Safety in the Project & Program

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Norma Watkins
5 years ago
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, PE Washington State Department of Transportation July

1 Policy Level Issues related to Safety in the Project & Program Development tstages John Milton Ph.D., P.E., PE Washington State Department of Transportation July 29th, 2009 Chicago, Illinois National Safety Performance Function Summit

2 Overview Uses in strategic Planning to Maintenance and Operations Guidelines, es, Standards, ds, Policy and Procedures Planning Programming Design Maintenance and Operation Who, What, Where, Why, When and How?

3 Determining the Scope of Use SPFs have uses throughout the Project and Program Development Stages Each Step in the process will require a review of policies For instance, SPFs could be used as a network screening tool for local issues, corridors or for the System. One or all can be chosen Clear Intent

4 Determining the Scope of Use A Specific Strategic Objective should drive the policy WSDOT Target Zero Strategic Highway Safety: All Crashes or Specific Types All Severity or only the most severe Local versus system solutions

5 Determining the Scope of Use Programming? Priority Ranking Planning? Project Development? Maintenance and Operations? Potential countermeasure or solution development Design Exception/Solutions/Environmental Analysis Low cost enhancements Developer Evaluations

6 Guidelines, Standards, Policies & Procedures Specific Guidelines, Standards, Policies and Procedures in each stage: Planning Programming g Design Maintenance and Operation Manuals & guidance documents will need to be assessed for gaps and opportunities

7 Guidelines, Standards, Policies & Procedures Policy directive necessary for successful implementation Funding needs/allocation: budget restraints Personnel training IT/computing resources Integration & effective use of available data (plan & budget & execute data collection plans)

8 Guidelines, Standards, Policies & Procedures Within WSDOT: Making the linkage to support successful implementation People Organizational structure Training Responsibilities, workload Chain of work Money Time Incentive to deal with change Realities Constraints Opportunities Software/ equipment/ IT Strengths

9 Guidelines, Standards, Policies & Procedures What drive our decisions? Reducing fatalities? Severe injuries? All crashes? Crashes involving the vulnerable? Maximizing our investments Identify locations with highest potential for improvement Data driven decision making Local vs. Effective Making system wide Accountability management informed approaches of resources decisions Allowing for evaluation

10 Guidelines, Standards, Policies & Procedures Use of multiple AMFs Implementation of combination of countermeasures at site/on corridor Setting standards for evaluation Sample sizes Analysis methodology (SE, RTM, etc.) I i i h i i Integration with existing systems, processes, and standards

11 Example Guidelines, Standards, Policies & Procedures Previous Interstate Standards Solutions Going to only Few Projects Little Benefit in terms of Projects Benefits Using SPF to determine highest potential benefit across system

12 Result Guidelines, Standards, Policies & Procedures Safety Dollars will go to higher benefit locations with greater return on investment.

13 Who, What, Why, Where, When & How? Washington experience indicates: You ll need to answer these fundamental questions as part of the policy development These questions will come from the executive and elected officials Lack of clarity will result in outcomes y will very across regional boundaries

14 Summary Use of SPFs are far ranging gwithin the organization Policy should address & indicate organizational use and need As the use of SPF varies, so will the need for review of current policy documents Assessment of gaps and opportunities is critical Think outside the box Answer the fundamentalquestions of Who, What, Where, Why, When and How? Training is necessary!

15 THE END

Sustainable Safety at WSDOT

Sustainable Safety at WSDOT Saving lives and reducing serious injuries John C. Milton, Ph.D, PE Director - Enterprise Risk and Safety Applying or Misapplying CMFs CMF Clearinghouse webinar December 11,