Safety Management System
From Fall 1994
Volume I, Number 3
The 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) requires
each state to implement a Safety Management System (SMS) to ensure better
coordination of state and local highway safety efforts and provide the information
needed by officials to make informed decisions on utilizing resources. An
SMS will promote widespread collaboration around highway safety issues,
and broaden the range of organizations involved in such efforts by including
public health, emergency medical services (EMS), and law enforcement agencies
in the development and implementation of the systems. An SMS is defined
as:
- a systematic process that has the goal of reducing the number and
severity of traffic crashes by ensuring that all opportunities to improve
highway safety are identified, considered, implemented as appropriate, and
evaluated in all phases of highway planning, design, construction, maintenance,
and operation and by providing information for selecting and implementing
effective highway safety strategies and projects. (Interim Final Rule: Transportation
Infrastructure Management)
Each state must develop a work plan that identifies major activities and
responsibilities for its SMS and includes a schedule for full operation
and use by October 1, 1996. SMS development and implementation will be jointly
reviewed by FHWA and NHTSA. States not in compliance with the regulatory
requirements risk losing a portion of the federal funds available to them
under Title 23 United States Code, Highways, and the Federal Transit Act.
Fred Zwonechek, administrator of the Office of Highway Safety in Nebraska,
says that agencies should not be intimidated by the mandate. He suggests
that the SMS is just a continuation of what many agencies are already doing:
sharing data and jointly participating in a planning process. The mandate
will simply facilitate and expand this process by including all agencies
essential to traffic safety. Mr. Zwonechek predicts that agencies who may
be reluctant to work with those who are not their traditional partners will
quickly see the benefits of doing so. Access to data and communication with
other agencies can enhance cost-effectiveness and safety.
A variety of forms of technical assistance will be available to states.
The FHWA is developing a two-day SMS training program, which will be offered
to states through the FHWA's National Highway Institute. In addition, Local
Technical Assistance Program Technology Transfer Centers will provide resources
to states as they design and implement their Safety Management Systems.
States have already begun SMS planning. In Pennsylvania, the secretary of
transportation has designated the director of the Bureau of Highway Safety
and Traffic Engineering (BHSTE) as the SMS focal point. Pennsylvania has
involved a broad range of state agencies on an SMS task force, which includes
11 bureaus and offices of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
(PennDOT), Department of Education, state police, Department of Health,
Liquor Control Board, Department of Aging, Governor's Traffic Safety Council,
and representatives from the regional FHWA and NHTSA offices.
One feature of the Pennsylvania SMS planning process is the establishment
of multidisciplinary teams to address the safety issues in each of 15 areas
of major concern. These areas include young drivers; older drivers; problem
drivers; degraded driver performance; poor driving habits; motor carriers,
buses, and school buses; vehicle defects; pedestrians and bicyclists; motorcycles;
roadways; roadsides; traffic operations; high crash locations; local highways;
and emergency medical services and incident management. Each team will meet
three times; first to list safety problems and potential opportunities to
address them; second to define short- and long-term goals and strategies,
and third to develop an implementation plan. This process will result in
a comprehensive safety plan, which PennDOT will review, revise, and approve.
Adjustments to the plan will be made annually using crash data, research
findings, and an appraisal of current implementation progress.
Washington state has coordinated a process of improving the quality and
safety of its roadways since the late 1980s. The state believes that bringing
the many different organizations who contribute to this effort together
and establishing a process by which their activities are documented and
shared will both fulfill the requirements of the SMS Interim Final Rule
and enhance the traffic safety activities of all of these organizations.
To this end, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Traffic
Office is leading the coordinated efforts of a multijurisdictional, multidisciplinary
SMS Standing Committee responsible for ongoing development, coordination,
implementation, and evaluation of the state's SMS. More than 40 organizations
are represented on this committee, including the State's Department of Health,
Department of Social and Health Services, Traffic Safety Commission, Attorney
General's Office, Office of Indian Affairs, and Parks and Recreation Commission;
the Harborview Injury Prevention Center; Mothers Against Drunk Driving;
Washington Trucking Association; the Washington Association of Sheriffs
& Police Chiefs; FHWA Division Office; NHTSA Regional Office; National
Parks Service; and U.S. Forest Service.
Washington and Pennsylvania represent two examples of how states are developing
their Safety Management Systems. The federal requirements were designed
so that states could tailor their responses based on their own needs and
resources.
- The Interim Final Rule pertaining to the Safety Management System was
published in the Federal Register on December 1, 1993 (vol. 58, no.
229) beginning on page 6,345. Information on the SMS and the two-day training
programs are available from the FHWA Division Offices located in each state
or from NHTSA Regional Program Managers. For more information on Pennsylvania's
SMS, contact Tom Bryer at the Bureau of Highway Safety and Traffic Engineering,
(717) 787-7350. For information on Washington's effort, contact Gary Farnsworth
at the Washington State Department of Transportation Traffic Office, (206)
705-7284.
http://www.edc.org/HHD/csn/buildbridges/bb1.3/safety.html
Revised: October 24, 1996
©1997 Education Development Center, Inc.
