“Enhance public health and safety by working toward the elimination of transportation-related deaths and injuries”
Improving safety throughout the transportation network is the premier goal of the Department of Transportation and we are making significant strides in each mode. The story of improvements in transportation safety can be told as a story of technology reducing the opportunity for human error. For example, with airline simulator training, pilots gain ‘real’ experience flying through and out of wind shear in a risk-free environment. Below we present discussions of our central safety strategies by mode.
Signed on August 10, 2005, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) provided the groundwork for new, innovative activities to support highway traffic safety. Our ability to work with States to develop and implement data-driven, workable, and self-sustaining highway safety programs is key to the overall success in achieving a reduction in highway safety fatalities.
To accomplish these reductions, DOT provides grants to States and local communities and supports research, demonstrations and countermeasure programs designed to prevent motor vehicle crashes and reduce their associated economic costs. While these programs have saved tens of thousands of lives, projections for highway fatalities and injuries show us that much more needs to be done in behavioral and vehicle safety to improve safety on our roads.
As part of a comprehensive highway safety program, we will assist States with the development of Strategic Highway Safety Plans (SHSP). SAFETEA-LU provides States with added flexibility to use safety program funds for projects on all public roads and publicly owned pedestrian and bicycle paths, as well as to focus efforts on implementation of a State SHSP. States are required to collect data, analyze highway safety problems and produce a list of projects to be funded based upon the data analysis.
We will also concentrate efforts on reducing the severity of crashes through roadway infrastructure and operational improvements. Planned activities include funding improvements to the national infrastructure and promoting better geometric design, utilizing more durable pavement markings, installing more visible roadside signs, and increasing skid-resistant roadway surfaces to enhance safety. The continued use of Road Safety Audits assists communities with safety improvements during the construction of new roadways and reconstruction of existing roadways.
In the behavioral area, we will focus on the delivery of data-driven countermeasures, public information and education materials and activities, and State grant programs aimed at:
- increasing occupant protection use;
- reducing alcohol and drug-related fatalities;
- reducing motorcycle fatalities;
- promoting effective speed management;
- prolonging older driver mobility as long as medically practicable;
- promoting parental roles in effective driver education curricula; and,
- maintaining the integrity of driver licensing processes.
As these behavioral programs mature, we are faced with the challenge of reaching audiences that are more resistant to safety messages. Our future behavioral efforts will therefore focus on harder-to-reach and under-served populations.
With respect to vehicle safety, the introduction of technology into motor vehicles is occurring at an ever-increasing rate, providing consumers with more choices in safety, ease-of-use, and entertainment. In addition to its traditional vehicle research, rulemaking, enforcement, and safety defect investigations, DOT will assess the lifesaving benefits of emerging technologies as they enter the vehicle fleet. In fiscal year 2008, DOT will promulgate a final rule to include New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) ratings on the sales stickers of new vehicles, as mandated by SAFETEA-LU, providing consumers with more information on the safety of new vehicles at the point of sale.
About 12 percent of all motor vehicle fatalities in the U.S. involve crashes with large trucks – nearly 5,000 of the 42,800 highway fatalities involved commercial vehicles in 2005. It is particularly challenging to bring down the number of fatalities for these motor carriers, because truck miles traveled are increasing faster than vehicle miles.
DOT is committed to reducing the number of crashes and to saving more lives through programs and partnerships with other government agencies, industry and the public. Aggressive enforcement of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations is our primary strategy for improving truck safety levels. We target high risk carriers through field activities such as compliance reviews, safety audits, and roadside inspections. One of the most important strategies is increased focus on the role of drivers in preventing crashes. The Large Truck Causation Study and other analyses show that influencing driver behavior is the biggest factor in crash prevention. While our traditional focus has been on improving the safety of motor carrier companies, this research shows that there are gains to be had from an increased focus on drivers. Therefore this is one of the primary areas where DOT seeks future improvements in truck safety. We will also conduct educational programs by partnering with States and other agencies to heighten public awareness of best highway safety practices for commercial motor vehicles and passenger vehicles.
Public transportation is the safest mode of surface transportation. Nationwide, in 2004, there were only 168 transit-caused fatalities, and according to the National Safety Council, riding a bus is 47 times safer than traveling by car, and traveling by train is 23 times safer than traveling by car. The challenge for DOT is to reduce still further the number of transit-related fatalities and injuries even as the total number of people using transit increases.
Our central strategy to accomplish this goal is to integrate safety and security throughout every aspect of public transit. This broad strategy includes: planning, design, operation and maintenance; effective and responsive training for transit personnel; technical assistance and oversight for transit operators; safety research and technology development; supporting effective drug and alcohol programs; and working with States to implement State safety oversight of rail fixed route systems.
The safety of commercial aviation remains a high priority. In the last three years, there were only 0.017 fatal accidents per hundred thousand takeoffs – the equivalent of one fatal accident per 5.9 million flights. The number of serious runway incursions, instances where a plane comes too close to another plane or vehicle on the ground, has also decreased. However, the fatal accident rate for general aviation, especially for Alaska, remains a concern. To address this, we continue education of the pilot community and deploy new technologies. Further, mistakes made when directing air traffic – also known as operational errors – remain a concern. We will work to improve aviation safety by systematically addressing operational vulnerabilities to reduce risk and improve airport infrastructure, safety management program awareness, runway safety training and new procedures.
Every day, trains in America travel more than 1.5 million miles to transport passengers to their destinations and deliver goods to the marketplace. America’s rail system is a vast network of over 233,000 miles of track that serve as arteries for commerce and connections for local communities. To support America’s economic growth, increased demands are being placed on our rails – in the form of more trains on our tracks than ever before. Amid a strong economy and increased demand for rail services, in 2005, the train accident rate declined. Data comparing 2005 with 2004 show that the number of train accidents per million train miles decreased 2.1 percent, while rail-related casualties decreased by 1.9 percent. The total number of highway-rail grade crossing fatalities declined 8.5 percent and the grade crossing collision rate reached an all-time record low of 3.76 per million train-miles.
Preliminary data also reveal that human-factors – the leading cause of all train accidents – decreased 3.4 percent in 2005. Trespassing remains the largest single cause of rail-related fatalities accounting for 55 percent of the total that same year.
Our strategy for improving rail safety is to continue to implement the National Rail Safety Action Plan that was launched in 2005 to target the most frequent and highest-risk causes of train accidents and accelerate research into new technologies that can improve rail safety levels. Many elements of the plan have been implemented, including pilot projects to test technology to identify small cracks in rail joints, monitor track switch positions in nonsignaled or dark territory, and provide timely hazardous materials information to emergency responders.
Federal inspectors will study data to identify potential problem areas that need more attention before an accident occurs, and DOT will launch two new automated track inspection vehicles, tripling the number of track miles inspected annually. In addition, a proposed Federal rule to reduce the most common human errors that lead to train accidents will be issued. For economic progress to continue, safety must remain the core principle that guides operations on our Nation’s rail system.
Pipelines transport and supply almost two-thirds of the fuel to heat, cool, and operate America’s homes, cars, and businesses through a network of nearly 2.3 million miles of pipes, most of which are buried underground. While serious pipeline incidents — those causing death or injury — have declined by more than 50 percent over the past 20 years, several challenges remain.
To continue improving pipeline safety levels, we are targeting three main strategic initiatives: managing risk and integrity, sharing responsibility, and providing effective stewardship. Our entire regulatory approach is focused on integrity management: driving defects out of the system before they become failures. DOT is partnering with organizations like the Common Ground Alliance and the National Association of State Fire Marshalls to identify and promote best practices for damage prevention, one of the major causes of serious pipeline incidents. Working with Federal and State partners, we play a key stewardship role in assuring high national safety standards and helping to guide permitting for energy facilities.
The human resources, programs, capital assets, information technology and other resources described in DOT's Annual Performance Budgets are needed to achieve our safety outcomes and to execute the specific strategies presented below. The schedule for executing our safety strategies extends from fiscal year 2006 through fiscal year 2011. All strategies presented below support both safety outcomes.
Table 1 depicts the relationship between DOT’s safety outcomes and the performance measures that will show our progress in achieving them.
|
Outcomes |
Performance Measures |
|---|---|
|
1. Reduction in transportation-related deaths 2. Reduction in transportation-related injuries |
- Highway fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). 2011 Target is 1.0 highway fatalities per 100 million VMT. - U.S. commercial air carrier fatal accident rate. 2011 Target is to reduce the three year rolling average fatal accident rate below 0.010 per 100,000 departures. - Number of fatal general aviation accidents. 2009 Target is 319. 2011 Target TBD. - Rail-related accidents and incidents per million train miles. 2011 Target is 17.84 per million train miles. - Transit fatalities per 100 million passenger-miles traveled. 2011 Target is 0.448 per 100 million passenger miles traveled. - Number of serious incidents for natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines. 2011 Target is 36 serious incidents. - Number of serious hazardous materials transportation incidents. 2011 Target is 448. - Number of serious HAZMAT incidents involving commercial motor vehicles. 2011 Target is 436. |
Several external factors could significantly affect our ability to achieve our safety goals. Although it is impossible to predict which of these factors, or which combination of factors, will tip the balance in our ability to produce results, we present both negative and positive factors we believe will play an important role in the years covered by this Strategic Plan.
Demographic trends work against our ability to achieve our safety goals. Most transportation-related fatalities and injuries occur on the Nation's roads and highways and demographic trends make it increasingly difficult to reduce these fatalities and injuries. Within the next 25 years, the U.S. population is estimated to grow to 364 million, up from 282 million in 2000. Vehicle miles of travel (VMT) is projected to increase by approximately 60 percent from 2000 to 2030 leading to much higher numbers of highway crashes and fatalities. Protecting segments of the population who remain at heightened risk – including teenage and older drivers, pickup drivers and rural residents – will require targeted safety programs. Significant increases in the older population – the number of people between the ages of 65 and 84 will increase by 114 percent from 2000 to 2050 – will pose highway and motor vehicle safety challenges, whether older Americans are drivers or passengers. Finally, the steady influx of immigrants from around the world will also add complexity to the traffic safety challenge requiring us to be innovative in adapting our safety strategies, materials and approaches to reach these cultures.
Truck traffic has been growing at a faster rate than overall vehicle traffic. Currently, trucks carry 75 percent of the Nation's commerce based on the value of the goods and more than two-thirds of these goods based on weight. In the future, large trucks will likely be an increasing part of the traffic stream and will make a greater contribution to safety problems. An increase in truck traffic is an external factor that will challenge the safety goal of reducing large-truck related fatalities and injuries.
Approximately 2.5 million truck drivers worked in the U.S. during 2004. However, demand for truck and bus drivers is growing and potential driver shortages in the motor carrier industry may tempt some companies to use a higher percentage of new or unskilled drivers to meet increasing demands. Lack of qualified drivers is an external factor that may adversely impact efforts to reduce large truck and bus-related crashes.
Economic cycles are external factors that can increase pipeline safety risk. Economic growth normally brings an increase in commercial and residential development, which increases the probability of excavation or outside force damage to pipelines – a major factor in pipeline safety. On the other hand, economic and budget pressures can negatively influence the priorities of pipeline safety partners – the States – for implementing and enforcing pipeline safety measures. Financial pressures on the pipeline industry can diminish the resources available to support safe operating and maintenance practices.
Current and emerging technologies are external factors that can significantly help us achieve our safety goals. New technologies add additional layers of safety that can help avoid and mitigate crashes. In 2005, for example, new technology allowed the FAA safely to cut in half required vertical separations between aircraft thereby increasing airspace capacity and reducing the risk of collision.
Technologies improve levels of highway safety. These include adaptive cruise control, brake assist, anti-lock braking systems, advanced airbags, backing up warning sensors, drowsy driver monitoring, warning devices for specific types of impending crashes (rear-end, lane/road departure, intersection), and systems that take control of the vehicle such as electronic stability control, rollover prevention and alcohol detection.
Additional occupant protection improvements, including advanced vehicle structures, safety belt/ignition-interlock systems, airbags and other interior protection features will reduce injuries and fatalities when crashes do occur. Immediately after impact, onboard communications could automatically notify rescue services of a crash, its location, and probable extent of injuries based on onboard sensors. The proliferation of traffic video surveillance in urban areas and mobile telephone communications could increase the chance of a 9-1-1 call, and possibly reduce response time by emergency personnel. Enhanced 9-1-1 technologies could also spur similar improvements in rural and suburban communities.
Technologies will play expanded roles in managing primary crash incidents and preventing avoidable secondary crashes. Devices that record onboard sensor data about crash circumstances and the behaviors of each involved vehicle help experts understand what happened and lead to vehicle, roadway design, and driver/operator training improvements. Other technologies that could help improve safety include computer simulators, biometrics, smart card driver licenses, and vehicle performance diagnostics.
Current developments in licensing car and truck drivers may also improve our ability to reduce transportation-related fatalities and injuries. Licensing is undergoing scrutiny because of traffic safety and homeland security issues. Recognition that the driver's license not only allows one to drive, but also provides a means for identifying an individual, has led to debate on the role of the license and licensing bodies in the U.S. Data exchange between State and Federal law enforcement agencies may reduce the large numbers of suspended, unlicensed, and uninsured motorists who are disproportionately involved in crashes. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reported that 20 percent of all fatal crashes involved at least one driver who did not have a license.[4] Of those with invalid licenses, 28 percent had received three or more suspensions or revocations before their crashes.[5]