University of Minnesota Driven to Discover

Safety

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Publications and Websites

The Science of Highway Safety: Highway Safety Manual

John Ryynanen, editor with the Center for Technology & Training at the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute, has written a newsletter article introducing the HSM to local agencies. The AASHTO manual provides a scientific means for identifying, analyzing, and solving safety problems on roadways.

Safety Edge Resources

A collection of resources on the Safety Edge, a beveled or sloped pavement edge that replaces vertical pavement-edge drop-offs with a 30-degree slope during the paving process.

Minnesota ITS Pilot Safety Program

The Minnesota Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Pilot Safety Program was established in 2008 to help local transportation agencies fund ITS consulting assistance and thus overcome the barriers to implementing ITS technologies. These fact sheets describe the first two projects completed under the program.

Need more information?

The Minnesota LTAP Librarian can help you find and obtain LTAP and CTS publications and research, as well as transportation-related materials from other libraries and databases.

Please call 612-624-3646 or e-mail ctslib@umn.edu.

Read a report about the project:

Minnesota LTAP Workplace Safety Tips

To help you avoid injuries and stay safe on the job, Minnesota LTAP has created safety tip sheets covering topics from scaffolding to fleet safety.

Mn/DOT State Aid Traffic Safety Resources

Includes the current year's safety project selections, information about the High Risk Rural Roads Program (H3RP), safety funding, crash rates by county, and the County Road Intersections Green Sheets.

Toward Zero Deaths

Toward Zero Deaths is a multi-agency partnership with the mission of reducing traffic fatalities in Minnesota. This Web site contains information about how you can organize to identify traffic safety problems in your community, and participate in finding solutions to those problems. By working together, community groups and government agencies can be successful in making Minnesota's roads safer.

Rural Highway Safety Clearinghouse

The Rural Highway Safety Clearinghouse is an easy-to-use starting point for information about safety on our nation's rural roads. It was developed and is maintained by the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS), with funding from the Federal Highway Administration.

Center for Excellence in Rural Safety

The Center for Excellence in Rural Safety provides citizen-centered research, training, and outreach to enhance rural safety and to meet the online and seminar training needs of rural transportation practitioners and policymakers. The Center conducts several focused research activities to explore policy, behavior, and technology approaches, such as projects addressing safety-conscious planning, ITS and rural emergency response, integrated policy approaches, and related human factors, societal trends, and stakeholder needs analysis.

Mn/DOT's Office of Traffic, Security and Operations

Mn/DOT's office responsible for the Regional Transportation Management Center, Transportation Operations & Communication Centers, traffic research, traffic safety, speed limits, and product qualification.

Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety (OTS)

Contains crash data and reports, details on enforcement programs, child protection systems, traffic laws, and more.

Minnesota's Strategic Highway Safety Plan

Annual plan that describes how Minnesota will use the federal funding supplied by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration/U.S. Department of Transportation under the State and Community Highway Safety Program. The plan also includes descriptions of related state and other federal programs conducted by the OTS.

AASHTO's Strategic Highway Safety Plan

NCHRP-funded Web site containing the Strategic Plan, a self-assessment tool for state DOT's, Lifelines newsletter, and implementation guides for specific highway safety initiatives.

Implementing the High Risk Rural Roads Program

Federal Highway Administration, FHWA-SA-10-021, 2010
The High Risk Rural Roads Program (HRRRP) was established through the Highway Safety Improvement Program for construction and operational improvements on high risk rural roads. This report highlights common challenges to the HRRRP, lessons learned, and noteworthy practices shared by states.

Roadway Safety Tools for Local Agencies

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 321 (2004)
"This synthesis report examines the safety tools and procedures that are practical and relatively easy to apply, and that can be implemented by agencies with limited financial support and personnel. Recognizing the wide variation in the operations and responsibilities of local agencies, the report acknowledges that the level of expertise in transportation safety analysis also varies greatly."

FHWA Office of Safety

Includes a bi-monthly Safety Activities Newsletter, road user resources and professional resources including facts & data and training & education. Also includes the FHWA Safety Compass newsletter, a quarterly outreach source to share and provide the latest in program delivery, best practices, research, training, regulations and legislation designed to help improve and establish a more productive national and local safety program. The Safety Compass also provides resources for implementation, networking, and applicable tools.

Roadway Safety Foundation

A private, nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing highway deaths and injuries by improving the physical design and condition of roadways. Includes a Roadway Safety Guide geared toward local agencies.

The ITS Institute's Rural Collision Avoidance Research Project

The ITS Institute at the University of Minnesota is involved in research designed to develop solutions to prevent and/or diminish vehicle crashes at rural highway intersections, building on recent advances in intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technology to address a significant public safety problem. The proposed Intersection Decision Support (IDS) system to be developed represents a radical and innovative solution to a problem with far-reaching implications for the safety and mobility of the driving public.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Non-profit research and education organization for the auto insurance industry. Web site contains vehicle test results, consumer brochures and videos, research and statistics, fatality facts, and the Status Report newsletter.

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

A non-profit educational and research organization dedicated to finding the discovering the causes of traffic crashes, preventing them, and minimizing injuries when they do occur. The Foundation funds research projects, and uses the research results to develop educational materials for drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists and other road users.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)

Federal agency that oversees commercial motor vehicle safety. Activities include enforcement of safety regulations, targeting high-risk carriers and commercial motor vehicle drivers, improving safety information systems and commercial motor vehicle technologies, strengthening commercial motor vehicle equipment and operating standards, and increasing safety awareness.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

Administers federal laws relating to motor vehicle and highway safety. The site includes crash statistics, vehicle safety ratings, vehicle safety regulations and standards, recall announcements, and a wide range of other consumer and technical information.

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