Highway Safety Training, Education, Curricula, Workforce Planning & Development

Safety Professional Capacity Building

This page provides links and downloads to references and resources for roadway safety training, education, curricula, and workforce development.

What’s New

New ATSSA Courses (7/2/09)

  • Traffic Control Design Specialist© – 2 day course
    This course is for individuals charged with the evaluation, development and implementation of a traffic control plan (TCP).  The intended audiences are engineers and/or anyone responsible for designing a TCP.   Previous work zone experience is not required.    Topics include introduction to work zone safety, applicable standards and guidelines, fundamental principles of temporary traffic control, human factors, the component parts of a traffic control zone, traffic control devices, constructability, and development of a transportation management plan (TMP).  Students will breakout into small groups for hands-on exercises.  A certification program is available for this course.  For those individuals, who are already TCS certified, a one-day TCDS course is available.

  • Urban Work Zone Design© – 2 day course
    This course addresses “urban” work zones, particularly the enhancements and considerations (“substantive safety”) necessary to address work zones in urban environments.  These environments may involve restricted spaces, lack of space for buffer spaces, parking issues, limited sight distance, business access and pedestrians and bicyclist considerations, etc.   The course will address instances when standards cannot be met and how to address these situations.  Freeways will not be covered in this course.  This course is intended for work zone designers and traffic control supervisors who may work in urban environments.

New National Highway Institute (NHI) Safety Courses (6/29/09)

  • Supply and Demand for Highway Safety Professionals in the Public Sector
    Meanwhile, a TRB Special Committee for a Study of Supply and Demand for Highway Safety Professionals in the Public Sector has completed Special Report 289 – Building the Road Safety Profession in the Public Sector. The report indicates that the lack of professional recognition and comprehensive road safety education and training opportunities threatens the ability of agencies to build the knowledgeable and skilled road safety workforce needed to make safety advances. To address this need, the report recommends that AASHTO & GHSA forge a broad-based alliance of public, private, and educational organizations to champion the road safety profession. Contact Tom Menzies, TRB. The AASHTO Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety (SCOHTS) has recommended a specific NCHRP project to address these policy recommendations, starting with a Safety Workforce Summit. Contact Ben Gribbon, FHWA.

  • Core Competencies for Highway Safety Professionals
    Research Results Digest 302 presents five (5) core competencies for highway safety professionals practicing in any mode or specialty, supported by 37 learning objectives. Specialists may have or require additional competencies in their own field or organization. The competencies were developed by the TRB Subcommittee for Highway Safety Workforce Development, representing NHTSA, FHWA, GHSA, AAA, professional associations, and academia. The competencies may be used to assess individual abilities, determine workforce requirements, develop curricula, assess course materials, target professional development, and provide cross training. The authors, Paul Jovanis and Frank Gross, also identify that few if any universities offer much training in highway safety, in either civil engineering or public health. Contact: Charles Niessner, TRB.

  • Model Safety Curricula – Safety 101
    Very few schools, if any, teach specific courses on highway safety, although many mention safety in related courses. NCHRP Project 17-40 has been undertaken by Cambridge Systematics to develop a Model Curriculum for Highway Safety Core Competencies, that may be taught in schools of public health or engineering that would address the core competencies. This model curriculum may be used in a semester-long course, but may be scalable for use in seminars or a series of courses or certificate program. It is hoped that one or more university faculty will make use of the curriculum, to help create a supply of new highway safety professionals competent in highway safety fundamentals. The Preliminary Lesson Plan was reviewed at a status briefing for the review panel on Dec 10, 2007. Contact: Charles Niessner, TRB.

  • Professional Development – Safety 101
    Agencies specifically responsible for highway safety should also demand competence in these core areas. To address the needs of existing highway safety professionals and new hires, who may be skilled in specific areas but not trained in all fundamentals, shorter professional development opportunities are needed. The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) is developing a series of Safety 101 modules to address the core competencies. The series will be developed and disseminated with help from a variety of partners for a variety of audiences. The National Highway Institute (NHI) is working with ITE to ensure the resulting product will also be usable as Highway Safety Fundamentals course for FHWA and NHTSA employees. The authors met in a working meeting November 14, 2007, and are drafting modules. Contact Ed Stolloff, ITE.

  • What Was New
    See back issues and posts of what was new previously…

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Education

  • Several colleges and universities are offering highway safety courses again, in addition to traffic engineering.
  • K-12 education focuses on personal traffic safety and technical careers.

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Partners

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Program Contact

Benjamin Gribbon

202-366-1809