ADOT wants your input in major push to update Highway Safety for vulnerable users

Phoenix, Arizona: The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) is seeking public input on a proposed update to its Strategic Highway Safety Plan and a draft of the state’s first Active Transportation Safety Action Plan, which aims to reduce pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities where those activities intersect with the state highway system. Both proposals are available for review here. Comments can be submitted through Friday, September 6.

Federal regulations require each state to have a Strategic Highway Safety Plan for reducing fatalities and serious injuries on public roadways and to update that plan every five years. ADOT leads development of this plan in partnership with local, state, federal and other stakeholders so that all highway safety programs can leverage resources and work together effectively to enhance safety.

The proposed Strategic Highway Safety Plan update, developed after a series of public meetings earlier this year, focuses on the following emphasis areas that account for a large percentage of life-altering crashes in Arizona: human behavior; intersections; lane departure; vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists; and incidents on tribal lands.

ADOT and its partners propose dozens of strategies based on public and stakeholder input, data analysis, and previously completed research and planning. These include:

improving visibility of vulnerable road users, all other users and roadway features;

incorporating vulnerable road users more prominently in the planning, design and programming process;

reducing high-risk movements by drivers; 

conducting high-visibility enforcement at intersections; and 

promoting safety at crash scenes.

The proposed update is based on the US Department of Transportation’s Safe System Approach, which looks at all factors affecting safety and emphasizes a shared responsibility for improving safety on roadways.