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ROUTES Initiative and Rural Safety Data

May 2020 Webinar

Availability Status: Archived

  • Created: Wednesday May 20th, 2020
  • Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, US Department of Transportation
  • Publishing Organization: National Center for Rural Road Safety
  • Topic: Education, Engineering
  • Sub-Topic: Safety Data, Safety Grant Writing and Project Development
  • Skill Level: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced
  • Sector: Local, State, Federal, Tribal
  • Profession: Engineers, Enforcement, EMS, Planners, Politicians, Policy makers
  • Training Format: Training Webinar
  • Duration: 1.5 Hours

Description/Learning Outcomes:

The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Rural Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. 

Webinar Description
This webinar featured an overview of the US DOT’s Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) initiative, which is focused on improving the access to and impact of DOT funding for rural transportation safety and infrastructure. The webinar provided a presentation of some of the Department’s most recent studies and data on rural safety, and what implications these may have for best use of transportation resources. 

Webinar Outcomes
At the conclusion of this webinar, participants were able to:

  • Identify the contributions of rural transportation infrastructure to national transportation performance.
  • Compare rural and urban safety data
  • Distinguish rural safety needs
  • Interpret new rural safety data
  • Identify implications for rural safety resources

Target Audience

This training was directed towards a very broad safety audience including, but not limited to, law enforcement, planners, engineers, first responders, elected officials, public health, tourism agencies, and safety culture experts.

Course Presenters

  • Steve Polzin, Senior Advisor for Research & Technology, US DOT
    Dr. Polzin is the Senior Advisor for Research and Technology in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology at the US Department of Transportation. Before his appointment at US DOT in June 2019, he served as Director of Mobility Policy Research at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida, where he taught graduate courses on Transportation and Land Use and Public Transportation for over 25 years.  Dr. Polzin is a Civil Engineering with a BSCE from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University. He served on the Board of Directors of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) for 13 years and the Board of Directors of the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization for 7 years.  Dr. Polzin worked for transit agencies in Chicago (RTA), Cleveland (GCRTA), and Dallas (DART) before joining the University of South Florida in 1988. 
  • Rajesh ‘Raj’ Subramanian, Division Chief, NHTSA
    Raj is the Division Chief of the Mathematical Analysis Division in the National Center for Statistics and Analysis with NHTSA.  He has been analyzing data for the last 20+ years to provide insights into trends, factors and outcomes of motor vehicle traffic crashes.  He works out of the United States Department of Transportation HQ building in Washington, DC next to the home of the World Series Champions, the Washington Nationals.  The information presented in his analysis includes analysis conducted by Ms. Caitlin Webb, a mathematical statistician in his division.  He would also like to acknowledge the role of the Data Reporting and Information Services division in his office that oversees the development the traffic safety fact sheets.