Research

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently established a new performance-based approach to safety that addresses those initiatives where the chances for improvement are the greatest. The objective of the new plan is to focus attention and resources in areas statistically identified to show the most need.

Texas, along with 15 other states was identified as an "opportunity State", meaning a state where the greatest opportunity for contributing to the reduction of the national highway fatality toll existed. Three new resources from FHWA will be made available for opportunity States: additional funding, additional staff, and priority assistance from leadership in advancing safety goals.

The ultimate goal for the FHWA and all States is to achieve the U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) challenge of reducing the national highway fatality rate from 1.5 deaths per 100 million vehicles traveled to 1.0 by 2008.

Texas has many elements of a statewide comprehensive highway safety plan in place, with many of the key plan components being operated and managed through a coordinated approach within the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

In an effort to strengthen components and mechanisms of the existing highway safety plan and to meet the goals of the USDOT the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) in cooperation with TxDOT, is conducting a detailed analysis of the State's safety planning and implementation process to include the following:

• Evaluating existing safety related coordination and networking occurring between various stakeholders involved in the statewide highway safety arena;
  
• Examining TxDOT's design and project selection processes to determine the influence of safety and where inclusion of safety-related criteria could be strengthened;
  
• Examining the need to ensure that local jurisdictions have access to resources for safety conscious planning at the local level; and
  
• Reviewing TxDOT's ongoing relationship with state law enforcement and judicial communities to ensure that communication with these groups is productive and conducive to improving traffic safety and decreasing the number and severity of traffic accidents in Texas.
  
• The effort will also include identifying "best practices" in other states regarding comprehensive highway safety planning, and how these practices may help to improve traffic safety in Texas. The results of this effort will be used to develop a new statewide comprehensive safety plan for Texas.

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