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Roadway Departure SafetyThe FHWA’s Roadway Departure Safety Program provides important information for transportation practitioners, decision makers, and others to assist them in preventing and reducing the severity of roadway departure crashes. Roadway departure crashes are frequently severe and account for the majority of highway fatalities. In 2007, there were 19,753 fatal roadway departure crashes resulting in 22,080 fatalities, which was 53 percent of the fatal crashes in the United States. A roadway departure crash is defined as a non-intersection crash which occurs after a vehicle crosses an edge line or a center line, or otherwise leaves the traveled way. FHWA uses the Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) to compute statistics on roadway departure crashes. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/ncsa/fars.html Technical Assistance/ToolsHere’s where to find technical guidance and tools for practitioners.
Acceptance LettersPolicy/GuidanceClick here to find more information about FHWA Policies and Procedures that relate to Roadway Safety, including information about the FHWA’s roadside hardware crashworthiness policy. FHWA policy requires the roadside hardware used on the National Highway System (NHS) to be performance-tested for crashworthiness. While FHWA oversight is limited to the NHS, the FHWA strongly recommends the use of crashworthy devices on all public facilities where run-off-the-road crashes may occur. Research/ResourcesClick here for links to research organizations that are currently conducting research on Roadway Departure Safety topics. Continued research is needed to find more effective techniques for improving road safety, and to assist decisionmakers in implementing the most cost-effective roadway departure crash countermeasures.
By focusing on reducing the number and severity of roadway departure crashes, we can significantly reduce highway deaths and injures. The FHWA supports the five strategies in AASHTO’s Strategic Plan for Improving Roadside Safety
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Program ContactMary McDonough Nick Artimovich Will Longstreet Matt Lupes Cathy Satterfield Publications |