Transportation Performance Management

State Highway Safety Report (2021) - Alaska

The following provides a summary of the Highway Safety Improvement Program's (HSIP) safety performance measures and State safety performance targets. As per the Safety PM Final Rule, States are required to set annual safety performance targets in the HSIP annual report for the number of fatalities, rate of fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT), number of serious injuries, rate of serious injures per 100 million VMT, and number of non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries. The safety performance targets are based on 5-year rolling averages. States have the flexibility to use the methodology they deem most appropriate when establishing safety performance targets. FHWA encourages States to review data sets and trends and consider factors that may affect targets. The safety performance targets should be data-driven, realistic, and attainable and should align with the performance management framework and legislative intent.

A State Department of Transportation (DOT) has met or made significant progress towards meeting its safety performance targets when at least four of the five safety performance targets established under 23 CFR 490.209(a) have been met or the actual outcome is better than the baseline performance. The baseline performance is the 5-year average ending with the year prior to the establishment of the target.

The Basis for Target and Additional Comments are provided by the State in their HSIP Annual Report and have not been edited by FHWA. Any questions about individual State reports should be directed to the respective State DOT. For additional information about each State's HSIP, the complete reports are available at https://highways.dot.gov/safety/hsip/reporting.

More information and resources on Safety Performance Management are available at https://highways.dot.gov/safety/hsip/spm/safety-performance-management-safety-pm-overview.

All State data used to populate the State Highway Safety Reports for 2021 are available for download at https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tpm/reporting/state/tpm_dashboard_data.zip.

• 

  Number of Fatalities

• Number of Fatalities	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
  Annual	65	84	79	80	67	64	67
  5-Year Average					75.0	74.8	71.4
  Target (5-Year Average)							75.0	70.0	70.0

• Basis for Number of Fatalities Target

  • 2021 Target
  • 2022 Target
  • 2023 Target

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an optimistic view of annual fatality numbers leveling off, possibly decreasing in light of COVID-19 factors, even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an aspirational view of annual fatality numbers possibly decreasing in light of COVID-19 factors, even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision. Our 2022 target for fatalities (70) is slightly higher than the SHSP 2022 goal (67), but we have been decreasing our target values the last three years striving toward the SHSP goal. Since the beginning of Alaska's target setting we've rounded our K and SI targets to the next highest multiple of 5.

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an aspirational view of annual fatality numbers possibly decreasing in light of COVID-19 factors, even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.
  
  Our FFY 2023 target for fatalities (70) is slightly higher than the SHSP 2022 goal (67), but we have been decreasing our target values in recent years striving toward the SHSP goal. Since the beginning of Alaska's target setting we've rounded our K and SI targets to the next highest multiple of 5.

  
  

• Data Sources:
  Fatalities: 2015-2020 Final FARS, 2021 FARS Annual Report File
  Targets: 2020-2022 Alaska HSIP Annual Reports

• 

  Fatality Rate (per 100 million VMT)

• Fatality Rate (per 100 million VMT)	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
  Annual	1.29	1.60	1.43	1.46	1.14	1.21	1.16
  5-Year Average					1.384	1.368	1.280
  Target (5-Year Average)							1.400	1.300	1.300

• Basis for Fatality Rate Target

  • 2021 Target
  • 2022 Target
  • 2023 Target

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an optimistic view of annual fatality numbers leveling off even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. It is possible, however, that traffic volumes will decrease more than expected, resulting in a higher fatality rate than expected. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an aspirational view of annual fatality numbers leveling off even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. It is possible, however, that traffic volumes will decrease more than expected, resulting in a higher fatality rate than expected. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision. Our 2022 target for fatalities (70) is slightly higher than the SHSP 2022 goal (67), but we have been decreasing our target values the last three years striving toward the SHSP goal. Since the beginning of Alaska's target setting we've rounded our K and SI targets to the next highest multiple of 5.

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an aspirational view of annual fatality numbers leveling off even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. It is possible, however, that traffic volumes will decrease more than expected, resulting in a higher fatality rate than expected. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.

  
  

• Data Sources:
  Fatalities: 2015-2020 Final FARS, 2021 FARS Annual Report File
  VMT: 2015-2021 FHWA Highway Statistics Series, VM-2 Table
  Targets: 2020-2022 Alaska HSIP Annual Reports

• 

  Number of Serious Injuries

• Number of Serious Injuries	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
  Annual	337	397	341	329	292	291	259
  5-Year Average					339.2	330	302.4
  Target (5-Year Average)							330.0	325.0	325.0

• Basis for Number of Serious Injuries Target

  • 2021 Target
  • 2022 Target
  • 2023 Target

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an optimistic view of annual serious injury numbers continuing to decline even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an aspirational view of annual serious injury numbers continuing to decline even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision. Alaska's 2022 Serious Injury target ( is below the SHSP 2022 goal (331).

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an aspirational view of annual serious injury numbers continuing to decline even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.
  
  Alaska's FFY 2023 Serious Injury target (325) is below the SHSP 2022 goal (331).
  

  
  

• Data Sources:
  Serious Injuries: 2022 Alaska HSIP Annual Report
  Targets: 2020-2022 Alaska HSIP Annual Reports

• 

  Rate of Serious Injuries (per 100 million VMT)

• Rate of Serious Injuries (per 100 million VMT)	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
  Annual	6.68	7.55	6.18	6.00	4.97	5.48	4.50
  5-Year Average					6.276	6.036	5.426
  Target (5-Year Average)							6.000	5.900	5.900

• Basis for Serious Injury Rate Target

  • 2021 Target
  • 2022 Target
  • 2023 Target

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an optimistic view of annual serious injury numbers continuing to decline even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. It is possible, however, that traffic volumes will decrease more than expected, resulting in a higher serious injury rate than expected. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an aspirational view of annual serious injury numbers continuing to decline even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. It is possible, however, that traffic volumes will decrease more than expected, resulting in a higher serious injury rate than expected. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision. Alaska's 2022 Serious Injury target ( is below the SHSP 2022 goal (331).

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an aspirational view of annual serious injury numbers continuing to decline even considering the external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. It is possible, however, that traffic volumes will decrease more than expected, resulting in a higher serious injury rate than expected. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.

  
  

• Data Sources:
  Serious Injuries: 2022 Alaska HSIP Annual Report
  VMT: 2015-2021 FHWA Highway Statistics Series, VM-2 Table
  Targets: 2020-2022 Alaska HSIP Annual Reports

• 

  Number of Non-Motorized Fatalities and Serious Injuries

• Number of Non-Motorized Fatalities and Serious Injuries	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
  Annual	69	69	56	71	49	47	54
  5-Year Average					62.8	58.4	55.4
  Target (5-Year Average)							60.0	58.0	58.0

• Basis for Number of Non-Motorized Fatalities and Serious Injuries Target

  • 2021 Target
  • 2022 Target
  • 2023 Target

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is representative of an upward trend combined with external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. Reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is aspirational, and focused on Alaska's vision of zero deaths, but also considered in light of the current upward trend and external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. While there is no specific goal in our current SHSP for this performance measure, reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.

  Alaska followed the process described in FHWA-SA-16-101 to establish targets based on trend analysis, the influence of external factors, and the consideration of select scenarios. This target is aspirational, and focused on Alaska's vision of zero deaths, but also considered in light of the current upward trend and external upward pressures for this performance measure in light of the most likely scenarios. Alaska's SHSP was updated in 2018 and continues to reflect the State's vision of Toward Zero Deaths. While there is no specific goal in our current SHSP for this performance measure, reporting on this target annually will keep the TZD vision firmly planted in Alaska's traffic safety efforts and will assist Alaska in consideration of program improvements to reinforce the SHSP TZD vision.

  
  

• Data Sources:
  Fatalities: 2015-2020 Final FARS, 2021 FARS Annual Report File
  Serious Injuries: 2022 Alaska HSIP Annual Report
  Targets: 2020-2022 Alaska HSIP Annual Reports

Additional Comments

2023 Comments:

Safety Performance Target Assessment

PLEASE NOTE: Each State’s safety performance target assessment is based on its own State-specific target methodology and program philosophy. Therefore, conclusions should not be drawn based only on the information in the Safety Performance Target Assessment Summary table. For example, the State may have set aggressive targets, and not met those targets, while another State may have set more easily attainable targets, and met those targets. FHWA understands that each State’s safety program is unique and therefore does not prescribe a methodology for States to set targets. States have the flexibility to use the methodology they deem most appropriate when setting their safety performance targets.