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: *describes major strategies and countermeasures that are relevant to SHSOs; * summarizes their use, effectiveness, costs, and implementation time; and * 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 either have 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. The original Countermeasures That Work guide was prepared in 2005 by James H. Hedlund, Ph.D., of Highway Safety North, with the assistance of Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association. The guide was updated in 2007 by Hedlund and William A. Leaf, Preusser Research Group. This Third Edition was prepared by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. People contributing to this edition include Arthur H. Goodwin, William L. Hall, J. Craig Raborn, Libby J. Thomas, Scott V. Masten, and Mary Ellen Tucker. The first seven chapters — Alcohol-Impaired Driving through Older Drivers — were included in the original guide. Chapters 8 and 9, on pedestrian and bicycle safety, were added in the Second Edition. All chapters have been revised and updated for this Third Edition. Information and research studies through May 31, 2007, have been reviewed and included as appropriate. Data has been updated to include information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) Traffic Safety Facts 2005 annual report. No new chapters have been added to the Third Edition of the guide. (Author/publisher)
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