Houston, Texas, Metropolitan Traffic Safety Planning Program

Abstract

The metropolitan traffic safety planning program of the Houston–Galveston Area Council in Texas monitors safety in the eight-county region, identifies hazardous locations, and supports other safety efforts. With a spatial crash information system, safety analysis is conducted of counties, cities, roadways, and hot spots. Particular attention is paid to crashes involving fatalities, injuries, speeding, red light running, teenagers, driving under the influence, pedestrians, bicyclists, trucks, and railroad trains. Much of the effort involves distributing information about safety to local governments and to the public at large. In collaboration with local governments and with the Texas Department of Transportation, engineering analysis is conducted of specific safety hot spots to recommend measures to mitigate crashes. Partnerships are created to widen the scope of safety efforts in the region. In addition, major crash hot spots have been identified and are included in the long-range transportation plan. Finally, a Regional Safety Council has been established to allow a policy forum for integrating the various safety efforts of transportation, medical, law enforcement, industry, nonprofit, and other organizations. An annual safety summit is being planned, as are safety training courses for local governments.