Transportation Safety Planning \u2013 National and California Context

Federal Highway Administration2019PDFBriefUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of SafetyUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of SafetyUnited StatesTransportation planningTransportation safetyMetropolitan planning organizationsSafety programsFHWA-SA-19-021Safety is a national transportation performance goal area, but more importantly, it is the number one priority for all transportation system users. For this reason, every state Department of Transportation (DOT), metropolitan planning organization (MPO), and many local jurisdictions are investing in programs and projects to reduce fatalities and serious injuries. California is addressing transportation safety through a \u201cToward Zero Deaths\u201d approach, which focuses on zero fatalities and serious injuries and the promise to move residents and visitors to their destinations safely. Many different stakeholders play a role in achieving this commitment, with transportation planners leading the way on stakeholder coordination, crash data analysis, prioritizing and programming investments, and tracking and evaluating results. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Safety and Office of Planning provide technical assistance to their partners to address transportation safety. The Transportation Safety Planning (TSP) Workshops project is one such effort that facilitated open discussions between safety and planning practitioners to further the collaborations on saving lives and eliminating fatalities and serious injuries. In July 2018, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) hosted the workshop in Los Angeles, California with participants from the MPOs, local safety and transportation partners, and FHWA. The workshop was a part of a yearlong project that also included a pre-workshop webinar to introduce participants to the concepts of transportation safety and planning integration, and prioritize topics to emphasize during the workshop; a postworkshop technical assistance webinar to discuss opportunities and challenges identified by participants at the workshop; and a peer exchange webinar to share successful practices and broaden collaboration with other states who were participating in this yearlong project around the same time.109