Safer Transportation
Road Safety Solutions: Safer Streets, Vehicles, Speeds, and Technology
The Safe System Approach
Road safety policy is increasingly built around the Safe System Approach, which recognizes that people make mistakes and that transportation systems should be designed so those mistakes do not lead to death or serious injury. This approach emphasizes safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds, and better post-crash care.
The Safe System framework shifts responsibility away from blaming individual road users alone and toward designing streets, vehicles, rules, and emergency systems that reduce crash risk and injury severity. It is central to programs such as the National Roadway Safety Strategy, Vision Zero, and many local safety action plans.
Safer Street Design
Street design plays a major role in preventing crashes. Proven safety measures include road diets, roundabouts, pedestrian refuge islands, high-visibility crosswalks, leading pedestrian intervals, pedestrian hybrid beacons, rectangular rapid flashing beacons, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, lighting, and access management.
Complete Streets policies and design guides encourage roads that serve pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, drivers, freight users, and people with disabilities. Safer designs reduce vehicle speeds, shorten pedestrian crossings, separate conflicting movements, and make road behavior more predictable.
Protected bike lanes are highlighted as an important safety tool because physical separation can reduce conflicts between cyclists and motor vehicles. Research and advocacy groups also emphasize that protected bike lanes can benefit pedestrians and drivers by organizing traffic, reducing speeding, and improving visibility.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety
Pedestrians and bicyclists are among the most vulnerable road users because they have little physical protection in a crash. The uploaded material includes many resources focused on safer crossings, protected lanes, traffic calming, school routes, lighting, and intersection redesign.
Pedestrian safety measures include refuge islands, leading pedestrian intervals, crosswalk visibility improvements, sidewalks, pedestrian beacons, and lower vehicle speeds. Bicycle safety measures include connected bike networks, protected lanes, safe intersection design, bike signals, and all-ages-and-abilities infrastructure.
Safe Routes to School, Vision Zero for Youth, and child-centered street design programs show how road safety can protect children, families, older adults, and people using mobility devices.
Vehicle Safety and Driver Assistance Technology
Vehicle technology is another major part of crash prevention. Automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, lane keeping assistance, blind spot intervention, rear cross traffic alert, better headlights, electronic stability control, and recall systems can all reduce risk when designed and used properly.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration evaluate vehicle crashworthiness, front crash prevention, pedestrian automatic emergency braking, headlights, and advanced driver assistance systems. Safety ratings and testing programs encourage automakers to make crash-prevention technology more effective and more widely available.
However, the material also warns that partial automation should not be confused with proven safety technology. Some systems may help with convenience but do not necessarily prevent crashes unless their safety benefits are supported by real-world evidence.
Speed Management and Traffic Calming
Speed is one of the most important factors in both crash likelihood and crash severity. Lower speeds give drivers more time to react and reduce the force of impact when crashes occur, especially for pedestrians and cyclists.
Speed management tools include appropriate speed limits, traffic calming, lane narrowing, speed safety cameras, variable speed limits, curb extensions, raised crossings, chicanes, roundabouts, and street redesign. These strategies are especially important on urban arterials, neighborhood streets, school zones, rural roads, and high-injury corridors.
Data, Grants, and Local Safety Planning
Road safety programs increasingly rely on data to identify dangerous locations, recurring risk factors, and effective countermeasures. Resources such as crash modification factors, local road safety plans, systemic safety analysis, and safety action plans help communities choose improvements before more crashes occur.
Federal programs such as Safe Streets and Roads for All, the Highway Safety Improvement Program, RAISE grants, and SMART grants support planning, demonstration projects, safer crossings, traffic calming, connected infrastructure, and crash-reduction investments. These programs help cities, counties, Tribal governments, and local agencies turn safety goals into practical projects.
Technology and Smart Intersections
New transportation technology may help detect dangerous conditions before crashes happen. Roadside LiDAR, connected vehicle systems, smart intersections, real-time safety scoring, sensors, and intelligent transportation systems can identify near-misses, pedestrian conflicts, speeding, and unsafe driving patterns.
These tools are most useful when combined with safer street design, lower speeds, strong policy, and public accountability. Technology alone cannot solve road safety, but it can support better decisions and earlier intervention.
Vision Zero and Public Health
Vision Zero treats traffic deaths and serious injuries as preventable. It focuses on system design, accountability, equity, and safer mobility for everyone. Public health organizations also frame road safety as injury prevention, connecting transportation design with health, climate, accessibility, and community well-being.
The uploaded material includes national and international resources showing that safer streets require cooperation among transportation agencies, public health experts, researchers, advocates, automakers, local governments, and communities.
Conclusion
Modern road safety is not based on a single solution. The strongest approach combines safer street design, lower speeds, better vehicle technology, protected space for pedestrians and bicyclists, stronger data systems, public education, enforcement, and emergency response.
The central lesson is that roadway deaths and serious injuries are preventable. By applying the Safe System Approach, investing in Complete Streets, using proven countermeasures, improving vehicles, and designing streets for all users, communities can build transportation systems that are safer, healthier, and more equitable.
Safety Benefits Stack Up From Driver Assistance Features
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | March 26, 2026
Advanced driver assistance features such as automatic emergency braking, lane departure prevention, pedestrian detection, and high-beam assist show stronger crash-reduction benefits when bundled together. The article supports vehicle safety technology as one part of a broader crash-prevention strategy.
IIHS Pushes Improvements in Crash Avoidance With 2026 Awards
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | March 24, 2026
IIHS strengthened its 2026 safety award criteria by requiring stronger pedestrian front crash prevention and vehicle-to-vehicle crash avoidance performance. The article highlights how consumer safety ratings can pressure automakers to make crash prevention standard.
Why Protected Bike Lanes Are Good for All Road Users
| Bryan King | PeopleForBikes | May 13, 2026
This article summarizes research showing that protected bike lanes reduce injuries not only for cyclists, but also for pedestrians and drivers. It explains how physical separation, shorter crossings, and more predictable street behavior make streets safer for everyone.
Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | May 27, 2026
The Safe Streets and Roads for All program funds local, regional, and Tribal projects aimed at preventing roadway deaths and serious injuries. The program supports safety action plans, traffic calming, safer crossings, and implementation projects.
Roadside LiDAR for Cooperative Safety Auditing at Urban Intersections
| Bo Shang and Yiqiao Li | arXiv | April 12, 2026
This research explores how roadside LiDAR can identify near-misses and dangerous interactions at urban intersections. The work points toward smart intersections that use infrastructure-based sensing to detect safety problems before crashes happen.
Real-Time Driver Safety Scoring Through Inverse Crash Probability Modeling
| Joyjit Roy and Samaresh Kumar Singh | arXiv | March 16, 2026
This paper proposes a real-time driver safety scoring system that converts crash-risk models into continuous safety scores. It shows how crash data, driving behavior, and vulnerable road-user risk can be combined for prevention-focused safety technology.
Trends in 2025 Safe Streets for All Grants
| League of American Bicyclists | League of American Bicyclists | January 31, 2026
This article reviews how federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grants are being used by communities. It focuses on funding patterns for safer walking, biking, planning, demonstration projects, and crash-reduction investments.
NHTSA Releases Multi-Year Research Project on Modernizing Safety Standards for Automated Vehicles
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | December 11, 2025
NHTSA describes research into how federal vehicle safety standards may need to adapt for automated vehicles. The article connects automated driving systems with crashworthiness, crash avoidance, and future regulatory design.
Sixteen More Models Finish 2025 With IIHS Accolades
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | December 16, 2025
IIHS reports additional 2025 Top Safety Pick winners and explains how pedestrian crash avoidance, headlights, and crash tests affect ratings. The article is useful for tracking how vehicle safety technology is evaluated.
Automated Vehicle Safety
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
This NHTSA resource explains automated vehicle and driver-assistance technologies, including automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assist, and pedestrian automatic emergency braking. It provides a public overview of how automation may affect crash prevention.
Driver Assistance Technologies
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
This guide explains features such as automatic emergency braking, blind spot intervention, rear cross traffic alert, and lane keeping support. It is a useful public reference on safety technologies that can help drivers avoid crashes.
ITS World Congress Plenary
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | August 27, 2025
NHTSA discusses intelligent transportation systems, advanced vehicle technologies, and safety innovation. The speech connects vehicle safety standards with automatic emergency braking, lane departure warnings, and automated driving systems.
Investigating Mixed Traffic Dynamics of Pedestrians and Non-Motorized Vehicles at Urban Intersections
| Chaojia Yu, Kaixin Wang, Junle Li, and Jingjie Wang | arXiv | October 6, 2025
This study models interactions among pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles at busy intersections. It offers insights for segregated lanes, conflict hotspot prediction, and safer intersection design.
Light Vehicle Automatic Emergency Braking Final Rule
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
This federal rule requires automatic emergency braking systems that can detect both vehicles and pedestrians. It represents a major step toward making crash-prevention technology standard in new light vehicles.
New Car Assessment Program Final Decision on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | November 18, 2024
NHTSA outlines updates to the New Car Assessment Program involving advanced driver assistance systems. The decision helps move consumer vehicle ratings toward crash avoidance, pedestrian protection, and safety technology performance.
NHTSA Announces Model Year 2025 Vehicles for 5-Star Safety Ratings Testing
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | October 23, 2024
NHTSA lists model year 2025 vehicles selected for crash testing and advanced driver assistance testing. The article shows how federal safety ratings keep pressure on automakers to improve occupant protection and crash avoidance.
IIHS-HLDI Research Finds Little Evidence That Partial Automation Prevents Crashes
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | July 11, 2024
IIHS-HLDI research finds that partial automation systems may not reduce crashes as much as some drivers expect. The article is important because it distinguishes convenience automation from proven crash-prevention technology.
Dark Roads Are Deadly, No Matter the Time
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | April 10, 2025
IIHS discusses the role of darkness, headlights, and roadway lighting in pedestrian and bicyclist deaths. The article supports better lighting, safer road design, and vehicle lighting improvements as crash-prevention tools.
IIHS Unveils 2025 Award Winners
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | March 3, 2025
IIHS announces 2025 safety award winners using tougher criteria for occupant protection and crash avoidance. The article shows how safety ratings increasingly incorporate pedestrian front crash prevention and headlight performance.
Improving Pedestrian Safety at Intersections Using Probabilistic Models and Monte Carlo Simulations
| Alben Rome Bagabaldo and Jürgen Hackl | arXiv | March 10, 2025
This study uses simulation to evaluate pedestrian crash risk under different signal and traffic conditions. It points to adaptive traffic control, pedestrian-triggered signals, and improved intersection timing as safety measures.
2025 Progress Report on the National Roadway Safety Strategy
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | January 2025
This progress report tracks federal work on safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds, and post-crash care. It provides a broad overview of national roadway safety efforts.
Allies in Action
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | February 7, 2025
This USDOT page highlights public and private partners using the Safe System Approach. It includes examples involving pedestrian safety, lane-departure crash reduction, safer speeds, and community-level safety action.
RAISE 2025 Round 1 Award Fact Sheets
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | January 2025
These federal grant fact sheets include projects with bike lanes, pedestrian crossings, traffic calming, ADA improvements, and safer corridors. They show how transportation funding can support crash-prevention infrastructure.
Alternate Roadway Design Publications Recognized by FHWA
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA recognizes design publications such as the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide as resources for safer street design. The page supports flexibility in designing streets that better serve bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit users.
NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2025
This design guide provides practical treatments for protected bike lanes, intersection safety, bike signals, and complete street design. It is a key resource for cities building safer bicycle networks.
Safe Streets Grants: What to Know
| Diana Ionescu | Planetizen | April 22, 2025
This article explains changes and strategies for Safe Streets and Roads for All grant applications. It discusses how communities can use funding for quick-build projects, safety data, and street redesigns.
Global Road Safety: Innovations and Challenges Across Different Countries
| Intertraffic | Intertraffic | February 24, 2025
This article surveys global road-safety innovations, including AI traffic systems, cycling infrastructure, IoT sensors, and automated enforcement. It shows how different countries are using technology and design to reduce crashes.
Bike Lanes That Greatly Reduced Crashes on National Mall Set for Removal
| Washington Post Staff | The Washington Post | March 20, 2026
This article reports on a dispute over removing protected bike lanes that had been associated with major crash reductions. It illustrates how transportation safety gains can become vulnerable when street space is reallocated.
As E-Bike Crashes Send More People to the Hospital, Cities Search for Solutions
| Guardian Staff | The Guardian | April 18, 2026
This article examines rising e-bike injuries and the debate over regulation, infrastructure, enforcement, and delivery work. It shows how micromobility safety requires both safer streets and fair rules.
ITS for Safe Intersections
| U.S. Department of Transportation | ITS Deployment Evaluation | 2025
This briefing explains how intelligent transportation systems can improve intersection safety. It discusses sensors, connected infrastructure, pedestrian detection, and better safety analysis.
Creating Safer Roads
| Bloomberg American Health Initiative | Johns Hopkins University | 2025
This project explains how narrower travel lanes can reduce speeds and create room for bike and pedestrian infrastructure. It frames lane narrowing as a public-health tool for safer streets.
Cities Safer by Design
| World Resources Institute | WRI Ross Center | 2025
This guide describes street-design strategies that reduce traffic deaths in cities. It covers safer speeds, protected bike lanes, pedestrian crossings, intersection design, and safer urban mobility.
Safe Streets and Roads for All Case Studies
| Rails-to-Trails Conservancy | Rails-to-Trails Conservancy | 2025
These case studies show how communities use federal safety funding for bike lanes, crosswalks, pedestrian beacons, lighting, speed management, and safer corridors. They provide practical examples of street redesign.
Palo Alto Safe Streets for All Safety Action Plan
| City of Palo Alto | City of Palo Alto | 2025
Palo Alto’s safety action plan seeks to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. The project links safer walking and biking with lower vehicle miles traveled and more sustainable mobility.
Oak Park Bike Plan Update
| Village of Oak Park | Engage Oak Park | 2025
Oak Park’s bike plan update focuses on an all-ages-and-abilities bicycle network. The page discusses design standards, public input, capital planning, and safer bicycle infrastructure.
PARTS: Partnership for Analytics Research in Traffic Safety
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
PARTS uses shared safety data from government and automakers to study crash-prevention technologies. Its findings help evaluate automatic emergency braking, lane safety systems, and real-world crash reductions.
Test Protocols and Technical Information
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS publishes test protocols for pedestrian automatic emergency braking, vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention, headlights, and crashworthiness. These protocols explain how safety technologies are measured.
Advanced Driver Assistance
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
This IIHS research area explains automatic emergency braking, lane assistance, pedestrian detection, cyclist detection, and partial automation. It helps separate proven crash avoidance from systems that need more evidence.
Current Ratings for Small SUVs
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2026
IIHS vehicle ratings show which small SUVs meet strong crashworthiness and crash-avoidance standards. The page helps consumers identify vehicles with better pedestrian front crash prevention and safety performance.
2025 Top Safety Picks
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS lists 2025 Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ vehicles. The ratings reward crash protection, headlights, and front crash prevention, making vehicle choice part of transportation safety.
Pedestrian Safety: Prevent Pedestrian Crashes
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
NHTSA provides pedestrian safety guidance for walkers and drivers. The page covers visibility, crossing behavior, driver responsibility, and basic steps to reduce pedestrian crashes.
Bicycle Safety
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
NHTSA’s bicycle safety page explains helmet use, visibility, predictable riding, driver awareness, and safe passing. It provides public education material for reducing cyclist injuries and deaths.
Motorcycle Safety
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
This NHTSA resource explains motorcycle crash risks and prevention strategies. It covers helmets, rider training, sober riding, visibility, and driver awareness of motorcyclists.
School Bus Safety
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
NHTSA explains school bus safety rules, loading-zone risks, stop-arm laws, and child pedestrian safety around buses. The page supports safer school transportation and student protection.
Older Drivers
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
This resource addresses older-driver safety, medical changes, vehicle fit, and planning for continued mobility. It supports transportation safety while respecting independence and access.
Teen Driving
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
NHTSA explains teen driver risks such as inexperience, speeding, distraction, and seat belt nonuse. The page supports graduated driver licensing and family rules that reduce crashes.
Distracted Driving
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
NHTSA explains how texting, phone use, and other distractions increase crash risk. The page supports enforcement, public education, and design strategies that reduce distraction-related crashes.
Speeding
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
This page explains how speeding increases crash severity, stopping distance, and risk to pedestrians and cyclists. It supports safer speed limits, enforcement, and traffic calming.
Impaired Driving
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
NHTSA outlines the dangers of alcohol-impaired driving and the importance of enforcement, ignition interlocks, and sober transportation options. Impaired-driving prevention remains central to crash reduction.
Seat Belts
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
This page explains why seat belt use is one of the most effective ways to reduce crash deaths and serious injuries. It supports occupant protection as a core transportation safety measure.
Child Passenger Safety
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
NHTSA explains car seats, booster seats, seat belts, and age-appropriate child passenger safety. The page supports safer vehicle travel for infants, children, and families.
Tire Safety
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
This resource explains tire pressure, tread wear, recalls, and tire maintenance. It shows how basic vehicle condition affects stopping distance, control, and crash prevention.
Vehicle Recalls
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
NHTSA’s recall lookup helps drivers find and repair safety defects. Recall systems are an important part of vehicle safety because unresolved defects can increase crash or injury risk.
The Safe System Approach
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | 2025
USDOT explains the Safe System Approach, which assumes humans make mistakes and designs roads, speeds, vehicles, and post-crash response to prevent death and serious injury. It is the foundation of modern traffic safety policy.
National Roadway Safety Strategy
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | 2025
The National Roadway Safety Strategy sets a federal framework for reducing roadway deaths. It emphasizes safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds, and improved post-crash care.
Complete Streets
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA explains Complete Streets policies that serve pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, drivers, freight, and people with disabilities. Complete Streets design helps reduce conflicts and improve safety for all users.
Proven Safety Countermeasures
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA’s Proven Safety Countermeasures include road diets, roundabouts, pedestrian refuge islands, rumble strips, lighting, and speed management. The resource helps communities choose evidence-based crash-reduction tools.
Road Diets
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA explains how converting four-lane roads to three-lane roads with turn lanes can reduce crashes and create room for bike lanes, parking, or sidewalks. Road diets are a major traffic-calming and safety tool.
Roundabouts
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA explains how roundabouts reduce severe crashes by lowering speeds and changing conflict angles. They can improve safety at intersections where high-speed or right-angle crashes are common.
Medians and Pedestrian Refuge Islands
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
This FHWA countermeasure explains how medians and refuge islands help pedestrians cross one direction of traffic at a time. They are especially useful on wide, multilane roads.
Crosswalk Visibility Enhancements
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA describes high-visibility markings, improved lighting, advance yield signs, and parking restrictions near crosswalks. These treatments help drivers see pedestrians and reduce crossing crashes.
Leading Pedestrian Intervals
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
Leading pedestrian intervals give walkers a head start before turning vehicles receive a green signal. FHWA identifies them as a proven countermeasure for reducing pedestrian conflicts at signalized intersections.
Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA explains how pedestrian hybrid beacons help people cross busy roads by stopping traffic only when activated. They are useful at unsignalized crossings with high pedestrian demand.
Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
RRFBs use flashing lights to increase driver yielding at crosswalks. FHWA lists them as a proven safety countermeasure for improving pedestrian visibility and crossing safety.
Walkways
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA explains that sidewalks and separated walkways reduce pedestrian exposure to traffic. The countermeasure is especially important in areas where people currently walk along road shoulders.
Bicycle Lanes
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA identifies bicycle lanes as a safety countermeasure that creates a dedicated operating space for cyclists. The page explains how bike lanes can reduce crashes and increase predictability.
Lighting
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA explains how roadway lighting can reduce nighttime crashes, especially at intersections and pedestrian crossings. Lighting improves visibility for drivers, walkers, and cyclists.
Backplates With Retroreflective Borders
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
Signal backplates with reflective borders improve traffic signal visibility, especially at night or during power outages. FHWA identifies them as a low-cost countermeasure for intersection safety.
Corridor Access Management
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
Access management reduces conflict points from driveways and uncontrolled turns. FHWA explains how better driveway spacing, medians, and turn controls can reduce crashes on busy corridors.
Local Road Safety Plans
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA explains how local road safety plans help communities identify high-risk locations and choose countermeasures. These plans support data-driven crash prevention at the local level.
Systemic Application of Multiple Low-Cost Countermeasures
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA describes how low-cost treatments at stop-controlled intersections can reduce crashes across a network. The systemic approach focuses on risk factors, not just places where crashes have already happened.
Reduced Left-Turn Conflict Intersections
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA explains how designs such as restricted crossing U-turns and median U-turns reduce dangerous left-turn conflicts. These intersection designs can lower severe angle crashes.
Longitudinal Rumble Strips and Stripes
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
Rumble strips and stripes alert drivers when they drift out of the lane. FHWA identifies them as a proven tool for reducing roadway departure crashes, especially on rural roads.
Enhanced Delineation for Horizontal Curves
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA explains how curve signs, chevrons, pavement markings, and reflectors help drivers navigate curves safely. Better delineation reduces roadway departure and run-off-road crashes.
SafetyEdge
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
SafetyEdge creates a sloped pavement edge that helps drivers recover if they leave the roadway. FHWA promotes it as a low-cost design feature to reduce severe run-off-road crashes.
Wider Edge Lines
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
Wider edge lines improve lane visibility and help drivers stay on the roadway. FHWA identifies them as a countermeasure for reducing crashes, especially on rural roads.
Variable Speed Limits
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
Variable speed limits adjust posted speeds based on traffic, weather, or roadway conditions. FHWA explains how they can smooth traffic flow and reduce crash risk.
Appropriate Speed Limits for All Road Users
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA explains how speed limits should account for pedestrians, cyclists, land use, and crash severity. The countermeasure supports safer speeds rather than simply matching driver behavior.
Speed Safety Cameras
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
Speed safety cameras use automated enforcement to reduce dangerous speeding. FHWA identifies them as a proven countermeasure when used transparently and equitably.
Crash Modification Factors Clearinghouse
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
The Crash Modification Factors Clearinghouse helps transportation planners estimate how much a safety treatment may reduce crashes. It supports evidence-based road design and countermeasure selection.
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, 11th Edition
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | December 2023
The MUTCD sets national standards for signs, signals, pavement markings, and traffic control devices. It affects how communities design safer crossings, intersections, bike facilities, and work zones.
Pedestrian Facilities Users Guide
| Charles V. Zegeer and colleagues | FHWA | March 2002
This guide explains pedestrian safety problems and countermeasures such as sidewalks, crosswalks, refuge islands, signals, and traffic calming. It remains a useful reference for pedestrian-focused road design.
A Review of Pedestrian Safety Research in the United States and Abroad
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2003
This FHWA review summarizes pedestrian crash patterns and the safety effects of roadway features, traffic controls, education, and enforcement. It provides background for modern pedestrian safety programs.
Global Benchmarking Program: Pedestrian Safety Desk Review
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | October 2022
This report compares international pedestrian safety practices, including traffic calming, separated bike lanes, raised crossings, and safer speed management. It offers lessons from countries with stronger vulnerable-road-user protections.
National Roadway Safety Strategy Call to Action
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | 2025
USDOT calls on public agencies, companies, nonprofits, and communities to commit to roadway safety. The page encourages organizations to adopt strategies that reduce deaths and serious injuries.
Vision Zero Network
| Vision Zero Network | Vision Zero Network | 2025
The Vision Zero Network provides resources for cities working to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. It emphasizes safe systems, accountability, speed management, and equity in transportation safety.
What Is Vision Zero?
| Vision Zero Network | Vision Zero Network | 2025
This explainer describes Vision Zero as a strategy to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility. It focuses on system design rather than blaming individual road users.
Safe Routes to School
| Safe Routes Partnership | Safe Routes Partnership | 2025
Safe Routes to School programs improve walking and biking safety for students. The resource covers infrastructure, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation around schools.
Safe Routes Partnership Policy Resources
| Safe Routes Partnership | Safe Routes Partnership | 2025
This resource library provides materials on school travel safety, walking and biking infrastructure, Complete Streets, and health equity. It supports safer transportation for children and families.
National Complete Streets Coalition
| Smart Growth America | Smart Growth America | 2025
This program promotes streets designed for all users, including people walking, biking, riding transit, driving, and using mobility devices. It connects street design with safety, access, and public health.
Dangerous by Design
| Smart Growth America | Smart Growth America | 2024
Dangerous by Design documents the pedestrian safety crisis and links it to road design, speed, land use, and policy choices. The report argues that safer streets require redesigning dangerous arterials and prioritizing people outside cars.
Transportation for America: Safety
| Transportation for America | Transportation for America | 2025
Transportation for America provides analysis and tools on traffic safety, dangerous roads, and federal transportation policy. The page supports reforming road design and funding priorities to prevent deaths.
National Safety Council Roadway Safety
| National Safety Council | NSC | 2025
NSC’s roadway safety topics cover distracted driving, impaired driving, speeding, teen drivers, seat belts, and vehicle technology. The resource connects behavior, policy, and technology in crash prevention.
Road to Zero
| National Safety Council | NSC | 2025
Road to Zero is a national initiative focused on eliminating roadway deaths. It promotes safe systems, proven countermeasures, data, technology, and collaboration across public and private sectors.
Governors Highway Safety Association: Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety
| Governors Highway Safety Association | GHSA | 2025
GHSA provides state-level resources on pedestrian and bicyclist safety. The page covers behavioral safety, enforcement, infrastructure, visibility, and policy approaches to protecting vulnerable road users.
Governors Highway Safety Association: Speeding
| Governors Highway Safety Association | GHSA | 2025
GHSA explains speeding as a major factor in fatal crashes and a threat to people walking and biking. The resource discusses enforcement, public education, and speed-management policy.
Governors Highway Safety Association: Automated Enforcement
| Governors Highway Safety Association | GHSA | 2025
GHSA discusses automated enforcement tools such as red-light and speed cameras. The resource explains how cameras can reduce risky driving when programs are designed with transparency and accountability.
Governors Highway Safety Association: Impaired Driving
| Governors Highway Safety Association | GHSA | 2025
GHSA covers alcohol- and drug-impaired driving prevention. The page supports enforcement, treatment, ignition interlocks, data systems, and public education as tools to reduce crashes.
World Health Organization Road Traffic Injuries
| World Health Organization | WHO | 2023
WHO summarizes the global burden of road traffic injuries and major risk factors such as speed, drink-driving, helmets, seat belts, and road design. It frames road safety as a public-health issue.
Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023
| World Health Organization | WHO | December 2023
WHO’s global report tracks road traffic deaths, policy progress, and safety gaps around the world. It emphasizes safer infrastructure, safer vehicles, speed control, and protection for pedestrians and cyclists.
Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030
| World Health Organization | WHO | 2021
This global plan calls for a Safe System Approach to road safety. It includes actions on multimodal transport, safer roads, safe vehicles, safe road use, and post-crash response.
World Resources Institute: Sustainable and Safe
| World Resources Institute | WRI Ross Center | 2018
This report provides guidance for eliminating road deaths while supporting sustainable mobility. It connects public transit, walking, cycling, compact urban design, and speed management with safety.
The City Fix: Four Ways Cities Can Design Safer Roads for Cyclists
| World Resources Institute | TheCityFix | November 10, 2021
This article explains practical ways cities can build safer bicycle infrastructure. It focuses on connected networks, protected lanes, intersection safety, and quick implementation.
Study Finds Protected Bike Lanes Increase Traffic Safety for Everyone
| Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition | Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition | January 6, 2021
This article summarizes research finding that protected bike infrastructure is associated with safer streets for all road users. It emphasizes physical protection rather than paint-only bike lanes.
Study Finds People Feel Safer With Protected Lanes for Bikes
| Time Staff | Time | June 4, 2014
This article reports on research showing that protected bike lanes improve perceived safety for cyclists and many nearby residents. Perceived safety matters because it affects whether more people are willing to bike.
Urban Bikeway Design Guide: Protected Bike Lanes
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2025
NACTO explains one-way and two-way protected bike lanes, buffers, barriers, and curbside design. The guidance helps cities separate bicycle traffic from motor vehicles on busy streets.
Urban Street Design Guide
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2025
This guide provides design tools for safer urban streets, including lane narrowing, curb extensions, transit streets, pedestrian spaces, and intersection redesign. It supports streets that reduce speed and conflict.
Transit Street Design Guide
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2025
NACTO’s transit guide explains how bus lanes, stops, boarding islands, and street geometry can improve safety and reliability. Safer transit streets reduce conflicts among buses, pedestrians, cyclists, and cars.
Don’t Give Up at the Intersection
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2019
This NACTO guide focuses on protected intersection design for bicyclists and pedestrians. It explains corner islands, setback crossings, signal phasing, and turning-speed reduction.
Designing for All Ages and Abilities
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2017
This guidance explains how bike networks can serve children, older adults, and less confident riders. It emphasizes low-stress streets, protected lanes, and safer intersections.
Global Designing Cities Initiative
| Global Designing Cities Initiative | GDCI | 2016
The Global Street Design Guide provides international street-design principles for safer, healthier, and more inclusive streets. It includes traffic calming, pedestrian priority, bike infrastructure, and safer intersections.
Designing Streets for Kids
| Global Designing Cities Initiative | GDCI | 2020
This guide focuses on street design that protects children and caregivers. It includes school streets, safer crossings, traffic calming, lower speeds, and child-friendly public space.
Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety
| Bloomberg Philanthropies | Bloomberg Philanthropies | 2025
This initiative supports road safety work in cities and countries around the world. It focuses on speed management, safer street design, enforcement, data, and policies that protect vulnerable road users.
NACTO Bike Share and Shared Micromobility Initiative
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2025
This program provides guidance and data on shared bikes, e-bikes, and scooters. It helps cities manage micromobility safely while expanding low-carbon transportation options.
Shared Micromobility in the U.S. and Canada
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2024
NACTO’s shared micromobility report tracks bike-share, e-bike, and scooter trips. It supports planning for safer lanes, parking, curb management, and policy as micromobility grows.
CDC Transportation Safety
| Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | CDC | 2025
CDC frames transportation safety as injury prevention. The resource includes information on motor vehicle injuries, seat belts, child passenger safety, impaired driving, and teen drivers.
CDC Motor Vehicle Safety
| Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | CDC | 2025
CDC provides data and prevention strategies for motor vehicle crash injuries. The page connects public health, policy, road-user behavior, and proven safety interventions.
NTSB Most Wanted List: Implement a Comprehensive Strategy to Eliminate Speeding-Related Crashes
| National Transportation Safety Board | NTSB | 2025
NTSB calls for a comprehensive strategy to reduce speeding-related crashes. Recommendations include speed limits, enforcement, vehicle technology, and road design that reduces dangerous speeds.
NTSB Safety Recommendations
| National Transportation Safety Board | NTSB | 2025
NTSB safety recommendations identify actions agencies and industries can take to prevent transportation deaths and injuries. The database includes recommendations on road safety, vehicle technology, and crash investigation findings.
AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
| AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety | AAA Foundation | 2025
The AAA Foundation conducts research on driver behavior, impaired driving, distraction, advanced vehicle technology, and traffic safety culture. Its studies help explain why crashes happen and how to prevent them.
AAA Foundation: Traffic Safety Culture Index
| AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety | AAA Foundation | 2024
This recurring survey tracks driver attitudes and behaviors related to speeding, distraction, impaired driving, and aggressive driving. It helps safety advocates understand the gap between what drivers say is dangerous and what they do.
University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center
| UNC Highway Safety Research Center | UNC | 2025
The center researches pedestrian safety, bicycle safety, roadway design, driver behavior, and crash data. Its work supports evidence-based transportation safety policy and practice.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
| Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center | PBIC | 2025
PBIC provides research, case studies, tools, and guidance for safer walking and bicycling. It is a major clearinghouse for pedestrian and bicycle safety information.
PBIC Countermeasure Selection System
| Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center | PBIC | 2025
PEDSAFE and BIKESAFE help planners choose pedestrian and bicycle safety countermeasures. The tools connect crash types with treatments such as refuge islands, signals, bike lanes, and traffic calming.
Institute of Transportation Engineers: Vision Zero
| Institute of Transportation Engineers | ITE | 2025
ITE provides professional resources for Vision Zero and Safe System work. The page supports engineering approaches that reduce fatal and serious crashes through design, speed management, and data.
ITE Traffic Calming Measures
| Institute of Transportation Engineers | ITE | 2025
ITE explains traffic-calming tools such as speed humps, curb extensions, chicanes, raised crossings, and road narrowing. These designs reduce vehicle speeds and improve neighborhood safety.
Transportation Research Board: Road Safety
| Transportation Research Board | TRB | 2025
TRB collects research on roadway safety, human factors, infrastructure, vehicles, and policy. Its work helps transportation professionals apply evidence to crash prevention.
FHWA Office of Safety
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA’s Office of Safety provides programs, data, tools, and guidance for reducing roadway deaths and serious injuries. It supports state and local agencies using the Safe System Approach.
FHWA Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA’s pedestrian and bicyclist safety resources include countermeasures, research, design guidance, and program support. The page focuses on protecting vulnerable road users.
FHWA Intersection Safety
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA provides tools and countermeasures for reducing crashes at intersections. It includes signalized and unsignalized intersections, roundabouts, turn conflicts, and systemic safety approaches.
FHWA Roadway Departure Safety
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
Roadway departure crashes are a major source of traffic deaths. FHWA’s resources cover rumble strips, curve treatments, clear zones, shoulders, barriers, and other tools to keep vehicles on the road.
FHWA Speed Management
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA’s speed management resources help agencies set safer speeds and choose countermeasures. The page connects speed limits, roadway design, enforcement, and crash severity.
FHWA Safety Data and Analysis
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA provides safety data tools that help agencies identify high-risk locations and evaluate countermeasures. Data-driven analysis is essential for preventing crashes before they happen.
Highway Safety Improvement Program
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
The Highway Safety Improvement Program funds projects that reduce fatal and serious-injury crashes. It supports state safety planning, crash data analysis, and infrastructure countermeasures.
Strategic Highway Safety Plans
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
Strategic Highway Safety Plans guide state traffic safety priorities. They identify crash trends, emphasis areas, partnerships, and countermeasures for reducing deaths and serious injuries.
Work Zone Safety
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA provides resources for keeping workers and road users safe in construction zones. Work zone safety includes speed control, temporary traffic design, visibility, and driver awareness.
Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Safety
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA supports safety at railroad-highway crossings through data, engineering, warning devices, and funding. Grade-crossing improvements help prevent severe crashes involving trains, drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.
National Association of City Transportation Officials
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2025
NACTO develops street-design guidance for cities, including bikeways, transit streets, intersections, and urban street design. Its resources are widely used in safer transportation planning.
PeopleForBikes City Ratings
| PeopleForBikes | PeopleForBikes | 2025
City Ratings scores communities on how safe and comfortable they are for biking. The tool helps compare bicycle networks, identify gaps, and encourage safer infrastructure.
Bike Network Analysis
| PeopleForBikes | PeopleForBikes | 2025
The Bicycle Network Analysis measures how well bike networks connect people to everyday destinations. It supports safer transportation by emphasizing connected, low-stress routes rather than isolated bike lanes.
National Center for Safe Routes to School
| National Center for Safe Routes to School | NCSRTS | 2025
This center provides resources for safer walking and biking to school. It supports school travel planning, parent engagement, infrastructure improvements, and child pedestrian safety.
Safe Kids Worldwide Road Safety
| Safe Kids Worldwide | Safe Kids Worldwide | 2025
Safe Kids Worldwide provides child-focused road safety resources, including walking, biking, car seats, teen driving, and school travel. The materials help protect children from preventable transportation injuries.
Vision Zero for Youth
| National Center for Safe Routes to School | Vision Zero for Youth | 2025
Vision Zero for Youth helps communities prioritize child and youth safety in street design and policy. It encourages safer school zones, lower speeds, and youth-centered transportation planning.
AASHTO Highway Safety Manual
| American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials | AASHTO | 2025
The Highway Safety Manual provides methods for predicting crashes and evaluating roadway safety treatments. It is a technical foundation for evidence-based transportation safety engineering.
AASHTO Green Book
| American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials | AASHTO | 2025
AASHTO’s geometric design guidance influences lane widths, shoulders, curves, intersections, and roadside design. Safer design decisions affect crash risk and severity across the road network.
AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities
| American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials | AASHTO | 2025
This guide provides engineering guidance for bicycle facilities, shared-use paths, bike lanes, and intersections. It helps agencies design bicycle infrastructure that is safer and more predictable.
AASHTO Guide for the Planning, Design, and Operation of Pedestrian Facilities
| American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials | AASHTO | 2025
This guide supports safer pedestrian networks, crossings, sidewalks, signals, and accessibility. It helps transportation agencies design for people walking and using mobility devices.
Zero Deaths: Saving Lives Through a Safety Culture
| Toward Zero Deaths | Toward Zero Deaths | 2025
Toward Zero Deaths promotes a safety culture that treats roadway deaths as preventable. The initiative supports safer road users, safer vehicles, safer roads, and emergency response.
Car Safety Features
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS explains vehicle safety features such as airbags, electronic stability control, crash avoidance, headlights, and driver assistance. The page helps consumers understand which technologies reduce injury risk.
Pedestrians and Bicyclists
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS summarizes research on pedestrian and bicyclist crash risks, vehicle design, speed, lighting, and road environment. It is a useful overview of vulnerable-road-user safety.
Headlights
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS explains how headlight performance affects nighttime crash risk. Better headlights help drivers see pedestrians, cyclists, curves, and hazards sooner.
Large Trucks
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS covers crash risks involving large trucks, including underride, braking, visibility, and driver fatigue. Safer truck design and regulation are important for protecting all road users.
Red Light Running
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS explains the dangers of red-light running and the role of automated enforcement. The topic is closely connected to intersection safety and pedestrian protection.
Speed
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS summarizes how speed increases crash frequency and severity. The page supports policies and designs that lower travel speeds, especially where pedestrians and cyclists are present.
Alcohol and Drugs
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS explains how alcohol and drug impairment contribute to crashes. The page covers laws, enforcement, ignition interlocks, and prevention strategies.
Distracted Driving
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS summarizes research on distraction, phones, infotainment systems, and crash risk. The page supports safer technology design and policies that reduce driver distraction.
Fatality Statistics
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS fatality statistics help track who is dying on roads, where crashes happen, and which users are most at risk. Reliable data supports better safety priorities and policy.
Effects of Driver Direct Visibility in Passenger Vehicles on the Risk of Turning Crashes With Pedestrians
| Wen Hu and Jessica B. Cicchino | Journal of Safety Research | June 2026
This study examines how vehicle front-end design and direct visibility affect pedestrian turning-crash risk. It supports the idea that vehicle design, not just driver behavior, shapes pedestrian safety.
Front Crash Prevention Testing
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
IIHS explains how front crash prevention systems are tested for vehicle and pedestrian scenarios. These tests help identify which systems can avoid or reduce crashes in real-world conditions.
Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking Test Protocol
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2024
This protocol explains how IIHS evaluates pedestrian automatic emergency braking. It details test speeds, pedestrian targets, lighting conditions, and performance measures.
Vehicle-to-Vehicle Front Crash Prevention 2.0 Test Protocol
| Insurance Institute for Highway Safety | IIHS | 2025
This protocol explains IIHS’s updated vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention test. It includes higher-speed scenarios and targets such as passenger vehicles, motorcycles, and large trucks.
NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
NHTSA’s 5-Star Safety Ratings help consumers compare vehicle crash protection and safety features. The program encourages manufacturers to improve vehicle safety performance.
SaferCar App
| National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | NHTSA | 2025
The SaferCar app helps vehicle owners receive recall alerts and safety information. Faster recall awareness can prevent crashes and injuries linked to defective vehicles or equipment.
U.S. DOT Smart Grant Program
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | 2025
The SMART program funds technology demonstration projects involving smart intersections, sensors, connected vehicles, and data systems. These projects can help agencies test tools for safer transportation networks.
Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation Grants
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | 2025
USDOT’s SMART awards include projects using connected vehicle technology, sensors, and intelligent infrastructure. These grants support real-world testing of tools that may improve safety and operations.
Future-Ready Delaware SMART Technology Enhancements for Safe, Resilient Intersections
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | 2025
This SMART grant project supports safer, more resilient intersections using connected-vehicle technology. It shows how states are experimenting with intelligent infrastructure to improve safety.
Smart and Integrated Management and Fleet Charging Project
| U.S. Department of Transportation | USDOT | 2025
This SMART project focuses on data and technology for transit fleet management. Reliable transit operations can support safer, more predictable mobility and reduce dependence on dangerous high-speed corridors.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Research Program
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA’s research program studies pedestrian and bicycle safety problems and countermeasures. It supports safer crossings, bikeways, traffic control, and vulnerable-road-user protection.
FHWA STEP: Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
STEP promotes proven pedestrian safety countermeasures such as refuge islands, beacons, road diets, crosswalk visibility, and leading pedestrian intervals. The program helps agencies choose effective crossing treatments.
Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian Countermeasure Tech Sheets
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
These STEP resources provide practical information on pedestrian countermeasures. They help planners, engineers, and advocates explain how specific treatments reduce crash risk.
Local and Rural Road Safety Program
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA’s local and rural safety resources help smaller communities address roadway departure crashes, intersections, speed, and pedestrian safety. Rural road safety is critical because many fatal crashes occur outside big cities.
Rural Road Safety Center
| National Center for Rural Road Safety | Rural Safety Center | 2025
The Rural Safety Center provides tools and training for reducing crashes on rural roads. It focuses on local agencies, roadway departure, speed, curves, intersections, and safety culture.
ITE Complete Streets Council
| Institute of Transportation Engineers | ITE | 2025
ITE’s Complete Streets Council supports professional practice that designs streets for all users. It connects engineering, safety, multimodal access, and transportation equity.
APBP Bicycle and Pedestrian Professionals
| Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals | APBP | 2025
APBP supports professionals who plan, design, and advocate for safer walking and biking. Its work helps spread best practices for bike lanes, sidewalks, crossings, and traffic calming.
Strong Towns: Streets and Roads
| Strong Towns | Strong Towns | 2025
Strong Towns publishes articles arguing for safer, slower, more financially productive streets. The coverage often critiques dangerous road design and supports traffic calming, walkability, and local street repair.
America Walks
| America Walks | America Walks | 2025
America Walks advocates for safe, accessible, and enjoyable walking. Its resources connect pedestrian safety with public health, equity, climate, and community design.
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy: TrailNation
| Rails-to-Trails Conservancy | Rails-to-Trails Conservancy | 2025
TrailNation supports connected walking and biking trail networks. Connected trails can provide safer alternatives to high-speed roads and expand low-stress transportation options.
Open Streets Project
| Open Streets Project | Open Streets Project | 2025
Open Streets programs temporarily close streets to cars and open them to people walking, biking, rolling, and gathering. They demonstrate how street space can be used more safely and socially.
Curb Management for Safer Streets
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2017
This guide explains how cities can manage curb space for loading, transit, bike lanes, parking, and public space. Better curb management can reduce double parking, dooring, and conflicts near bike lanes and crosswalks.
Urban Street Stormwater Guide
| National Association of City Transportation Officials | NACTO | 2017
This guide shows how green infrastructure can be integrated into safer street design. Curb extensions, medians, and planted buffers can manage stormwater while also calming traffic and shortening crossings.
A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets
| American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials | AASHTO | 2024
This design reference shapes how highways and streets are built. Its application affects speeds, lane widths, curves, intersection geometry, and the safety of all road users.
Guide for Improving Pedestrian Safety at Uncontrolled Crossing Locations
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2018
This guide helps agencies choose safer treatments at crossings without traffic signals. It supports decisions about beacons, medians, markings, signs, and roadway context.
Achieving Multimodal Networks
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2016
FHWA explains how agencies can create connected networks for walking, biking, transit, freight, and driving. Multimodal networks reduce conflicts by giving different users safe and predictable space.
Separated Bike Lane Planning and Design Guide
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2015
FHWA’s guide explains how to plan and design separated bike lanes. It covers facility selection, intersections, driveways, parking, transit stops, and maintenance.
Small Town and Rural Multimodal Networks
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2016
This guide provides design strategies for walking and biking in small towns and rural communities. It includes shoulders, shared-use paths, traffic calming, crossings, and bicycle boulevards.
Guidebook for Developing Pedestrian and Bicycle Performance Measures
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2016
This guide helps agencies measure pedestrian and bicycle safety, comfort, access, and network quality. Better measurement helps communities choose and evaluate safer transportation investments.
Traffic Calming ePrimer
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2017
FHWA’s traffic calming ePrimer explains speed humps, chokers, chicanes, curb extensions, mini-roundabouts, raised crossings, and other tools. It supports neighborhood-level speed reduction and crash prevention.
Speed Management ePrimer
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2017
This FHWA resource explains speed management principles, countermeasures, and program design. It links safer speeds with road design, enforcement, education, and data.
Safe System Roadway Design Hierarchy
| Federal Highway Administration | FHWA | 2025
FHWA’s Safe System resources explain how roadway design can prevent fatal and serious crashes even when people make mistakes. The approach prioritizes reducing kinetic energy and separating conflicts.
Road Safety Fundamentals
| Transportation Research Board | TRB | 2020
This guide introduces core road-safety concepts for practitioners. It explains crash factors, data analysis, countermeasures, and the importance of applying safety knowledge across roadway decisions.
NCHRP Research Report 1036: Guide for Quantitative Approaches to Systemic Safety Analysis
| National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine | National Academies Press | 2023
This report helps agencies identify risk across road networks before crashes cluster in one location. Systemic safety analysis is useful for rural curves, intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other recurring risk types.
NCHRP Report 893: Systemic Pedestrian Safety Analysis
| National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine | National Academies Press | 2018
This report provides methods for identifying pedestrian crash risk across a transportation network. It helps agencies prioritize improvements even where crash histories are incomplete or sparse.
NCHRP Report 926: Guidance to Improve Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety at Intersections
| National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine | National Academies Press | 2020
This report provides guidance for reducing pedestrian and bicyclist crashes at intersections. It covers geometry, signals, visibility, turning conflicts, and safety evaluation.
NCHRP Report 1030: Urban Street Design Guide for Safer Speeds
| National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine | National Academies Press | 2022
This report focuses on street design strategies that encourage safer operating speeds. It supports lane narrowing, curb extensions, signal timing, and other design choices that reduce crash severity.
NCHRP Web-Only Document 341: Safe System-Based Framework and Analytical Methodology for Assessing Intersections
| National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine | National Academies Press | 2023
This document provides a Safe System framework for assessing intersection safety. It helps agencies consider exposure, speed, conflict points, crash severity, and vulnerable road users.
Global Street Design Guide
| Global Designing Cities Initiative | GDCI | 2016
This international guide gives practical street-design tools for safer cities. It emphasizes people-first design, lower speeds, safer crossings, bike facilities, transit access, and public spaces.
Road Safety Toolkit
| International Road Assessment Programme | iRAP | 2025
The Road Safety Toolkit explains crash types, road features, and countermeasures in plain language. It helps practitioners choose treatments for pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, intersections, roadsides, and speed.
iRAP Star Rating for Roads
| International Road Assessment Programme | iRAP | 2025
iRAP’s star ratings evaluate road safety for vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, pedestrians, and bicyclists. The system helps governments identify dangerous roads and target improvements.
Global Designing Cities: Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery
| Global Designing Cities Initiative | GDCI | 2020
This guide shows how temporary street changes can support walking, biking, transit, loading, and safer public space. Many quick-build safety projects grew from similar temporary street redesigns.
FIA Foundation Road Safety
| FIA Foundation | FIA Foundation | 2025
The FIA Foundation supports global road safety work focused on children, pedestrians, speed management, helmets, safe vehicles, and policy. It frames mobility safety as a public-health and equity issue.
Child Health Initiative
| FIA Foundation | Child Health Initiative | 2025
The Child Health Initiative advocates for safer streets for children around the world. It focuses on school zones, speed reduction, safe walking routes, and air quality near roads.
Global NCAP
| Global New Car Assessment Programme | Global NCAP | 2025
Global NCAP promotes vehicle crash testing and safety standards worldwide. It encourages safer vehicle design, consumer information, and stronger occupant and pedestrian protection.
Euro NCAP Safety Assist
| Euro NCAP | Euro NCAP | 2025
Euro NCAP explains safety assist technologies such as speed assistance, lane support, occupant monitoring, and automatic emergency braking. These systems help prevent crashes before they occur.
Euro NCAP Vulnerable Road User Protection
| Euro NCAP | Euro NCAP | 2025
Euro NCAP evaluates how vehicles protect pedestrians and cyclists through crash avoidance and impact protection. The ratings encourage automakers to design vehicles that are safer for people outside the car.
Road Safety Observatory: Speed
| Road Safety Observatory | Road Safety Observatory | 2025
This resource summarizes evidence on speed and crash risk. It explains why lower speeds reduce both crash likelihood and injury severity, especially for pedestrians and cyclists.
Road Safety Observatory: Pedestrians
| Road Safety Observatory | Road Safety Observatory | 2025
This page summarizes evidence on pedestrian crash risk, behavior, infrastructure, and countermeasures. It is useful for understanding how road design and vehicle speed shape pedestrian safety.
Road Safety Observatory: Cyclists
| Road Safety Observatory | Road Safety Observatory | 2025
This resource reviews cyclist safety evidence, including infrastructure, driver behavior, visibility, helmets, and crash patterns. It supports safer cycling policy and street design.
Transportation Alternatives: Vision Zero Cities
| Transportation Alternatives | Transportation Alternatives | 2025
Vision Zero Cities shares advocacy, policy, and research on eliminating traffic deaths in urban areas. It focuses on safe street design, speed reduction, enforcement reform, and public accountability.
NYC Protected Bike Lane Safety Benefits
| New York City Department of Transportation | NYC DOT | 2014
NYC DOT’s analysis found safety benefits from protected bicycle lanes, including reductions in injuries on redesigned corridors. The report is widely cited in debates over bike infrastructure and street redesign.
NYC Vision Zero
| City of New York | NYC Vision Zero | 2025
NYC’s Vision Zero program tracks traffic deaths and safety efforts such as speed cameras, street redesigns, bike lanes, and pedestrian improvements. It provides a large-city example of safety policy in practice.
Seattle Vision Zero
| City of Seattle | Seattle Department of Transportation | 2025
Seattle’s Vision Zero program focuses on eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries. The city uses street redesign, speed management, crossings, bike infrastructure, and data to guide safety work.
San Francisco Vision Zero
| City and County of San Francisco | Vision Zero SF | 2025
San Francisco’s Vision Zero program identifies high-injury streets and prioritizes safety projects. It focuses on speed, street design, enforcement, public health, and vulnerable road users.
Los Angeles Vision Zero
| Los Angeles Department of Transportation | LADOT | 2025
Los Angeles uses Vision Zero to focus on high-injury streets and severe crash prevention. The program supports safer crossings, traffic calming, speed management, and protected bike infrastructure.
Portland Vision Zero
| Portland Bureau of Transportation | PBOT | 2025
Portland’s Vision Zero program works to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. It includes crash data, speed reduction, safer streets, community partnerships, and equity-focused safety investments.
Boston Vision Zero
| City of Boston | Boston Transportation Department | 2025
Boston’s Vision Zero program uses crash data, neighborhood slow streets, safer crossings, and street redesign. It aims to prevent serious and fatal crashes while improving mobility for all users.
Washington DC Vision Zero
| District Department of Transportation | DC Vision Zero | 2025
Washington, DC’s Vision Zero program tracks crash trends and safety initiatives. It includes safer streets, protected bike lanes, automated enforcement, and public reporting tools.
Chicago Vision Zero
| City of Chicago | Chicago Department of Transportation | 2025
Chicago’s Vision Zero program focuses on preventing fatal and serious crashes through street design, speed management, public engagement, and enforcement. It highlights the role of complete streets in safety.
Austin Vision Zero
| City of Austin | Austin Transportation and Public Works | 2025
Austin’s Vision Zero program uses crash analysis and street redesign to reduce serious injuries and deaths. The city focuses on high-injury roads, safer speeds, and vulnerable road users.
Denver Vision Zero
| City and County of Denver | Denver DOTI | 2025
Denver’s Vision Zero program aims to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. It includes safety action planning, speed management, bike and pedestrian projects, and data-driven priorities.
Minneapolis Vision Zero
| City of Minneapolis | Minneapolis Public Works | 2025
Minneapolis uses Vision Zero to guide safe street redesign and crash prevention. The program supports lower speeds, safer intersections, pedestrian improvements, and protected bikeways.
Cambridge Cycling Safety Ordinance
| City of Cambridge | City of Cambridge | 2025
Cambridge’s cycling safety ordinance requires separated bike lanes during certain street reconstruction projects. It is an example of turning bike safety goals into binding local policy.
Hoboken Vision Zero
| City of Hoboken | Vision Zero Hoboken | 2025
Hoboken’s Vision Zero work is often cited because the city has reported multiple years without traffic deaths. Its approach includes daylighting, curb extensions, lower speeds, and safer intersections.
Jersey City Vision Zero
| City of Jersey City | Jersey City | 2025
Jersey City’s Vision Zero program focuses on eliminating traffic deaths through safer road design, data, enforcement, and public engagement. It includes safety action planning and corridor redesign.
Philadelphia Vision Zero
| City of Philadelphia | City of Philadelphia | 2025
Philadelphia’s Vision Zero program targets traffic deaths and serious injuries through street design, safety data, education, and enforcement. It includes emphasis on pedestrians, cyclists, and high-injury corridors.
