Countermeasures that work : a highway safety countermeasure guide for state highway safety offices. Prepared for the U.S. Department of Transportation DOT, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA.

This guide is a basic reference to assist State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) in selecting effective, science-based traffic safety countermeasures for major highway safety problem areas. The guide: (1) describes major strategies and countermeasures that are relevant to SHSOs; (2) summarizes their use, effectiveness, costs, and implementation time; and (3) provides references to the most important research summaries and individual studies. The guide is not intended to be a comprehensive list of countermeasures available for State use or a list of expectations for SHSO implementation. For a description of an optimal State countermeasure program, SHSOs should refer to the Highway Safety Program Guidelines, which delineate the principal components of each of the major program areas. States should identify problem areas through systematic data collection and analysis and are encouraged to continue to apply innovation in developing appropriate countermeasures. The evaluations summarized in this guide allow SHSOs to benefit from the experience and knowledge gained by others and to select countermeasure strategies that have either proven to be effective or that have shown promise. States choosing to use innovative programs can contribute to the collective knowledge pool by carefully evaluating the effectiveness of their efforts and publishing the findings for the benefit of others. (Author/publisher)