The MAG Transportation Safety Planning Program was launched in July 2000, as a new work item in the Unified Planning Work Program for fiscal year 2001. The primary goal of the program is to help identify both current and potential future transportation safety issues, concerns and needs in the region, and determine ways to address them through the regional transportation planning process. The serious discussion of road safety issues and needs, at the regional level, began at the March 2001 Regional Transportation Safety Forum, cosponsored by MAG and the Arizona Institute of Transportation Engineers. The Regional Transportation Safety Stakeholders Group was formed in November 2001 to address this topic in an organized manner. This diverse group, representing a broad cross section of public and private agencies and safety advocacy groups, helped the region take the first steps in true multidisciplinary transportation safety planning. The Group acknowledged that future improvements in road safety required the interaction among multiple disciplines and agencies involving the 4E’s: Engineering, Enforcement, Education and Emergency Medical Services. The foundation laid by this Group was instrumental in the formation of the MAG Transportation Safety Committee, a first for an MPO in the nation. The Transportation Safety Committee (TSC) consists of representatives from Federal Highway Administration, Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, Arizona Department of Transportation, Arizona Department of Public Safety, AAA Arizona, AARP, RPTA, Arizona State University, and 17 local agencies. The TSC has assumed the tasks previously begun by the Stakeholders Group and provides oversight to the MAG Transportation Safety Planning Program. The Stakeholders Group continues to receive updates via e-mail and postings at the MAG website about TSC activities. The TSC completed a key task begun by the Stakeholder Group in finalizing the region’s first Strategic Transportation Safety Plan, in October 2005. Some of the safety priorities identified in the MAG Strategic Transportation Safety Plan are: developing a road safety information management system, promoting road safety audits, improving roads for older road users, better public awareness of road safety issues, reducing red light running, reducing bicycle and pedestrian crashes, and improving safety in access routes to schools. |
