Recommendations
Decision-makers across the country can save lives by improving road design. However, standalone projects or policies won’t solve the pedestrian safety crisis. It requires an overhaul of how we evaluate, fund, and implement transportation across the entire system. The common and failed standard approach to safety continues to be defined by attempting small, project-by-project, piecemeal interventions. The scale of our current approach is out of step with the scope of the crisis, and it has failed to stem the historic numbers of deaths and injuries for people walking.
We need a fundamentally new approach—supported by meaningful funding—that prioritizes the safety of the most vulnerable people first. Below are Smart Growth America’s recommendations on actions to take now as well as actions that will likely require longer-term efforts by advocates, policy-makers, and practitioners.
Our recommendations are guided by a few key ideas:
People must come first. Serving the needs and ensuring the safety of people walking, biking, rolling, and taking transit should not be considered add-ons to existing projects but as a fundamental priority. Planning, maintenance, and operations must be responsible for the entire road or street facility, not just the part used by vehicles, and prioritization of resources must be based on the needs of people using all modes.
What we have isn’t working. At every level of government, urgent innovation and experimentation are needed to determine what improves safety and admit when things don’t. These lessons must quickly inform existing best practices and be shared widely among practitioners.
You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. Our data collection around traffic safety is an obstacle to creating real change. (Read more about what needs to change with the data here.) Comprehensive federal data on crashes (like that used for Dangerous by Design) is released between 14-16 months later, only includes data on fatal crashes, is hard to understand, and lacks key information needed to address traffic violence proactively. State and local data is collected inconsistently, making it challenging to gather and compare.
To be complacent is to be complicit. Where is the urgency? Doing nothing or doing more of the same can no longer be an option. It is unacceptable to ignore the crisis and proceed as we always have, simply because outdated guidance and regulations say it is acceptable. If those with the power to create change do not take every opportunity to do so, they are part of the problem. Creating safer streets needs to be a national priority.
There’s a broad spectrum of available changes. Various state, federal, and local leaders could make relatively easy changes with the stroke of a pen—they also should be called upon to lead the complex structural changes that will require significant effort, political will, and changes to laws or practices.
Did you know?
The US is well behind our global peers in traffic safety. Across all income levels, among the countries with the largest populations, we’re the only one where deaths continue to reach these historic highs. Fortunately, we can begin to close the gap with a few essential strategies combined with safer street design.
Federal recommendations
Actions that can be taken right now
- FHWA should proactively issue guidance to all state DOTs on how to create and use quick-build demonstration projects to test new improvements in dangerous corridors and intersections, making it clear that FHWA fully supports this practice.
- We can’t properly evaluate safety without better, more comprehensive, and timely data. The 16-month lag in FARS data—the only national dataset on traffic fatalities—makes it impossible to evaluate current or even very recent conditions.
- Federally reported data, including crash and state safety target data, should be updated at least once a year. They should also be transparent, easy to navigate, and contain information on past performance.
- FHWA should provide clear and concise speed management guidance, including the limits of the 85th percentile rule and alternative best practices for setting context-sensitive speeds.
- FHWA should dump “value of time” and delay as planning measures.
- FHWA should stop allowing transportation agencies to claim safety benefits from reducing congestion.
Bigger lifts
- USDOT should continue to examine and regularly update the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and other design guidance documents to make sure they 1) have a clear intent to protect the safety of all road users, 2) do not unnecessarily stall safety improvements, 3) adopt new and emerging best practices in a timely manner 4) clearly delineate roles of individual design guides and federal manuals to eliminate confusion among practitioners USDOT should make significant changes to the crash reporting process to include better information on people with disabilities. (Read more on our recommendations for crash data)
- The funding available to be spent on safety-related projects at the state level should be explicitly allocated for this purpose. FHWA should increase transparent reporting on state spending through the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and regularly update metrics on the programs’ performance.
- Congress should fully fund all programs intended to combat the rising rates of pedestrian fatalities.
- Congress should enable stronger federal action on safety by directing USDOT and FHWA to release stricter rules and guidance on protecting vulnerable road users.
- Congress should create fiscal penalties for states that continue to adopt a policy of road expansion over a policy of improvement and maintenance of existing facilities.
State recommendations
Actions that can be taken right now
- State DOTs should require that state-level staff designing local facilities go and navigate the roads they intend to design as pedestrians before, during, and after the design process.
- State DOTs should review guidance on what road materials—such as temporary and permanent barriers, paint, and other tools—can be used to improve visibility in crosswalks.
- State DOTs and/or legislatures should adopt a policy—such as a Complete Streets policy—that puts people, not cars, at the center of all transportation planning and funding. This policy should prioritize safety and accessibility, inform policies, practices, and procedures, and be met with actions. Safety can no longer be a slogan.
Bigger lifts
- State DOTs should support, encourage, and fund quick-build demonstration projects and other interventions by reviewing policies, permitting, and design standards and then proactively encouraging their use through new procedures. (As the Connecticut DOT has done here)
- State DOTs should require ongoing training for all new and existing staff and contractors working on transportation issues. These trainings should align with the state’s strategic vision and incorporate best practices, particularly those aimed at enhancing safety and access through design and maintenance.
- State legislatures should create a mandate that their state DOTs must set goals of reducing pedestrian deaths in the performance targets that states are required to set each year. State DOTs should work towards these goals by prioritizing safety ahead of reducing delay or congestion and investing in Complete Streets, Vision Zero programs, and safe, accessible infrastructure for the most vulnerable road users.
- State legislatures should require annual progress reports on the above-mentioned goals, review the effectiveness of the implemented strategies, and incorporate their findings into funding and policy decisions.
- State DOTs should go beyond the basic, minimum federal standards for roadway safety and accessibility. They must make safety the top priority governing all street design decisions, which may mean taking steps to evaluate what design guidance is used, what performance metrics are collected, and how funding is allocated across the state.
- State legislatures should require their DOTs to stop using level of service as a measure of success for road projects. Legislatures and DOTs should establish new measures of success, such as reduction in risk exposure, increase in protected ped/bike infrastructure, and travel counts of all modes so that moving vehicles quickly through a given area is not prioritized over the safety and convenience of people walking, biking, and taking transit.
- Implement context-appropriate speed limits supported by temporary-to-permanent street design changes.
- Take advantage of restriping or other maintenance projects to evaluate if the facility can and should support other modes of travel.
- Establish a crash review panel representative of multidisciplinary practitioners and community members to identify systemic issues leading to individual and repeated crashes and make recommendations to address them. (Strong Towns’ Crash Studio model is a great example.)
Local recommendations
Actions that can be taken right now
- Utilize quick-build demonstrations and other immediate safety interventions to address known high-crash corridors and intersections. Make permanent changes after learning from pilot projects.
- Regularly maintain sidewalks, bike lanes, and other active transportation facilities, including removing trash, clearing snow, and fixing gaps or cracks.
- Perform a parking/curbside audit to accurately assess how much parking exists and how much is actually needed. (Read more here)
Bigger lifts
- Establish a crash review panel representative of multidisciplinary practitioners and community members to identify systemic issues leading to individual and repeated crashes and make recommendations to address them. (Strong Towns’ Crash Studio model is a great example.)
- Implement context-appropriate speed limits supported by temporary-to-permanent street design changes.
- Explore applying for Safe Streets and Roads for All funds to support street design changes and improve data collection.
- Improve local data collection and reporting to give the public clear information on the most dangerous streets and intersections and what’s being done to address them.
- Take advantage of restriping or other maintenance projects to evaluate if the facility can and should support other modes of travel.
- Adopt, implement, and fund Complete Streets policies or other legislation that support all modes, by prioritizing and addressing known risks for people walking, biking, rolling, and taking transit.
