Roadside accidents, single vehicles running off the roadway and crashing, account for an estimated $80 billion per year in societal losses. Roadside safety can be improved by reducing the number of roadside encroachments, providing forgiving roadsides, and having safer vehicles. Changes occurring in the motor vehicle fleet, vehicle technology, roadway and roadside hardware design, traffic characteristics, and driver populations will affect the future of roadside safety. Roadside safety in 2020 should improve relative to today if the highway safety community can work together to implement important elements of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) roadside safety strategic plan. However, if roadside safety funding does not grow adequately or forecasts of seat belt usage and vehicle miles of travel are incorrect, future roadside accidents and fatalities could increase significantly. (A)
Abstract