National Center for Rural Road Safety

Virtual, Mini-conference

The National Center for Rural Road Safety announces their inaugural ½ day, virtual, mini-conference on Applying the Safe System Approach for Rural. The mini-conference will be held on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 and will consist of three separate 1.5 hour sessions spaced 30 minutes apart. The mini-conference will be free and will be recorded and available as an archive on our website.

For more details and to register for each of the three sessions, see below. Instructions on accessing each session will be sent after your registration is confirmed.

Applying the Safe System Approach for Rural Mini-Conference Session 1: Overview on Applying the Safe System Approach for Rural

Wednesday, January 28th, 9:00 am to 10:30 am MT/11:00 am to 12:30 pm ET

In this portion of the mini-conference, you will learn the basics of the Safe System Approach for rural areas. This includes:

  • What the Safe System Approach is from both the traditional perspective (5 elements and 6 principles) and then from the public health pyramid perspective.
  • What traffic safety culture is and how to apply traffic safety culture and the Positive Cultural Framework into the Safe System Approach for rural.
  • How to gauge your agency’s and community’s readiness for implementing the Safe System Approach at the organizational level.

Click here to register >

Applying the Safe System Approach for Rural Mini-Conference
Session 2: Safer Road Users in the Rural Context

Wednesday, January 28th, 11:00 am to 12:30 pm MT/1:00 pm to 2:30 pm ET

In this portion of the mini-conference, you will learn examples for applying the Safe System Approach for safer road users in the rural context. This includes:

  • How to implement a rural focused program for safer road users.
  • Promising practices for preventing impaired driving in rural areas.
  • Narratives and message frames to employ toward inspiring more people in rural communities to better understand and appreciate road safety improvements.

 

Click here to register >

Applying the Safe System Approach for Rural Mini-Conference Session 3: Safer Roads in the Rural Context

Wednesday, January 28th, 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm MT/3:00 pm to 4:30 pm ET

In this portion of the mini-conference, you will learn examples for applying the Safe System Approach for safer roads in the rural context. This includes:

  • How to use FHWA’s Safe System Approach Design Hierarchy for the rural context.
  • Understanding self-explaining road design as it relates to suburban to rural facility transition zones.
  • Using crash data and kinetic energy principles to prioritize intersections for safety improvement.
 

Click here to register >
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