About

Mission of the Office of Safety

Together with our customers, stakeholders, partners, and other Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies, the Office of Safety works to reduce the number of crashes on U.S. roadways and the severity of crash impacts.

Within the broad highway safety mission, the Office of Safety's mission is exercising leadership throughout the highway community to make the Nation's roadways safer by: developing, evaluating and employing lifesaving countermeasures; advancing the use of scientific methods and data-driven decisions; fostering a safety culture; and promoting an integrated, multidisciplinary (4Es) approach to safety. Focus areas include: Roadway Departure, Intersections, and Pedestrians Safety.

Our safety awareness and education programs focus on teaching users how to gain maximum benefit from the safety features of their roadway infrastructure. We work with highway safety advocacy groups, State and local highway agencies, and other partners and stakeholders to identify safety needs, and to deliver highway user safety awareness and education programs that will make a difference.

As the lead safety champions within the FHWA, we advocate the integration of safety into the entire life cycle of a roadway—planning, design, engineering, environmental management, construction, and operations and maintenance. We coordinate with other DOT agencies (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration [FMCSA], and the Federal Railroad Administration [FRA]) to develop and implement multi-faceted, intermodal safety programs.

How is the Office of Safety Organized?

The Office of Safety staff at the FHWA Headquarters in Washington DC is organized into two program area units. All programs and initiatives are linked directly from the Website Homepage or individual program Webpages.

• Office of Safety Technologies is responsible for highway designs and technologies that improve safety performance. Major program areas and initiatives include Roadway Departure, Roadside Hardware, Retroreflectivity, Roadside Safety, Pavement Safety, Roadway Systems Design, Intersections, Geometric Design, Road Safety Audits, Speed Management, Pedestrian/Bicyclist Safety, Safety Countermeasure Analysis and Evaluation, Safety Performance Measures and Monitoring, and Data Analysis and Tools. Each Office of Safety Technologies program Webpage features life-saving Technical Assistance / Tools resources to help road agencies improve roadway infrastructure safety.

• The Office of Safety Programs is responsible for comprehensive Federal and State highway safety programs and activities that improve safety for all road users. Major programs and initiatives include Program and Strategic Planning, the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), as well as coordination with external and internal safety stakeholders and advocates. The Office of Safety Programs staff also provide customer assistance for Local Programs, and support for State Programs, including Policy and Guidelines assistance. The Office of Safety Programs produces a wide range of Tools and Technology and Community Resources for improving roadway user safety.