Office of Safety Research and Development (R&D)

The Federal Highway Administration (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 FHWA’s overall strategic priorities. The Office of Safety Research and Development works closely with FHWA’s 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 on the Office of Safety Research and Development, visit the Safety R&D program page, the Safety laboratories page, and the data centers page..

The Safety Research and Development Program

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

• Safety Data and Analysis – Support safety resource allocation decisions through consistent high-quality data collection and analysis and analytical tool development, and evaluate safety improvements.

• Human Factors Research – Examine 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 –Increase our understanding of intersection safety, and establishing short- and long-term strategies for safety improvements. The research involves designing and evaluating nontraditional intersections and interchanges and developing systems to improve safety in or near intersections.

• Pedestrians and Bicyclists Safety – Foster professional awareness of pedestrian and bicyclist safety issues, develop and evaluate countermeasures, and provide engineering resources for practitioners at national, State, and local levels.

• Roadway Safety – Conduct research that emphasizes two fundamental objectives: keeping vehicles on the roadway and minimizing the consequences of leaving the roadway. Roadway safety studies are conducted in five focus areas: roadway departure, speed management, intersection, safety and design, visibility, and intelligent transportation systems (ITS).

• Speed Management – Research to develop and test engineering approaches to speed management and to encourage wider adoption of travel speeds appropriate for the class of road, roadway design, and travel conditions.

• 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.

• 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.