Your trusted "safety sidekick” to make rural road travel safer! 
Safety data and analysis are used by transportation professionals and elected officials to determine where challenges exist and countermeasures should be deployed. Safety statistics from urban areas are not always applicable in rural areas; therefore it is important to identify relevant data.
This section provides resources describing available safety related data for rural roads, addresses data collection techniques, and data analysis methods.
America’s rural heartland is the primary source of many of the goods and products that supports our nation’s economy and way of life. It also is home to ... [ Read More » ]
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 ... [ Read More » ]
For this fact sheet, rural and urban boundaries are determined by the State highway departments and approved by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The S ... [ Read More » ]
Rural areas account for 71 percent of the Nation’s public road miles and see nearly half of crash fatalities. With vast road miles to consider, this report qu ... [ Read More » ]
Rural roadway departures make up a third of U.S. traffic fatalities—about 30 people a day. The Every Day Counts round five (EDC-5) initiative, Focus on Reduci ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Rural Safety Center) and the NLTAPA Safety Working Group co-hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Descripti ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Rural Safety Center) and the NLTAPA Safety Working Group co-hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Descrip ... [ Read More » ]
The DDSA Crash Tree Tool allows users to generate crash tree diagrams based on the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) or other crash datasets. Cras ... [ Read More » ]
The National LTAP & TTAP Association’s (NLTAPA) Safety Working Group and the National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour ... [ Read More » ]
Webinar Description In recognition of Motorcycle Safety Awareness month, the Safety Center’s May webinar focused on motorcycle safety. The webinar focused on ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center), National Association of County Engineers (NACE) and the National Safety Council’s Road to Zero Coal ... [ Read More » ]
Rural communities provide food, energy, resources and much more to keep America running. In 2016, attendees at the National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America helped define the future for “Movi ...
[ Read More » ]The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Description This webinar provided an overview of the ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center), a center of excellence supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administrat ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Description In this webinar, you were provided with ... [ Read More » ]
April has been designated as Distracted Driving Awareness Month. While distracted driving is something to be tackled every day, this April we can put some extra focus on ending distracted driving. Transportation ...
[ Read More » ]
Have you joined yet? Road to Zero is a collaboration focused on ending traffic fatalities – a leading cause of unintentional death on our roadways within 30 years. The goal is safe mobility for all people, ...
[ Read More » ]The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Description This webinar provided tools and techniques ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) and the National Local Technical Assistance Program Association (NLTAPA) co-hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour on ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Description Rural transportation agencies are in ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) are hosting a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Description This webinar will provide an overview ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Description Have you ever been tasked with a safety-re ... [ Read More » ]
This rural/urban comparison provides: an overview time of day speeding alcohol restraint use rollover crashes driver characteristics nonoccupants fatalities by ... [ Read More » ]
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has partnered with a multitude of organizations to collect res ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Description This webinar provided an overview of the e ... [ Read More » ]
“This fact sheet contains information on fatal motor vehicle crashes and fatalities, based on data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). FAR ... [ Read More » ]
This CDC webpage provides restraint use fact sheets for each state. These “state-specific fact sheets provide a snapshot of motor vehicle occupant deaths ... [ Read More » ]
This website provides technical assistance and training programs that can help States build traffic safety data collection, management, and analysis capacity in ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NH ... [ Read More » ]
Articles in this issue of the Safety Compass include: HSIP 2015 National Summary Report Now Available! DDSA: Performing A Health Check-Up On Your Roadways Data ... [ Read More » ]
“Zero is not an impossible goal, but it will take all of us to get there. See how all of our efforts are helping us on our way Toward Zero Deaths.” ... [ Read More » ]
The Roadway Safety Data Program Toolbox contains resources that will help your organization build a new or strengthen an existing roadway safety data program ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) and the National Association of County Engineers (NACE) co-hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. ... [ Read More » ]
The World Health Organization has released a report that outlines policies for improving health care and other systems to provide the key elements of post-crash ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Description This webinar provided an overview of the ... [ Read More » ]
On March 1-2, 2016, the Northwest Transportation Tribal Technical Assistance Program (NW TTAP) conducted a hands-on tribal road safety audit (RSA) workshop. T ... [ Read More » ]
“Whether you are a safety data guru, a junior analyst, or somewhere in between, the Roadway Safety Data Program (RSDP) Toolbox is for you! The Toolbox is ... [ Read More » ]
The National Working Summit on Transportation in Rural America was held Sept. 7-9, 2016 in Denver, CO. It was hosted by the National Center for Rural Road Safet ... [ Read More » ]
“For highways located in different counties and cities across the country, specific conditions of weather, terrain, traffic characteristics, highway condi ... [ Read More » ]
This NHTSA press release from August 2016 discusses the call to action issued by the White House and DOT to data scientists and public health experts as 2,348 m ... [ Read More » ]
NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis has been producing annual estimates of lives saved since 1975. This fact sheet contains finding for 2015 b ... [ Read More » ]
This Research Note provides a brief overview of the 2015 fatal crash picture using data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Ana ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5 hour online training event. Webinar Description This Safety Center sponsored webina ... [ Read More » ]
“The purpose of this study was to quantify the prevalence of marijuana involvement in fatal crashes in the state of Washington in years 2010 – 2014 and ... [ Read More » ]
“Road Safety Audits (RSAs) are a formal safety performance examination of an existing or future roadway or off-road facility and are conducted by an indep ... [ Read More » ]
This FHWA website provides crash modification factors (CMF), as well as, guides for how to use and/or develop CMF. “A crash modification factor (CMF) is a ... [ Read More » ]
“Data-Driven Safety Analysis is the application of the latest generation of tools for analyzing crash and roadway data. This video gives an overview of th ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5-hour online webinar. Webinar Description This webinar providee information on: ... [ Read More » ]
“The AASHTO Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) is the new state of the practice for the crash testing of safety hardware devices for use on the N ... [ Read More » ]
The Tribal Transportation Safety Management System Steering Committee is “for Federally Recognized Tribes, federal agencies and other regional and local ... [ Read More » ]
This is a NHTSA press release from February 2016 describing the early fatality estimates for 2015 data, the steep increase in deaths, and describing NHTSA’ ... [ Read More » ]
“A statistical projection of traffic fatalities for the first nine months of 2015 shows that an estimated 26,000 people died in motor vehicle traffic cras ... [ Read More » ]
On March 1-2, 2016, the Northwest Transportation Tribal Technical Assistance Program (NW TTAP) conducted a hands-on tribal road safety audit (RSA) workshop. T ... [ Read More » ]
” Road Safety Audit (RSA) is a proven countermeasure for improving safety and saving lives by reducing injuries. The RSA is a formal and independent safet ... [ Read More » ]
“Data-Driven Safety Analysis builds upon decades of work and collaboration to promote the integration of safety performance into all highway investment de ... [ Read More » ]
This fact sheet details the results of the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) for 2015. ” Seat belt use in 2015 reached 88.5 percent, up from ... [ Read More » ]
The Local and Rural Safety Program provides national leadership in identifying, developing, and delivering safety programs and products to agencies, elected off ... [ Read More » ]
In this fact sheet, the 2013 rural and urban information is presented in the following order: Overview Time of Day Speeding Alcohol Restraint Use Rollover Cras ... [ Read More » ]
The National Center for Rural Road Safety (Safety Center) hosted a FREE, 1.5 hour webinar. This Safety Center sponsored webinar provided a background on the ... [ Read More » ]
“This guidebook provides State departments of transportation (DOT) and metropolitan planning organization (MPO) planners with a framework for navigating t ... [ Read More » ]
Cost Effective Local Road Safety Planning and Implementation
The American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) and the National Association of County Engineers (NACE) have partnered to develop such a guide for loca ... [ Read More » ]
“This national report summarizes findings from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) on trends in the behavioral health of people aged 1 ... [ Read More » ]
Crashes are random events and low traffic volumes therefore don’t always make crash hot-spot identification possible. This project has used extensive data col ... [ Read More » ]
“This State Traffic Records Coordinating Committee Noteworthy Practices Guide was developed under the direction of the USDOT|TRCC as a way to help State T ... [ Read More » ]
Motorcycle Traffic Safety Facts
This fact sheet uses 2013 data. The following definitions apply to terms used throughout this fact sheet: Motorcycles are defined as mopeds, two- or three-wheel ... [ Read More » ]
“The National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS), conducted from 2005 to 2007, was aimed at collecting on-scene information about the events an ... [ Read More » ]
“NCHRP Report 811 provides state departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) with a practical, field-tested guideb ... [ Read More » ]
“Rural roadway safety is an important issue for communities throughout the country and presents a challenge for state, local, and Tribal agencies. The Imp ... [ Read More » ]
Improving Safety on Rural Local and Tribal Roads Site Safety Analysis – User Guide #1
“Rural roadway safety is an important issue for communities throughout the country and presents a challenge for state, local, and Tribal agencies. The Imp ... [ Read More » ]
Improving Safety on Rural Local and Tribal Roads Network Safety Analysis – User Guide #2
“Rural roadway safety is an important issue for communities throughout the country and presents a challenge for state, local, and Tribal agencies. The Imp ... [ Read More » ]
Traffic Safety Facts 2012 Data: Rural/Urban Comparison
This fact sheet contains a rural/urban comparison of statistics on motor vehicle fatal crashes based on data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). ... [ Read More » ]
DDACTS Data Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety Operational Guidelines
Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) is a law enforcement operational model supported by a partnership among the Department of Transporta ... [ Read More » ]
“This study examines changes over time in the numbers and rates of police-reported crashes involving passenger vehicles (cars, pickup trucks, vans, miniva ... [ Read More » ]
“This Research Brief provides updated statistics on rates of crashes, injuries and death per mile driven in relation to driver age based on the most recen ... [ Read More » ]
Road Safety Information Analysis
“This Research Brief provides updated statistics on rates of crashes, injuries and death per mile driven in relation to driver age based on the most recen ... [ Read More » ]
“Road Safety Audits/Assessments (RSAs) have proven to be an effective tool for improving safety on and along roadways. As such, the use of RSAs continues ... [ Read More » ]
“Road Safety Audits/Assessments (RSAs) have proven to be an effective tool for improving safety on and along roadways. As such, the use of RSAs continues ... [ Read More » ]
Implementing the High Risk Rural Roads Program
“Road Safety Audits/Assessments (RSAs) have proven to be an effective tool for improving safety on and along roadways. As such, the use of RSAs continues ... [ Read More » ]
“Road Safety Audits/Assessments (RSAs) are an effective tool for proactively improving the future safety performance of a road project during the planning ... [ Read More » ]
“Road Safety Audits (RSAs) are an effective tool for proactively improving the future safety performance of a road project during the planning and design ... [ Read More » ]
“This report is recommended to highway design engineers, bridge engineers, safety engineers, maintenance engineers, researchers, hardware developers, and ... [ Read More » ]