220

 
 

Introduction

This Guide is designed to provide local elected officials and other community leaders with basic information to improve roadway safety in their communities. Written for nonengineers, it is designed to be a hands-on, user-friendly document, providing community leaders with
  • Strategies they can use right away to begin making roads safer.
  • Basic information to improve roadway safety in cooperation with state and local transportation departments, highway engineers, highway safety officials, Safe Communities groups, and other safety programs.
  • Clear descriptions of key funding and decision making processes that affect roadway safety.

Why is roadway safety important to me?

Before we proceed, you may be asking, "What do you mean by the term roadway safety and why is it important to me?" Obviously, everyone who uses our road system is concerned about safety, especially elected officials and other community leaders. The contribution to the overall health and safety of your community made by roadway safety is not necessarily known by everyone.

First, the three major components of highway safety are driver behavior, vehicle safety, and roadway safety. Roadway safety refers to that portion of overall highway safety that is determined by the roadway's physical features such as road design, roadway signs, pavement markings, operating conditions, roadside objects (such as utility poles, signs, trees, guardrails), bridges, and intersections.

The personal and economic costs of highway crashes to our citizens and communities are enormous. Here are a few points to consider:

  • Unlike driver behavior and vehicle design, where significant gains have been made, the percentage of deaths related to crashes with roadside hazards has actually increased over the past two decades.
  • Roadside crashes account for one-third of all U.S. highway fatalities each year. More than 15,000 people are killed and nearly one million people are injured when vehicles run off the road and crash. According to the Transportation Research Board (TRB), many of these casualties result from crashes into roadside objects, such as trees or poles, that are located dangerously close to the side of the road.
  • Roadside crashes cost society $80 billion per year. The economic costs to society in medical expenses, worker losses, property damage, and emergency services compound the personal tragedies resulting from highway crashes.
  • Local governments' costs from negligence lawsuits are rising. Tort litigation (arising out of highway crashes) against local and state government transportation agencies and officials is common today. Sovereign immunity, which once protected local governments from liability, is often waived today. Citizens can now sue, successfully, under conditions set by law.
Finally, low-cost safety improvements are cost-beneficial in reducing highway crashes. Consider these results from a U.S. Department of Transportation study:
  • Removing roadside obstacles and realigning roadways can reduce fatalities by 66%.
  • Constructing dedicated turning lanes and traffic channelization at high-risk intersections can reduce fatalities by 47%.
  • Improving motorist information through improved signage and pavement markings can reduce fatalities by up to 39%.
Other studies indicate that
  • Installation of rumble strips along the roadside have reduced run-off-the-road crashes by 60%.
  • Restoring surface friction by timely removal of ice and snow reduces injury crashes by 20% during winter months and by 88% right after a storm.

There are many sources of information and opinions about problems with our streets and roadways. Some come from the evening news, the local paper, local citizens, or our own everyday experience driving around town. But how do we get these problems fixed?

  • Whom should we turn to?
  • How do we decide which intersection, bridge, curve, roadside hazard, or operating condition poses the greatest safety risks to our community?
  • Which one should "they" tackle first?
  • Who will pay for it?
  • How soon can it be fixed?

The reality is that even though we believe that problems exist on certain roads, we may not be entirely certain what the problem is, what can be reasonably done about it, whose job it is to "fix it," and how to pay for needed safety improvements. These are the types of real-world questions that come up every day in communities all across our nation. This Guide is designed to help you and other community leaders answer these questions. It does not contain all the answers, but it does tell you how to ask the right questions, of the right people—those whose jobs are to fix the problems with our streets and highways. It also acquaints you with the process, tools, and techniques that highway engineers use so that you will be able to work with them to address your community roadway problems.