This report examines the integration of safety into the transportation planning process. Safety is an essential part of transportation and needs to be considered by all agencies involved, including state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organisations, transit agencies, local governments, special districts, and non-profit organisations. Improving the safety of the transportation network requires an active, conscious approach to monitoring the transportation system for safety problems and anticipating problems before they occur. The focus of this report is on incorporating safety into the transportation planning process for the multimodal transportation system and on providing planners with information and techniques to better understand the role of safety within this process. The report is organised into five chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the scope and organisation of the report, the importance of safety in planning, the legislative background, the agencies involved in safety and transportation planning, the role of safety as part of the transportation planning process at the state and metropolitan planning levels, sources of funding for transportation safety activities, and some of the institutional challenges to incorporating safety into the planning process. Chapter 2 examines different approaches to the long-range safety planning process. Chapter 3 examines the short-range transportation planning process in the context of the transportation improvement program. Chapter 4 details how a crash database is constructed and managed. Chapter 5 discusses other agencies and organisations having programs relating to safety planning. It outlines some of their projects and presents examples of their successful partnerships.
Abstract