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840 Bear Tavern Road, Suite 310 |
Volume 4, Summer 2005
Also available in PDF, safetyupdate_su05.pdf (119 KB)
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SAFETEA-LU establishes extensive new resources and opportunities to advance highway safety throughout the country in a comprehensive, strategic manner. We are very encouragedby the opportunity this legislation offers for saving lives and reducing injuries on our Nation's highways. Higher funding levels are provided, with Highway Safety Improvement Program amounts increased from approximately $650 million annually under the previous program tonearly $1.3 billion in FY 2009. The key safety provisions of the Bill are highlighted below:
Strategic Highway Safety Plans:
State departments of transportation are required to develop SHSPs using a comprehensive, collaborative, and data driven approach to highway safety that brings together all appropriate safety stakeholders in the State to work together towards a common highway safety goal.
High Risk Rural Roads:
$90 million set aside per year to support safety improvements on roadways functionally classified as a rural major or minor collector or a rural local road, which have fatal and serious injury crash rates higher than the statewide average for those functional classes of roads.
Safe Routes to School:
This new program is designed to enable and encourage primary and secondary school children to safely walk and bicycle to school. Both infrastructure-related and behavioral projects will be geared toward providing a safe, appealing environment for walking and biking.
Additional information, including the legislation, summary information, program fact sheets and funding tables, is available online at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/safetealu/index.htm. Specific questions can be directed to nj.safety@fhwa.dot.gov.
Day: October 5, 2005
Week: October 3-7, 2005
Join others around the world in celebration of the Day or Week to bring visibility to walking and biking conditions and inspire positive change. Walks promote:
For additional information, visit http://www.walktoschool-usa.org/.
October 10, 2005
Traffic fatalities on NJ's roadways have increased by 3% for 2005 over the same time period last year. Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day is celebrated on October 10th each year to encourage the public to take a greater stand in keeping themselves and their loved ones from becoming one of these statistics. Please help us promote a day of zero traffic deaths by encouraging safer behavior and actions and promoting safer roadways.
You can participate! Visit http://www.brakesonfatalities.org/
Drive as if your life depends on it!
In 2003 there were 1,028 people killed and 40,637 people injured in work zone crashes. Compared to 2002, work zone fatalities and injuries decreased 13% and 22%, respectively. Of the 1,028 people killed in work zones, 862 were in construction zones, 79 were in maintenance zones, 21 were in utility zones, and 66 were in an unknown type of work zone. We all are responsible for driving, walking, and biking, safely through work zones.
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As engineers and planners, we have the responsibility to make sure the work zone is designed and operating properly -- with safety in mind. |
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For additional information, visit http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov
Previously scheduled for October 6th - 7th at the Westin Inn, Princeton, NJ
New Date TBD
For updated information visit http://www.ltap.rutgers.edu
The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) is similar to the Highway Capacity Manual in that it will serve as a useful tool for practitioners in helping them make decisions. The purpose of a HSM is to provide the best factual information and tools in a useful and widely accepted form and to facilitate roadway design and operational decisions based upon explicit consideration of their safety consequences. This manual would greatly strengthen the role of safety in road planning, design, maintenance, construction, and operations decision-making. The report features:
The complete version of the HSM is anticipated to be released to the public in 2007. However, it is expected that several interim products may be made available prior to 2007. For additional information visit http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/partners/hsm/public/
A road safety audit is a formal safety performance examination of an existing or future road or intersection by an independent audit team. Road safety audits can be used in any phase of project development from planning and preliminary engineering, design and construction. RSA's can also be used on any sized project from minor intersection and roadway retrofits to mega-projects. The benefits of incorporating road safety audits into the design process can save money by identifying safety needs before roads and intersections are built or redesigned. More importantly, they can reduce the instances of human injury.
For additional information, visit http://www.roadwaysafetyaudits.org/.
To be added to the distribution list for future editions of this newsletter, please email nj.safety@fhwa.dot.gov.
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