Roadway Safety: Analysis, Evaluation, and Programming
Course Faculty: Bob Layton and Jan Botha
While efforts to lower the number of automobile accidents have been successful, accident rates-especially for rural roads-remain unacceptably high. Whether in design, traffic, or construction, roadway engineers must take accident reduction and motorist safety as their primary professional objectives. This two-day course provides instruction, discussion, and workshop sessions related to the analysis, evaluation, and practical design considerations involved in solving traffic safety problems.
Discussions include safety improvement programming; the importance of collecting and maintaining safety study data; identification and examination of study procedures at hazardous and high accident locations; basic factors that cause accidents; countermeasures for reducing accidents; typical safety studies for rural and small urban areas; and safety considerations for intersection and pavement design. The course also includes workshops for practice in using collected data and developing solutions. Economic analysis, evaluation, and approaches for determining and setting safety improvement priorities are also covered. Course material is covered in a small-group setting to encourage active individual participation.
Course Topics
- Identifying hazardous locations and features
- High accident location case studies and analysis
- Safety data collection and maintenance
- Collecting and analyzing accident/roadway element data
- Economic analysis and setting improvement priorities
- Intersection and pavement safety characteristics
- Analysis and effectiveness of safety countermeasures
- Safety improvement program development
Who Should Attend
This course is for new and experienced engineering personnel involved in roadway design, traffic engineering, and management. While much of the course is focused on safety problems faced by local agencies, the material is applicable to federal, state, and private sector engineering personnel who are responsible for the design and traffic engineering of low-volume rural roads, small urban roads, and multilane highways. The course is also useful for individuals working directly with safety and infrastructure planning.
Continuing Education Units and Professional Development Hours
Course participants will earn 2.1 CEUs/21 PDHs upon successful completion of this course. The CEU is a nationally recognized measure of participation in a noncredit continuing education program that meets established criteria for increasing knowledge and competency.