Office of Safety Research and Development (R&D)

The FHWA Office of Safety Research and Development is helping to reduce highway crashes and related fatalities and injuries by developing and implementing safety innovations in a nationally coordinated safety research and development program

This research program emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and strong stakeholder involvement, to support the FHWA’s overall strategic priorities. The Office of Safety Research and Development works closely with the FHWA Office of Safety and the Resource Center Safety and Design Technical Service Team, to develop research agendas and implement them through practical tools and guidance for practitioners.

The Office of Safety R&D is composed of three teams of research engineers, scientists, and psychologists.

For more information, go to the Safety R&D Program or safety laboratories.

The Safety Research and Development Program

Research Focus Areas – The research focus areas of the Safety R&D program reflect current FHWA strategic focuses.

• Comprehensive Approach to Safety – Data definition, data collection, analytical tools supporting data–driven safety decisions, and evaluation of safety treatments.

• Human Factors research – Examining drivers’ capabilities and limitations when interacting with the vehicle and the roadway to inform better roadway design. Other research topics include distraction, older drivers, traffic management centers, and the effects of changes in visibility. 

• Intersection safety – Increasing our understanding of intersection safety, and establishing short– and long–term strategies for safety improvements. The design and evaluation of non–traditional intersections and interchanges, and development of systems to improve safety in or near intersections.

• Pedestrians and bicyclists safety – Fostering professional awareness of pedestrian and bicyclist safety issues, developing and evaluating countermeasures, and providing engineering resources for practitioners at national, State, and local levels.

• Roadway Departure – Research emphasizing keeping vehicles on the roadway, and minimizing the consequences of leaving the roadway. Advancing tools and technologies for crashes involving roadway departures and collisions with roadside hardware.

• Speed management – Research to develop and test engineering approaches to speed management, and to encourage wider adoption of appropriate travel speeds.

• Visibility – Research to improve visibility on and along the roadway, and of traffic control devices.

Laboratories

• Arens Photometric and Visibility Laboratory

  • The Arens Photometric and Visibility Laboratory (PVL) conducts evaluations of the photometric and colorimetric properties of traffic control devices, including signing and pavement marking materials and traffic signal lights, and supports human factors research used to establish the required levels that meet the visual needs of drivers.

• Digital Highway Measurement Laboratory

  • At the Digital Highway Measurement (DHM) Laboratory, researchers develop and apply advanced technologies for the automated collection of information about the roadway and its environment. Research at the DHM Laboratory directly supports Federal Highway Administration’s strategic objectives to improve the quantity and quality of data available to safety and asset management programs.

• Federal Outdoor Impact Laboratory

  • The Federal Outdoor Impact Laboratory (FOIL) is a research facility used to support FHWA’s Safety Research and Development programs and other Federal security initiatives.

• Geometric Design Laboratory

  • The mission of the Geometric Design Laboratory (GDL) is to provide technical support to the Office of Safety Research and Development to develop, maintain and enhance the Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM)--a suite of software tools for the safety evaluation of highway geometric design alternatives; and to support the coordination of IHSDM with related tools, including the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and SafetyAnalyst.

• Human Factors Laboratory

  • The purpose of the Human Factors Laboratory is to further the understanding of highway user needs so that those needs can be incorporated in roadway design, construction, repair, and improvement. All of Federal Highway Administration’s strategies for improving safety and enhancing operations throughout the highway transportation system benefit from the appropriate consideration of user needs. Human factors studies consider driver, pedestrian, and special user needs and capabilities.