Incorporating Safety Into the Regional Planning Process in Virginia: Volume II: A Resource Guide

Miller, John S; Garber, Nicholas J; Kamatu, Josephine N · 2010 · ROSA P / Virginia Transportation Research Council

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Summary

This report, Volume II of a two-part study by the Virginia Transportation Research Council, serves as a resource guide for integrating safety into the regional transportation planning process in Virginia. Motivated by the $230 billion annual societal cost of motor vehicle crashes and federal mandates requiring metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and planning district commissions (PDCs) to address safety, the guide aims to reduce crash frequency by embedding safety considerations directly into long-range planning. The document is targeted at VDOT district planners, MPOs, and PDCs, providing best practices rather than regulatory policy. The guide outlines eight independent steps for integrating safety into planning, developed through literature review and a 2008 survey of all 23 Virginia MPOs and PDCs. The steps are: (1) developing vision statements, goals, and objectives that incorporate safety; (2) engaging diverse stakeholders to identify alternatives; (3) using safety-related performance measures to assess deficiencies; (4) acquiring data within time constraints; (5) analyzing data to select high-impact projects; (6) prioritizing projects to maximize crash avoidance given limited funds; (7) identifying alternative funding sources; and (8) monitoring the safety impacts of implemented projects. Each step is accompanied by Virginia-specific examples and references. For instance, the guide illustrates how stakeholders can quantify problems like driver fatigue and prioritize bicycle infrastructure improvements using performance measures such as bicycle level of service. Key findings from the survey indicate that while 21 of 23 respondents included safety in their Constrained Long-range Plans, only 8 explicitly included safety in their vision statements, suggesting a challenge in articulating safety at the highest strategic level. The guide provides practical tools to address this, such as linking specific projects to measurable safety objectives (e.g., reducing pedestrian crashes by 20 percent). It also highlights the role of MPOs in identifying future safety risks associated with land development, such as using the High Risk Rural Roads Program to anticipate crash risks from increased traffic volumes. The significance of this resource lies in its provision of a structured, actionable framework for transportation planners to move beyond treating safety as an afterthought. By offering specific methodologies for data acquisition, analysis, and prioritization, the guide enables planners to justify safety projects based on expected crash avoidance and societal cost reduction. It emphasizes the importance of stakeholder involvement and measurable objectives to ensure that safety is a core component of regional transportation decisions, ultimately aiming to make Virginia’s surface transportation system the safest in the nation by 2025.

Key finding

The guide establishes an eight-step framework for integrating safety into regional planning, emphasizing the use of safety-related performance measures and diverse stakeholder input to prioritize projects and identify funding sources.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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Topics

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• incidence prevalence
• regulatory evaluation
• comparative international
• roadway lighting effects

Information type

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• Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation
• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes
• Methodological Resource: dataset resource