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With 43,000 people dying each year as a result of highway crashes, the safety of our transportation systems increasingly is recognized as an important public health problem. An additional 3,000,000 people are injured each year, and the estimated cost to the nation associated with highway crashes is $230 billion per year. In crashes involving trucks, 79 percent of the fatalities are occupants of other vehicles.
An examination of the factors contributing to crashes indicates that multiple conditions typically are important, involving the manner in which transportation facilities are planned, designed, and operated as well as user behavior and vehicle considerations. There are, in addition, special safety problems associated with both older and younger drivers, transit, the movement of freight, the operation of commercial vehicles, walking, bicycling, and the interfaces between modes such as rail crossings and intermodal freight terminals.
In recognition of the importance of safety problems, increased attention is being given to incorporating safety considerations into the planning and management of transportation systems. Through a process referred to as Safety Conscious Planning (SCP), safety considerations are receiving greater attention in the development of transportation plans, programs, and projects. Transportation planners are working in partnership with safety organizations to develop strategic transportation safety plans.
Information on SCP is available on the following web sites:
Cambridge Systematics is supporting the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) SCP initiative, developing a training course on SCP for the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) NTI; contributing to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) safety program entitled Driver, Vehicle, and Roadside Strategies for 2010; assessing security issues related to movement of commercial vehicles across international borders; and, for the FHWA, examining the manner in which security considerations are being incorporated into metropolitan area and statewide transportation planning.
The safety work of Cambridge Systematics builds upon and integrates a number of the core capabilities of the firm, including data collection and quantitative analysis, the development and implementation of information management systems, geographic information systems (GIS), commercial vehicle operations (CVO), intermodal freight, performance measures, capital programming and budgeting, evaluation and monitoring, strategic planning, and the development of statewide and regional transportation plans.
Safety Conscious Planning is defined as a comprehensive, systemwide, multimodal, and proactive process that integrates safety into surface transportation decision-making. SCP is comprehensive because it considers all aspects of safety: engineering, education, public awareness, enforcement, and emergency management. A systemwide approach to safety examines safety on the basis of corridors and entire transportation networks at the local, regional, and state levels, and is not limited to a consideration of specific sites or "black spots." SCP uses multimodal approaches to improve safety, including transit and pedestrian safety improvements. SCP is proactive because it not only addresses current safety problems, but also identifies opportunities to prevent future hazards and problem behaviors.
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