The purpose of this study was to determine whether a 40% reduction in traffic fatalities and injuries by 2010 is a reasonable goal to include in Virginia's state-level strategic highway safety plan or whether such a goal is overly optimistic. To achieve the study objective, the scope of the study was limited to making the following determinations: 1. Forecast the total number of traffic fatalities and injuries in Virginia in 2010 assuming three scenarios: In Scenario 1, no state-level traffic safety plan or major traffic engineering safety improvements are implemented between now and 2010. In Scenario 2, only four traffic engineering improvements are made between now and 2010. In Scenario 3, a primary seat belt law along with the four engineering improvements from Scenario 2 are implemented. 2. Determine the probability that Virginia can achieve a 40% reduction in fatalities and injuries by 2010 under Scenarios 2 and 3. 3. Determine realistic goals for the reduction of traffic fatalities and injuries in Virginia in 2010. Based on the forecasts under the three scenarios, the 40% reduction goals are overly optimistic. Assuming a normal distribution of the forecasts, the probabilities of achieving 40% reduction goals for fatalities and injuries are very low or low. Under Scenario 2, if the four engineering treatments are implemented at the 50% level, the probabilities that Virginia would achieve 40% reductions in 2010 are 1.2% for fatalities and 0.012% for injuries. Under Scenario 3, assuming that the primary enforcement seat belt law was enacted and the four engineering treatments were implemented at the 50% level, the probabilities are 8.6% for fatalities and 0.05% for injuries. Accounting for a slight increase in fatalities and injuries in 2010 compared to 2004, realistic goals for Virginia are a 10% (maximum of 20%) reduction goal for fatalities and a 5% (maximum of 10%) reduction goal for injuries. These recommended goals assume that Virginia enacts a primary enforcement seat belt law and exercises enforcement efforts accordingly and deploys engineering crash countermeasures comparable to the 20% to 30% level of implementation of the four treatments used in this study, namely, (1) adding an exclusive left-turn lane to intersections, (2) modifying the signal change intervals, (3) installing centerline rumble strips, and (4) installing/upgrading guardrail.

Every day thousands of people are killed and injured on our roads. Millions of people each year will spend long weeks in the hospital after severe crashes and many will never be able to live, work or play as they used to do. Current efforts to address road safety are minimal in comparison to this growing human suffering. This report presents a comprehensive overview of what is known about the magnitude, risk factors and impact of road traffic injuries, and about ways to prevent and lessen the impact of road crashes. Over 100 experts, from all continents and different sectors -- including transport, engineering, health, police, education and civil society -- have worked to produce the report. Charts and tables.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 672: Roundabouts: An Informational Guide - Second Edition explores the planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operation of roundabouts. The report also addresses issues that may be useful in helping to explain the trade-offs associated with roundabouts. This report updates the U.S. Federal Highway Administration's Roundabouts: An Informational Guide, based on experience gained in the United States since that guide was published in 2000.

The automotive industry appears close to substantial change engendered by “self-driving” technologies. This technology offers the possibility of significant benefits to social welfare—saving lives; reducing crashes, congestion, fuel consumption, and pollution; increasing mobility for the disabled; and ultimately improving land use. This report is intended as a guide for state and federal policymakers on the many issues that this technology raises.

Every year roughly 100,000 fatal and injury crashes occur in the United States involving large trucks and buses. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in the U.S. Department of Transportation works to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving large trucks and buses. FMCSA uses information that is collected on the frequency of approximately 900 different violations of safety regulations discovered during (mainly) roadside inspections to assess motor carriers' compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, as well as to evaluate their compliance in comparison with their peers. Through use of this information, FMCSA's Safety Measurement System (SMS) identifies carriers to receive its available interventions in order to reduce the risk of crashes across all carriers. Improving Motor Carrier Safety Measurement examines the effectiveness of the use of the percentile ranks produced by SMS for identifying high-risk carriers, and if not, what alternatives might be preferred. In addition, this report evaluates the accuracy and sufficiency of the data used by SMS, to assess whether other approaches to identifying unsafe carriers would identify high-risk carriers more effectively, and to reflect on how members of the public use the SMS and what effect making the SMS information public has had on reducing crashes.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

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