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Traffic Safety Toolbox to Provide Resources for Practitioners
Project Partners: Executive Office of Transportation, Massachusetts Highway Department and Federal Highway Administration
In an effort to improve safety and reduce injuries, the Massachusetts Highway Department (MassHighway), in collaboration with many other state partners, has developed the Massachusetts Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP). This plan, which will be implemented over the next 4 years, will guide highway safety programming. Its mission is to develop, promote, implement, and evaluate data-driven, multi-disciplinary strategies to maximize safety for users of the roadway system. The goals of the Massachusetts SHSP are as follows:
- Reverse the increasing trend of traffic-related fatalities and injuries upon implementation of the Massachusetts SHSP (towards zero fatalities and injuries).
- - Achieve a 20% reduction from 476 (2004) lives lost in traffic-related fatal crashes by 2010.
- - Achieve a 20% reduction from 5,554 (2004) in non-fatal traffic-related injuries requiring hospitalizations by 2010.
To achieve these goals, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including all SHSP stakeholders will work to assure the plan’s implementation. Specifically, the implementation will be based upon the identified strategies outlined in the SHSP. One specific strategy aimed at improving roadway safety is the creation of a Massachusetts Highway Safety Toolbox to provide both educational and data support for identified safety issues within the Commonwealth.
The Massachusetts Highway Safety Toolbox will enable practitioners, including State Agencies and local cities and towns, to effectively review engineering, education and enforcement countermeasures to prevent and/or alleviate identified crash problems or change undesired motorists and/or pedestrian behaviors. It will include a comprehensive compilation of national and Massachusetts highway safety crash data, issue descriptions, approximate costs and potential highway safety improvement strategies.
UMassSafe is developing 10 toolbox fact sheets on topics including speed limits, pavement markings, advanced warning signs, crosswalks, sight distance, stop signs, and others.
For more information on the Massachusetts Strategic Highway Safety Plan, visit http://www.mhd.state.ma.us/default.asp?pgid=content/traffic/shsp&sid=level2
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© 2006