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summer 15
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NC safety stakeholders update Strategic Highway Safety Plan

Transportation safety stakeholders from across North Carolina - including representatives from state, regional, local, and tribal agencies, the UNC Highway Safety Research Center, and other public and private partners - recently worked to update the state’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP). The group represented all users of the state highway system and encompassed the 4 E’s of highway safety—education, enforcement, engineering and emergency services.

The 2014 North Carolina Strategic Highway Safety Plan presents a statewide, comprehensive and collaborative approach for reducing fatalities and serious injuries on North Carolina’s roadways with a “Vision Zero” goal, meaning zero fatalities, with the understanding that even one fatality is too many. By 2030, stakeholders plan to cut fatalities and serious injuries in the state by half, reducing the total annual fatalities by 630 fatalities and the total serious injuries by 1,055 (based on 2013 figures).

Since its last update in 2006, significant progress was made toward the plan’s overall goal, as evidenced by the dramatic decrease in the number of fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (MVMT) between 2006 to 2013. The 2013 fatality rate is just under 1.2 fatalities per 100 MVMT.  Nationally, the fatality rate has also declined during the same period, although not as sharply as in North Carolina.

The SHSP is an important component of North Carolina’s Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP).  The need for a SHSP was established by the federal transportation funding legislation, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act:  A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), and strengthened by the passage of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) in July 2012. MAP-21 specifies that the SHSP must be developed based on safety data on all public roads, be developed in consultation with stakeholders, employ a multidisciplinary approach, describe a program of safety strategies and consider other highway safety plans and processes.

The 2014 plan covers 14 emphasis areas to achieve its goal: Lane Departure, Ensuring Drivers Are Fully Licensed, Curbing Aggressive Driving, Increasing Safety Belt Usage, Keeping Drivers Alert, Speed, Intersection Safety, Older Drivers, Motorcycles, Commercial Motor Vehicles, Public Information, Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety, Incident Management and Driver Education.

Learn more about the 2014 North Carolina Strategic Highway Safety Plan and goals at www.ncshsp.org.

 

The University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center
730 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Suite 300  |  Campus Box 3430  |  Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3430
Phone: 919.962.2203  |  Fax: 919.962.8710
http://www.hsrc.unc.edu