Better quantitative methods and a single authoritative document for estimating safety effects are needed to facilitate the incorporation of transportation safety of all road users into the decisionmaking process. The need for a highway safety manual was identified over a decade ago. Content development of the First Edition is currently underway. The purpose of the Highway Safety Manual is "To provide the best factual information and tools in a useful form to facilitate roadway planning, design, operations, and maintenance decisions based on explicit consideration of their safety consequences." Objectives of the Highway Safety Manual are to encourage: evidence-based decision making, more resources focused on safety research, and innovative approaches to improving safety. This paper provides a brief history of the Highway Safety Manual, an overview of the outline and planned contents of the First Edition, the new methodologies developed and applied, an update on work completed to date, and a review of the next steps. The Highway Safety Manual is planned for publication in 2008. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E216511.
Samenvatting