This project sought to respond to gaps in\ndelivering transportation safety education and to develop introductory\ncurriculum materials for both academicians and practitioners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Road safety is an evolving field, and preparing both students and practitioners with expertise\nin road safety is important. However, most U.S. universities do not have an independent road safety course in their civil\nengineering departments. In addition, practitioners may receive anecdotal\nevidence of transportation safety trends, but the availability of\ntransferable training materials is limited. Road\nsafety is interdisciplinary in nature, as it intersects civil engineering,\npsychology, mechanical engineering, urban\nplanning, public health, and other disciplines. For these reasons, the development of materials for road safety benefits many\npotential end users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The objectives of this project were to\ndevelop a comprehensive understanding of the needs and priorities related to\nsafety data management and analysis; develop a set of core skills and knowledge\nrequired for safety data management and analysis; create a comprehensive set of\nsafety data workforce development resources that could be easily accessed for\nuse and distribution; and identify and utilize proven delivery pipelines to\nsupplement safety program outreach efforts and activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this second phase of the project, researchers\nfurther examined three elements begun in phase 1. First, the set of tools\ndeveloped for practitioners was pilot tested and reviewed by a focus group and\nthen refined on the basis of the feedback received. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second, the set of tools developed for\nacademicians was reviewed by 18 faculty members representing institutions from\nthroughout the country to gauge the effectiveness of those products in the\nclassroom; all participating faculty members taught transportation or\ntransportation safety-related courses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, as an extension to the state-level\ncrash reporting methodology developed in the first phase, the research team\nexamined how crashes were reported in remote areas and how reliance on local\nsources, such as a town newspaper, might provide a more comprehensive\nassessment of the number of crashes and crash types than existing trauma\nregistries and crash databases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n