Road Safety Education Opportunities

This module takes a look at the education and training opportunities available to road safety professionals.. The major topics include: • Federal education and training institutes; • Fed

Unit 2

History and

Institutional

Structures of

Road Safety

Management

Module 2.3 Road Safety Education

Opportunities

Road safety management structures and institutions

require skilled experts in a variety of fields and

disciplines How do we train these professionals? This

module takes a look at the education and training

opportunities available to road safety professionals

Learning Objective Duration: 40

Minutes

At the conclusion of this module, participants will be able to:

Describe road safety education and training opportunities available in the U.S.

This module describes the road safety education and

training opportunities available in the United States

The major topics include:

• Federal education and training institutes;

• Federal training programs;

• University-based education;

• Private industry education and training

opportunities; and

• Science-based road safety education

Educational opportunities in road safety are generally

insufficient, not comprehensive, and siloed according

to the agency or department supporting the offerings

Current federal and university-based education and

training lacks comprehensive coverage of the safety

core competencies and tends to focus on nominal

safety rather than science-based safety It is not

surprising safety courses are not comprehensive

because it is difficult to cover the core knowledge,

even at the most basic level, in a single course

However, several science-based tools and references

are available Federal, university, and private/nonprofit sector education needs to embrace the movement toward science-based decision-making and incorporate this knowledge into their curriculums For road safety to see marked improvements, efforts will need to be interdisciplinary and apply science-based approaches Current university-science-based education

is limited, both in engineering and public health, and many courses do not focus on science-based methods Therefore, it is important for safety professionals to be aware of the resources available to enhance their knowledge and skills beyond the basic core competencies through continuing education programs, short courses, and conferences

Many current road safety professionals are nearing retirement The lack of young safety professionals to replace the retiring workforce is one problem The second issue is the means of educating future highway safety professionals, which is perceived to be inadequate to meet future needs (Hauer, 2005) The need is particularly acute at present because the safety workforce is aging along with the Baby Boom generation and many key positions will be left vacant over the next decade Young professionals who are interested in safety as a profession must cobble their training and education experience together because there is no place to learn core safety knowledge We will discuss this further in this module

Safety professionals need to be aware of the resources available to enhance their knowledge and skills beyond the basic core competencies (e.g., engineering and public health schools, continuing education programs, short courses, and conferences) The primary method used today is on-the-job learning It is important to recognize this practice and understand the potential consequences

The National Highway Institute is a part of the Office of Professional and Corporate Development within the FHWA NHI is the training and education arm of FHWA, but partners with many organizations to provide training resources to customers and partners in every State NHI's goals are to: 1- Train the current and future transportation workforce; 2-Transfer knowledge quickly and effectively to and among transportation professionals; and 3-Provide training that addresses the full life cycle of the highway transportation system

Both public and private organizations have benefited from the NHI training resources Training materials are available for purchase from the NHI website and are available in hard copy and electronic formats NHI also offers both instructor-led and web-based courses They are listed in the NHI training catalog

The Transportation Safety Institute is a federal cost recovery agency that develops and conducts worldwide safety, security, and environmental training and provides products and services for both public and private sectors The Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), within the Department of Transportation, is the parent organization of TSI TSI was established in 1971 to help DOT modal administrations accomplish essential training requirements

The Institute offers transit, aviation, pipeline, motor carrier, highway safety, hazardous material, and risk management training nationally and internationally These training courses enable federal, state, and local highway safety professionals to learn enforcement of impaired driving laws; the design and management of highway safety programs; the delivery of emergency medical services; methods to encourage the use of safety belts, child safety seats, motorcycle and bicycle helmets and other safety systems; and assist in training other highway safety professionals

NTI at Rutgers University was established under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 to develop, promote, and deliver training and education programs for the public transit industry NTI’s mission is to provide training, education, and clearinghouse services in support of public transportation and quality of life in the United States NTI promotes, develops, and delivers programs and materials through partnerships with industry, government, institutions, and associations Resources include CD-ROM training, fact sheets, pocket guides, posters, reference guides, and videos NTI offers courses in several program areas including advanced technologies, management development, multimodal planning, transit management, and workplace safety FMCSA was established as a separate administration within the US DOT in 2000, pursuant to the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 FMCSA

implements educational strategies with messages aimed at all highway users including passenger car drivers, truck drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists Reductions in crashes involving commercial motor vehicles can be achieved when truck and bus companies, their drivers, bus passengers, and the public at large are all better informed about matters of safety and security regarding these large vehicles FMCSA manages a training academy for entry level enforcement and inspection personnel and offers addition training opportunities through classes, conferences, etc

Several federally-sponsored programs provide training and education to the safety workforce FHWA provides

a website through the Office of Safety and other resources through their professional capacity building program The Office of Safety training resources website is located at:

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/training/index.htm

The website provides informational guides as well as links to relevant sites to identify and access specific programs Safety-related publications and brochures are available for specific topics including bicycles, pedestrians, highway-rail grade crossings, motorcycles, older drivers, safety belts, work zones, and red light running

Local Technical Assistance Programs (LTAP) and Tribal Technical Assistance Programs (TTAP) provide support

to local and tribal governments, which often lack the necessary training and technology to effectively identify and address safety issues There is an LTAP center in every State and Puerto Rico as well as regional TTAP centers serving tribal governments The LTAP/TTAP centers provide a variety of resources including training programs, an information clearinghouse, new and existing technology updates, technical assistance, and newsletters The LTAP website provides a list of all LTAP centers with contact information and State-specific websites where available

FHWA also develops and delivers specialized training programs focused on specific topics (e.g., older driver guidelines, low cost safety improvements, NHTSA’s media training, etc.) Two programs currently offered

by FHWA include road safety audit and safety circuit

rider training These programs are delivered by personnel from Headquarters, the Divisions, the Resource Centers, etc The amount of training offered

by each of these entities varies widely across the country

Limited opportunities are available for science-based, multidisciplinary, multimodal road safety education in engineering and public health university programs within the United States A paper by Gross and Jovanis (2005) describes a survey of universities within the United States and an assessment of existing college-level courses in the fields of engineering and public health This section discusses the results of the university scan conducted by Gross and Jovanis (2005) and identifies some of the limited opportunities for university-based training and education related to specific skills and/or countermeasures

The university scan focused on transportation courses within civil engineering departments and injury prevention courses within public health programs An initial email-based survey was conducted to determine the presence of safety-related courses at universities across the United States Of the 117 engineering programs surveyed, 6 undergraduate and 23 graduate courses were self-identified as “safety courses” Of 34 public health and injury prevention programs, just 7 graduate courses were self-identified as “safety courses” After the initial assessment, the researchers questioned how many courses were actually safety-related as 6 of the 29 engineering courses did not include “safety” in the course title

Detailed course information (e.g., course outline, syllabus, reference materials, and notes) were reviewed to determine course content and relevance

to the current state-of-the-knowledge As revealed by the review of supplied curricula, safety content most often included an introduction to safety-related data (e.g., crash and fatality rates), basic safety engineering treatments (e.g., roadway and roadside design issues), and perhaps a discussion of crash countermeasures using the Haddon Matrix The shortcoming, as expected prior to the survey, is the frequent lack of analysis content and context for safety (e.g., the placing of safety within operations and design material, rather than as a discipline of its own, with important principles and basic concepts) The apparent lack of safety content was emphasized by the course references; several courses listed traditional engineering texts (e.g., Roess et al., 2004) and design guides (e.g., AASHTO Green Book and Highway Capacity Manual) rather than science-based safety texts (e.g., Evans, 1991; Hauer, 1997; and Shinar, 2007)

While the availability of traditional courses in road safety may be limited at the university level, several State agencies team with universities to provide professional development opportunities For example, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation partners with Pennsylvania State University each year

to hold a Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference for professionals from the State, local, university, and private sectors

In Virginia, the Department of Transportation funds the Transportation Safety Training Center, which is housed

at Old Dominion University The Center focuses training on accident investigation and traffic records analysis for state and local highway and public safety professionals Other examples include partnerships in Texas with the Texas Transportation Institute, Iowa with Iowa State University (Center for Transportation Research and Education), Michigan with the University

of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and the Highway Safety Research Center at the University of North Carolina The primary focus of these university-based centers, however, is on research and consulting services rather than training undergraduate and graduate students on road safety science and fundamentals

The Center for Injury Research and Policy at Johns Hopkins University provides formal training for public health students, continuing education for professionals, public information and education, and education for decision makers The education and training focuses on injury prevention with references to highway safety Specifically, the Injury Center houses a safe communities program Since 1996, the Center has served as the Central Maryland Regional Safe Communities Center (CMRSCC) for the Maryland Highway Safety Office The mission of the CMRSCC is

to promote traffic safety to reduce motor vehicle related injuries and fatalities and their associated costs

The Center for Injury Research and Control at the University of Pittsburgh provides formal training for public health students, continuing education for professionals, an archive of webinars on various injury topics, and support to education and research efforts

at local, state, and national levels The Center is

involved in collaborative activities with various departments and centers in the University setting, providing multidisciplinary training opportunities for individuals interested in highway safety More information related to available education and training courses can be found at: http://www.circl.pitt.edu/ Access to archived webinars can be found at:

This archive includes several seminars related to highway safety

The UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) is a research center led

by the Institute of Transportation Studies and the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley The mission of the center is to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries in California through multidisciplinary collaboration in education, research, and outreach SafeTREC faculty, staff, and associates conduct a wide range of research and provide technical assistance, such as human factors in crashes involving vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists; applications of intelligent intersection collision warning and control systems; and data analysis on traffic safety problems in California In addition, the TSC sponsors multidisciplinary courses on injury prevention and traffic safety in the School of Public Health and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and has developed partnerships with local governments, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and advocacy groups statewide

Local and state law enforcement academies are the primary source of education and training for public safety officers Numerous academies exist, many with their own websites A discussion of each academy is beyond the scope of this course; however, the Bureau

of Justice Statistics (BJS) conducted a census of law enforcement training academies in the United States for the first time in 2002 Results from the census are available on the BJS website Results include data on personnel, facilities and resources, trainees, and training curricula of law enforcement academies

Some university-based education opportunities are available that provide specialized training For example, the Institute of Police Technology and Management (IPTM) was established in 1980 to provide management, traffic, and specialized training

to municipal, county, state, and federal law enforcement officers The Institute has since become the largest police training center of its kind in the United States, annually training more than 14,000 officers Operating under the University of North Florida’s Training and Service Institute, IPTM presents training programs under contractual arrangements with government agencies throughout North America and abroad

In 1997, IPTM acquired the Public Safety Institute located in Orlando, Florida as an additional training facility The faculty consists of professionals who combine practical law enforcement skills with many years of police training experience and academic backgrounds necessary to train in-service law enforcement officers The full-time staff is supplemented by adjunct faculty from government, private industry, and the academic community IPTM training programs are specifically directed toward operational, supervisory, and command law enforcement personnel The courses are designed to improve skills and abilities in performing law enforcement tasks while, at the same time, introducing new developments in law enforcement areas The combination of skilled instructors and practical

hands-on training provides officers with a unique opportunity for meeting the needs of their agencies

Northwestern University Center for Public Safety was founded as the Traffic Institute in 1936 by an Evanston Police Commander Recognizing the need for continuing education and training for traffic professionals, Franklin Kreml established the Traffic Institute at Northwestern University While the nature

of highway safety has changed significantly since

1936, the need for continuing education has not The Institute has expanded the scope of education to include a comprehensive offering of crash investigation, police operations and management, and transportation engineering courses Training includes both instructor-led and web-based courses Law enforcement agencies also utilize the Institute for university-level research programs, technical assistance, and conferences on issues such as DUI The Traffic Institute has since been renamed the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety AAA, among its many other contributions, created the Foundation for Traffic Safety, which is dedicated to

saving lives and reducing injuries on the roads It is a not-for-profit, publicly-supported, charitable educational and research organization Since 1947, the Foundation has funded over 170 research projects to investigate the causes of traffic crashes and potential mitigation strategies to minimize the occurrence and outcome of crashes This research has been used to develop educational materials for drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and other road users

Since 1977, ATSSA has provided roadway safety education and training to the industry through the Roadway Safety Training Institute (RSTI) The institute provides a selection of comprehensive training and certification programs to the transportation industry including both traditional and current topics Safety topics include work zones, flagger training, traffic control for emergency responders, general traffic control, pavement markings, and law enforcement related to work zones, guardrail/barrier installation, and transit emergency management

Professional member organizations such as AASHTO, GHSA, AMPO, NARC, etc may offer limited training opportunities to their members For example, GHSA offers a program-specific course for new governor’s highway safety representatives and senior staff This course is directed toward program development, implementation, evaluation, and administration of Section 402, Highway Safety Programs While the course is safety-related, it is program-specific and not intended to provide comprehensive safety knowledge ITE provides a Professional Development Training Opportunities Clearinghouse, which is a database-driven source of information for locating professional development opportunities including seminars, Web seminars, online learning, and CD-ROM modules Examples of safety-related training topics include Engineering Intersections to Reduce Red-Light Running, Safety Analysis of Signalized Intersections, and Traffic Calming

Based on the university-scan by Gross and Jovanis (2005), several universities indicated the presence of safety courses in their curriculums Upon further review of course materials (e.g., course outline, syllabus, and reference material), it is evident many of the courses address nominal safety at best Nominal safety includes compliance with current standards,