Development of a Master File of Essential Highway Safety Planning and Evaluation Data

About the report:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires each state to file an Annual Highway Safety Work Program as a prerequisite for obtaining federal section 402 safety monies. However, the work program serves as more than a mechanism for obtaining funds; it induces planning, programming, and budgeting of highway safety projects. The Commonwealth of Virginia has endorsed the work program concept and is continually striving to improve its highway safety planning process. The most recent improvement in Virginia's highway safety planning process was embodied in a report by Ferguson and Simpson that introduced the concept of "Problem Identification/Management by Objectives" to the state's work program. Local highway safety commissions and state traffic safety agencies were asked to complete their annual work program submissions using this concept, the intent being to enhance the quality of their planned highway safety activities. This report attempts to further implement the concept by offering refinements to the Ferguson-Simpson approach. Under these refinements, the local commissions and state agencies are not asked to generate much of the problem identification data; the necessary information is provided them. -These data should aid the local commissions and state agencies in identifying problem areas needing attention. This approach was well received when first used in preparing Virginia's FY '77 Annual Highway Safety Work Program. However, the methods of compiling and disseminating information proved quite laborious and time-consuming. Therefore, this report recommends further revisions be made to the process by automating various parts of the retrieval, assimilation, and dissemination stages.

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