Defining the Future for Safe Rural Transportation in America

Est. Dec. 2014

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• Duration is 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Mountain

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Today’s Presenters

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Steve Albert, Safety Center Director

Jaime Sullivan,Safety Center Manager

Guest Speakers

• Linda MacIntyre, National Park Service

• David Kack, Small Urban and Rural Livability Center

• Hillary Isebrands, FHWA Resource Center

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Once you have completed this webinar, you will:

Goals of this Webinar

Have an understanding of the outcomes from the Safety Center’s National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America which was held September 2016 in Denver, CO.

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To achieve the webinar goal, you will learn to:

Learning Outcomes

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Identify the format used at the National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America

Understand the outcomes from the 10 discussion topics

List example action items identified by attendees at the summit

Understand what your organization can do to “advance the change”

Assist in defining a future summit

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Identify the format used at the National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America

Understand the outcomes from the 10 discussion topics

List example action items identified by attendees at the summit

Understand what your organization can do to “advance the change”

Assist in defining a future summit

Steve Albert, Safety Center Director

National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America

Held September 7-9, 2016 Denver, CO

• 3 Days• 10 Discussion Topics• 1 White Paper

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Goals of the Summit

• Define the future for safe rural transportation in America

• Advance safe transportation systems to enhance economic development and quality of life

• Together, change the statistics

• Bring together key leaders and grassroots stakeholders to

• Articulate important safety and transportation issues that impact economic prosperity and quality-of-life in rural areas

• Identify collaborative opportunities to develop and advocate for initiatives that advance the deployment of a safe, efficient, seamless, and financially sustainable rural transportation network

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Who Made it Happen?

• Sponsors– National Center for Rural Road Safety– Center for Advanced Infrastructures and

Transportation (CAIT) at Rutgers– AASHTO

• Organization– Meetings Northwest

• Collocated Meetings– National Association of County Engineers (NACE)– National Association of Development Organizations

(NADO)

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Steering Committee

• Safety Center• FHWA Resource Center• National Association of Counties (NACo)• National Association of County Engineers (NACE)• National Association of Development Organizations

(NADO)• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

(NHTSA)• Transportation Safety Advancement Group (TSAG)• ITS America

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Who attended?

• 115 Attendees

• Representing 27 states and Washington D.C.

• Representing 16 different types of stakeholders

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Day 1: Setting the Stage

• Agency perspectives in rural transportation: what role does safety play?– Safety Center– Federal perspective (FHWA and CDC)– State perspective (CDOT)– County perspective (NACo)

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Day 1: Setting the Stage (cont.)

• Overview of rural challenges: setting the stage– Alternative Transportation (WTI & LDP Strategies)– Freight (American Trucking Association)– Technology and Connected Vehicle (UDOT)– Federal Lands (USFWS)– Tribal (Lummi Nation)– EMS/Law Enforcement (TSAG)

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What We Heard: Statistics• County and Transportation Infrastructure Statistics

– Roughly two-thirds of the nation’s 3,069 counties are considered rural

– Have 45% of the nation’s roads– Own 39 percent of the National Bridge Inventory

• Disparities in motor vehicle crashes– 9% population lives in rural areas but account for 30% of

miles driven and 54% of all crashes (NHTSA, 2014)– Death rate 2.5 times higher in rural vs urban (NHTSA,

2014)– It takes more than two times as long to get first

responders to a crash site in rural areas (NHTSA, 2006)

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*Statistics not labeled were taken from Cindy Bobbit’s, NACO, opening session presentation

What We Heard: Economy & Infrastructure

• Transportation moves rural America

• Deteriorating transportation infrastructure– 40 percent of county roads are inadequate for

current travel – Nearly half of the 450,000 rural bridges in

America are structurally deficient

• Challenges for improving infrastructure– Local funding limitations/constraints– Rising cost of transportation projects

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*Statistics not labeled were taken from Cindy Bobbit’s, NACO, opening session presentation

What We Heard: Challenges

• Ability for many groups to be heard and be acknowledged as a priority and a partner

• Some communities are disproportionally impacted

• Many of our first responders in rural areas are volunteers

• Supply of operators/truck drivers and staff is dwindling

• Many locals have very limited resources, safety is not their only job

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What We Heard:Prevention Strategies Work

• A .08BAC law saves 400 - 600 lives per year

• Primary seatbelt laws reduce fatal injuries by 8%

• Child safety seat reduce fatalities by 35%

• Bike helmets reduce head injury by 85%

• Graduated driver licensing has a 35% fatal reduction

• Alcohol checkpoints reduce fatalities by 9-20%

• Roundabouts may reduce intersection crashes by 75%

• Rumble strips cut reduce run-off-road crashes by 40%

• Since deregulation in 1980, tremendous gains in truck safety

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*All statistics taken from David Sleet, CDC, opening session presentation and Darrin Roth, ATA, overview of rural challenges session presentation

What We Heard: Hope

• Mantra of Toward Zero Deaths

• Resolution in 2015 between U.S. DOT and NACo– Underscores the important role that local elected officials play in

improving road safety

• Potential for collaboration between public health and transportation – Intersect in the area of safety

• Engage local officials in the transportation planning and investment process– Strengthen the federal-state-local partnership – Empower county officials to engage in innovative local

partnerships

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What We Heard: Progress

• “Smart transportation planning plays a key role in ensuring local safety”– Local Road Safety Plans = foundation for

consensus and focus

• Innovation of automated and connected vehicles

• Resources are available

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What we Heard: A Call to Action

• “We have 2 goals (1) save peoples’ lives and (2) make peoples’ lives better, and from a rural perspective, we have a lot we can do”

- Shailen Bhatt, Executive Director of CDOT

• “Effective collaboration and communication among community and safety stakeholders are necessary in order to achieve ambitious yet achievable safety goals.”

– Cindy Bobbit, NACo Exec. Committee

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Directing Your Questions via the Chat Pod

1. Chat pod is on left side of screen between attendees pod & closed

caption pod

2. Type your question or

comment here

3. Answers will appear here unless addressed

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Identify the format used at the National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America

Understand the outcomes from the 10 discussion topics

List example action items identified by attendees at the summit

Understand what your organization can do to “advance the change”

Assist in defining a future summit

Jaime Sullivan, Safety Center Manager

Day 2: Silo Sessions

• Commerce and freight in the rural environment

• Design, construction, operations & maintenance

• Enabling rural emergency responders

• Exploring common obstacles to increasing agency safety culture and best practices to overcome them

• The effects and impacts of safety on tourism

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Day 2: Cross Group Sessions

• Economic development

• Livability

• Policy & coordination

• Towards zero deaths

• Transportation workforce development

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Day 3: Wrap Up

• Overview of outcomes

• Next steps panel discussion

• Closing keynote (Eagle County Commissioner)

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What We Heard:Communication of Rural Needs

• Non-adversary mindset• Don’t look through an urban lens when telling a rural

story • Communicate the importance of rural needs and how

they benefit urban areas as well• Funding rural projects improves global

competitiveness for our country as a whole• Articulate that consequences of no action has a

negative impact on everyone, not just rural communities• Create a unified voice for rural interests and strategies

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What We Heard:Funding

• Creative funding may depend on coalition building

• Create private-public partnerships to supplement public dollars

• Advocate for an increase in the fuel tax at state, federal levels that can be used for safety program enhancements

• Educate public on the benefits of tax increases as they relate specifically to them

• Need more flexibility at the local level to raise transportation revenue and prioritize traffic safety program enhancements

• Reevaluate rural vs urban funding formulas

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What We Heard:Regulatory/Legislation

• Consolidate overlapping regulatory administrative processes and requirements

• Create uniformity in state regulations, affecting both safety and efficiency for freight

• Allow property acquisition to occur prior to NEPA approval

• Seek expansion of exceptions regarding historic roads/bridges

• Seek legislation for:– Allowing automated enforcement with specific safety outcomes– Increasing enforcement penalties, driver licensing requirements

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What We Heard:Education/Training

• Encourage and fund conversations, information sharing/exchanges, peer networking, and in-person meetings with a diverse, multi-disciplinary gathering of stakeholders

• Encourage local communities/agencies to support local champions through training, education and resources

• Conduct ongoing public outreach, public relations, information to community

• Suggestions for rural road safety training– “Trade” school model in high school– Internships in high school and college– Require hands on training– Have qualified/certifies/licensed teachers with experience in the

field/trade

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What We Heard:Planning

• Data is a tool to help inform decisions– Improve the availability, depth, and accuracy of data collection – Train, educate on the importance of data, and provide funding– Remember that anecdotal evidence is data and should be taken

seriously

• Create a true multi-disciplinary approach, ensuring that all stakeholders are at the table

• Formalize Toward Zero Deaths

• Encourage local safety plans to:– Include a wide-range of disciplines, – Incorporate similar/parallel plans to identify gaps and overlaps for

goals of safety, and – Align the plan with the state’s strategic highway safety plan

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What We Heard:Planning

• Identify strategies to plan for the lowest common denominator of drivers unfamiliar with the area

• Create a balance of safety, access, livability, character of the road/area, community and economic development

• Ensure strategies are locally appropriate and culturally meaningful

• Provide locals with resources and assistance in how to use those resources once they have them

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What We Heard:Safety Culture

• “We need to shift our culture. Moving people’s culture is uncomfortable. If you aren’t uncomfortable, you aren’t doing enough. We have done all the easy fixes, we won’t get to zero unless we get uncomfortable. It will cost more, take longer, and change our whole social structure. If we really want TZD, we have to get uncomfortable. The shift itself is uncomfortable.”

-Nic Ward, Center for Health and Safety Culture

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What We Heard:Call to Action

• “We need to be standing shoulder to shoulder with law enforcement, EMS, and fire and understand this is a group effort. We stand together for safety.”

- Craig Allred, FHWA

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Directing Your Questions via the Chat Pod

1. Chat pod is on left side of screen between attendees pod & closed

caption pod

2. Type your question or

comment here

3. Answers will appear here unless addressed

verbally

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Identify the format used at the National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America

Understand the outcomes from the 10 discussion topics

List example action items identified by attendees at the summit

Understand what your organization can do to “advance the change”

Assist in defining a future summit

Steve Albert, Safety Center Director

Example Action Items from Summit Attendees

• Counties– Institute Toward Zero Deaths into their strategic plan

to direct focus and resources towards this goal– Try to direct more HSIP funding to counties and

distribute it better

• LTAPs – Coordinate with the local public health departments

to link them to the Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP)

– Take the message about safety culture back to their SHSP council

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Example Action Items from Summit Attendees

• NADO’s National Regional Transportation Conference – Considering a session dedicated to integrating the required economic

development plans with transportation plans

• CCI/CARSE – Added sessions on safety directed towards elected officials and road

supervisors/engineers at their annual winter conference

• Safety Center– Co-host a webinar with NACE for County Engineers on TZD– Incorporate a strategic tour of other countries into our research

program to document their safety culture– Work with OK EMS Association to get on an agenda to speak about

safety at a local or National EMT Association– Added a public health and NHTSA representative to our stakeholder

group

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Directing Your Questions via the Chat Pod

1. Chat pod is on left side of screen between attendees pod & closed

caption pod

2. Type your question or

comment here

3. Answers will appear here unless addressed

verbally

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Identify the format used at the National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America

Understand the outcomes from the 10 discussion topics

List example action items identified by attendees at the summit

Understand what your organization can do to “advance the change”

Assist in defining a future summit

Steve Albert, Safety Center Director

How Can You Advance the Change?

• Join the TZD movement• Actively engage safety stakeholders• Take the first step towards a local road safety plan• Identify other plans in your community that may

include safety strategies • Don’t think you cannot start planning because you

don’t have data. Instead “use what you have, where you are”

• Explicitly incorporate TZD into short and long range plans

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How Can You Advance the Change?

• Talk to your local elected officials about your communities needs

• As a State DOT, when you enter into a contract with a big data firm, make sure you include in the contract that the data should be shared with the locals as well

• Create rural research needs statements and get them funded (AASHTO, DOTs, TRB)

• Explore the resources available

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Resources

• National Center for Rural Road Safety (www.ruralsafetycenter.org)

• LTAP/TTAP (www.ltap.org)• FHWA Resource Center

(www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter)• NADO (www.nado.org)• NACo (www.naco.org)• NACE (www.countyengineers.org)• TSAG (www.tsag-its.org)• NHTSA (www.nhtsa.gov)

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Resources (cont.)

• Summit presentations (https://ruralsafetycenter.org/news-events/moving-rural-america-summit/)

• FHWA Local & Rural Road Safety Program (http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/)

• Toward Zero Deaths (http://www.towardzerodeaths.org/)

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Resources (cont.)

• Local Road Safety: A Focus for County Elected Officials (http://www.naco.org/resources/local-road-safety-focus-county-elected-officials)

• Local Elected Officials: Leading the Way in Local Road Safety (http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/training/fhwasa16019/)

• CDC’s Tribal Road Safety Website (https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/native/)

• Tribal Transportation Safety Website (http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/training/fhwasa16019/)

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Resources (cont.)

• ITS America/AASHTO Connected Vehicle Information (http://www.its.dot.gov/cv_basics/index.htm) (http://www.its.dot.gov/pilots/) (http://www.its.dot.gov/research_archives/connected_vehicle/connected_vehicle_standards.htm) (http://stsmo.transportation.org/Pages/Connected-Vehicles.aspx)

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Directing Your Questions via the Chat Pod

1. Chat pod is on left side of screen between attendees pod & closed

caption pod

2. Type your question or

comment here

3. Answers will appear here unless addressed

verbally

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Jaime Sullivan, Safety Center Manager

Identify the format used at the National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America

Understand the outcomes from the 10 discussion topics

List example action items identified by attendees at the summit

Understand what your organization can do to “advance the change”

Assist in defining a future summit

Positive Feedback

• “Amazing conference - probably the best one I've attended in years! Keep up the great work!”

• “I appreciate the work and thought process went into planning this conference. It was well rounded to include many levels of government that impact rural road safety. They included areas outside the "box". Great Day 1!”

• “Thank you for putting this together. I thought the format was much more interesting and valuable than your typical format conference.”

• “Good mix of attendees. Surprisingly diverse. I heard some ideas that I have not heard before or at least not very often in the current safety discussions.”

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Constructive Criticism/Suggestions• Need more:

– Clarity on how specific topics fit into the traffic safety framework

– Interaction between local agencies and tribal representatives

– Participation from elected and appointed officials and their staff

– Focus on counties without dedicated engineering staff, deployment of low cost and systemic countermeasures

– Students in attendance– Clarity on definition for "Rural Road”

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Suggestions• Sessions Topics

– Develop a definitive position statement to take forward at the national level

– "What you would like to accomplish at a future event" would be great for round table discussion

– How to implement new ideas back at home – Best practices, success stories, ideas to fix the

problems – safety measures that can be implemented

– Discussion on unique differences between engineering, operations and planning

– More information and solutions to the Human Behavior problems

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Potential Date/Locations

• Date?– Spring or Fall 2018

• Location?– Kansas City

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Attendees

• Steering committee additions– TTAP (Tribal)– Public/private health– Agriculture

• Bigger presence by:– Those listed above– Law enforcement/EMS– Elected officials– Students

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Discussion Topics/Themes

• Autonomous/Connected Vehicles– How do we improve safety in the view of the lens

(autonomous and connected vehicles) that is coming? – How do we leverage new opportunities that

technology is giving us?– How do we combine current and the future to make

the best of what we’ve got and what is coming and make it safer for everyone?

• Quality of service/performance metrics sensitive to rural areas

• Data

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Directing Your Questions via the Chat Pod

1. Chat pod is on left side of screen between attendees pod & closed

caption pod

2. Type your question or

comment here

3. Answers will appear here unless addressed

verbally

In this webinar, you have learned to:

Learning Outcomes

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Identify the format used at the National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America

Understand the outcomes from the 10 discussion topics

List example action items identified by attendees at the summit

Understand what your organization can do to “advance the change”

Assist in defining a future summit

Upcoming 2016 Webinars

Toward Zero Deaths – Information for County Engineers

December 8, 2016 9-10:30 AM Mountain

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Archived Webinars

Access the webinar archives

Training Videos

Introduction to Road Safety Culture

Watch this video

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To help you improve roadway safety, let us be your trusted “safety sidekick.”

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Contact Information

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