The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that provides instruction modules to aid in development of transportation safety plans for tribal transportation planners. This training is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). It is part of a continuing educational series designed for tribal governments entitled Transportation Decision-making: Information Tools for Tribal Governments. The series offers modules in transportation planning, transportation programming, intergovernmental relations, and safety and asset management. This module topic is Developing a Transportation Safety Plan, where you will learn how to conduct transportation safety planning and develop Transportation Safety Plans. Transportation safety planning uses data and information about transportation system safety to guide transportation investment decisions that reduce injuries and fatalities. A Transportation Safety Plan is a mechanism for a tribe to coordinate its safety efforts, which can include engaging leadership and stakeholders, collecting and analysing data, determining emphasis areas for safety, identifying strategies to improve safety, prioritizing and funding priority safety projects, and evaluating their results. Developing a Transportation Safety Plan allows a tribe to proactively address the safety of the transportation system, which is often one of the most critical issues facing tribal transportation planners. Transportation planning with safety in mind saves lives. Transportation safety planning ensures that your tribe is able to address the most critical safety needs by investing in the strategies and projects that will have the greatest reductions of injuries and fatalities. This module is intended for use by tribal transportation planners and tribal leaders and decision makers. This module will teach you how to answer the questions “What data can I collect to support transportation safety planning efforts?” and “What goes into developing a Transportation Safety Plan?” Also, you will learn “How does transportation safety planning fit into the broader planning process?” This module describes how tribes can collect and analyse transportation safety data, use it to identify emphasis areas, and prioritize transportation safety projects. Transportation safety is related to many other modules in this training series: • The Public Involvement module can help tribes in reaching out to stakeholders throughout the transportation safety planning process. • The goal-setting aspects of this module relate closely to the Developing a Long-Range Transportation Plan module. • The Data Collection and Use module provides general information about the importance of data, where to find existing data, and how to collect new data. • The programming aspects of this module are closely related to the Developing the Tribal Transportation Improvement Program and Project Prioritization modules. • The funding of transportation safety planning and projects is closely related to the Funding Resources and Financial Planning modules. This module will introduce you to concepts related to developing a Transportation Safety Plan, including establishing a transportation safety leadership framework, collecting and analysing safety data, determining safety emphasis areas, and identifying strategies to improve safety. The “Practice While You Learn! ” section will help you apply what you have learned to a practical example. Several text boxes and side notes explain terminology or answer frequently asked questions. (Author/publisher)
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