UTC Conference on Road Safety

November 2-3, 2011

Paul Jovanis, Penn State Susan Herbel, Cambridge Systematics

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• What skills are required in the road safety workforce?

• What is the role of universities?

• What are the requirements for university-state agency collaboration?

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“What is needed to improve U.S. road safety is to adopt British driver licensing standards and have everyone drive on narrow British 2-lane rural roads” E __ N __

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“What is needed to improve U.S. road safety is to adopt British driver licensing standards and have everyone drive on narrow British 2-lane rural roads” E __ N __

“Road safety countermeasures don’t work; changing driver behavior is the only way to improve road safety” E __ N __

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“Road safety management is in transition. The transition is from action based on experience, intuition, judgment and tradition, to action based on empirical evidence, science and technology; from consideration of road safety that is tacit and qualitative, to consideration of road safety that is explicit and quantitative.”

Ezra Hauer

On the Road Ahead (2005)

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2002 – TRB/FHWA/AASHTO/ITE Conference

• 2003 – TRB Joint Subcommittee on Road Safety Workforce Development

• Transportation Safety Management

• Safety Data, Analysis, and Evaluation

• Education

• Research Results Digest 301 Core Competencies for Highway Safety Professionals (2006)

• University Scan (Jovanis and Gross)

• Core competencies

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1. The Nature of Road Safety

2. History and Institutional Settings of Road Safety Management

3. Origins, Characteristics, and Uses of Crash Data

4. Contributing Crash Factors, Countermeasure Selection, and Evaluation

5. Road Safety Program Management

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• NCHRP 17-40 Model Curriculum for Highway Safety Core Competencies (2007-2010)

• TRB Task Force on Road Safety Workforce Development (2007)

• Publications

• Course Development

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• Road safety is a major responsibility of governments

• Road safety management must be guided by science and a safe system perspective

• Road safety management requires a talented and diverse workforce

• Road safety professionals must possess a common body of knowledge and skills

• Education and training for road safety are scarce

• Career advancement in the road safety profession is limited

• The need for road safety professionals is growing

• More attention must be given to building the supply of safety professionals.

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• Forge a broad-based alliance to advance the road safety profession

• Champion the road safety profession on multiple fronts

• Take advantage of federal workforce training funds

• Advocate road safety education and training by universities, including the publicly funded research centers

• Create one or more specialized institutes

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• NCHRP Project 20-07, Task 290, Highway Safety Training Synthesis/Roadmap

• 184 courses identified

• Conclusion

“…training is scarce and no institution or agency offers a partial, comprehensive, or integrated highway safety training program necessary for any of the different disciplines practicing at any level within a transportation agency …the gaps in highway safety training are global.”

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• Generate educator package; build training into a broader implementation plan; and develop training for trainers

• Incorporate HSM training in DOT and other agencies’ policy development to empower change

• Develop new positions and job descriptions

• Include trained resources as a requirement in the scope of projects

• Generate a train-the-trainer program

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• AASHTO/SCOHTS/Safety Management System/Working Group on Data and Analysis and Workforce Development

• List of Current Training Opportunities usroadwaysafety.org/training

• University Programs

• Web-based Road Safety 101 Update

• NHI/FHWA textbook

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• Curriculum Development

• Certificate Program

• Position Descriptions

• Requests for Proposals

• National Association of Road Safety Professionals

• Increased university – state agency collaboration

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• Curriculum Development

• Certificate Program

• Position Descriptions

• Requests for Proposals

• National Association of Road Safety Professionals

• Increased university – state agency collaboration

• Assess accomplishments – Fine Tune

Safety is Everybody’s Business

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• Questions

• Comments

• Discussion

• Commitment

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• Paul Jovanis 814.865.9431 PPJ2@engr.psu.edu

• Susan Herbel 202.494.5539 sherbel@camsys.com