Integrating Speed Management within Roadway Departure, Intersections, and Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Focus Areas

Chapter 5. Conclusion

Over the past decade, the United States has made great strides in reducing roadway fatalities. While the reduction in fatalities is significant and to be commended, additional focus on speed management is needed to continue the trend. Since roadway departure, intersection, and pedestrian and bicycle crashes have been identified by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as the three areas with great potential to reduce fatalities, States are encouraged to integrate speed management into these three safety focus areas. Agencies are also encouraged to take a broad look at their existing policies and programs to identify opportunities on how speed management can be more fully integrated throughout their organization.⁴⁴

This document has provided information on national speeding-related crash trends, promotes a speed-related crash data analysis approach, and recommends strategies for integrating speed management within an agency's policies, as well as their roadway departure, intersection, and pedestrian and bicyclist safety focus areas.

5.1 Gaps and Opportunities for Future Safety Improvements

Speeding is a complex problem and achieving reductions in speeding-related crashes will require comprehensive efforts, involving strategies and inputs from the engineering, education and outreach, enforcement, and emergency medical responder stakeholder communities. Speed management is essential for State and local agencies to meet their safety goals.

While this report provides practical guidance on how State and local agencies can enhance their speed management programs, policies, and strategies, some critical gaps in our understanding of the problem exist, and additional initiatives are needed in order to more effectively manage speeds to improve roadway departure, intersection, and pedestrian and bicyclist safety. A list of identified gaps and needs are included in Appendix D.

⁴⁴ In order to promote, disseminate, and expand on the guidance presented in this report, FHWA is developing a National Highway Institute (NHI) training course on integrating speed management within the three safety focus areas, expected to be available in 2018. [ Return to note 44. ]