FOCUS AREAS
SAFETY
DRAFT
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In pursuit of the overarching safety goal adopted in 2020, HATS safety planning efforts have focused on the elimination of traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by developing tools for analyzing safety trends, performing targeted studies to identify treatments or improvements to address issues, and cultivating partnerships with organizations and agencies in the region to implement those improvements. Whether physical construction projects, safety programs to address systemic issues, or education/enforcement initiatives to ensure the public knows and follows the rules of the road, accomplishing the HATS safety goal will require a multi-faceted, comprehensive approach involving a wide variety of regional stakeholders.
QUICK LINKS
CONDITIONS
CRASH DATA TRENDS —
Roadway deaths and serious injuries remain a significant issue across the country and the Tri-County Region is no exception. While performance measures use 5-year increments of crash data, a wider range of data is used for this analysis to show broader trends for the metrics associated with federal performance measure 1 (PM-1). More information is available in the RTP Performance Measures chapter.
The following figures show the trend of fatalities, serious injuries, and vulnerable road user fatalities & serious injuries from 2004-2023.
Figure 1 shows the long-term trend of declining traffic fatalities in the HATS region over the past 20 years. General safety enhancements to vehicles, safety improvement projects, and increased education and enforcement efforts have contributed to this trend.
Figure 2 shows the long-term trend of serious injuries in the HATS region. It is important to note that a modification of how crash-related injuries were classified and recorded lead to a significant increase in 2016. This modification made pre- and post-2016 crash-related injury numbers and statistics inappropriate for comparison. However, they are included in the data displayed in an effort to provide comprehensive, consistent crash-related information.
Figure 3 shows the long-term trend of increasing vulnerable road user fatalities and serious injuries in the HATS region. These increases are likely linked to changes in vehicular design, higher levels of walking & biking, and more conflicts between transportation modes. Preventing these crashes is a focus of both our safety and active transportation planning efforts.
Figure 1 - Total Fatalities
Figure 2 - Total Serious Injuries
Figure 3 - VRU Fatalities & Serious Injuries
Publicly available crash data can be explored with the TCRPC Safety Web Application, which provides an easy-to-use portal to examine publicly available crash data at any location in the region. The data can be filtered by jurisdiction (county, municipality), time (month, day of the week, time of day), crash type (rear-end, angle-crash, hit fixed object, etc) and other characteristics (fatality, serious injury, bike/ped, etc).
To view the region's fatal and serious injury crash data, click here for the interactive mapping application.
HATS REGIONAL SAFETY ACTION PLAN —
Click here to access the
HATS Safety Action Plan.
In September 2024, HATS adopted a regional Safety Action Plan, developed as part of the Safe Streets and Roads For All program, to enhance ongoing safety and equity work. The plan can be accessed here and is summarized with interactive data here. The vision of the regional Safety Action Plan is to eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes in the Tri-County Region by 2045 using USDOT’s Safe System approach. The Plan used data-informed analysis and consideration of community needs to develop recommendations addressing the issues described in the next section of this chapter. The Plan also considered the locations where the highest frequency of more severe crashes have historically occurred. These locations are known as the High Injury Network (HIN).
All reportable crashes (fatality, suspected serious injury, minor injury and property damage only), were used to develop the HIN. While all crashes were considered, more severe crashes were weighed higher than crashes that involved minor injuries or property damage only. This process results in an index for each roadway segment that can be compared to other roadway segments in the region.
Segments above a certain index threshold were considered part of the High Injury Network. In total, 29 corridors were identified as part of the HIN. Eleven of those corridors are located in Cumberland County and 18 in Dauphin County. The highest index in Perry County was well below the threshold, so there are no HIN corridors in Perry County.
As the High Injury Network is based on crash severity and not crash type, it is important to consider a variety of treatments. Because each corridor has different characteristics, road safety audits allow for a more thorough, context-sensitive evaluation for each identified corridor to see which treatments are appropriate. According to FHWA, a road safety audit is a “formal safety performance evaluation of an existing or future road or intersection by an independent, multidisciplinary team.”
To view the High Injury Network segments, click here for the interactive mapping application.
The Safety Action Plan also used PennDOT’s Highway Safety Network Screening tool. Network screening compares expected crash severity and frequency with historical crash data. This process is used by PennDOT to identify and prioritize locations that are likely to respond to safety improvement investments. The five highest priority intersections in the Tri-County region were identified through the network screening process. The process will be repeated with any update to PennDOT’s Highway Safety Network Screening Tool.
ISSUES
Analyzing crash severity with the HIN helps to identify where crashes happen. To understand why crashes happen, the Safety Action Plan also included analyses based on crash types. Three types of crashes, or emphasis areas, have already been determined statewide and can be used as a starting point to identify issues for the Tri-County Region. These crash types are Lane Departures, Impaired Driving, and Vulnerable Road Users.
LANE DEPARTURES —
A lane departure is defined by FHWA as “a crash which occurs after a vehicle crosses an edge line or a center line, or otherwise leaves the traveled way”. Lane departure crashes can occur on any road. However, according to a previous analysis done statewide, they are most likely to happen on the curved sections of rural, two-lane roads.
As part of the Safety Action Plan, a systemic analysis of two-lane rural roads was conducted to identify 50 prioritized locations for installation of safety improvements. The list of prioritized locations is included in the Existing Conditions section of the Safety Action Plan.
To view the lane departure crash data, click here for the interactive mapping application.
IMPAIRED DRIVING —
Impaired driving crashes involve people who are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The crashes may occur on any road or street. Roadway characteristics do not tend to be closely correlated with impaired driving crashes.
It is particularly important to identify location patterns to implement successful, geographically focused education and enforcement campaigns. Therefore, an analysis was conducted to identify where impaired driving crashes occur near liquor-serving establishments. Results are shown on a map included in the Existing Conditions section of the Safety Action Plan.
To view the impaired driving crash data, click here for the interactive mapping application.
VULNERABLE ROAD USERS —
Vulnerable road users (a category that includes pedestrians and bicyclists) are at a much greater risk of suffering a fatality or serious injury when involved in a crash as compared to drivers. In collisions involving a bicyclist, 21% resulted in a fatal or suspected serious injury, and 26% of pedestrian-involved collisions resulted in the same injury severity. By comparison, 6% of lane departure crashes and 12% of impaired driving crashes resulted in a fatal or suspected serious injury.
In 2023, PennDOT published an assessment identifying nearly 200 statewide high-risk areas for fatalities and serious injuries involving people walking or biking. High-risk areas identified in the statewide assessment were included in the Safety Action Plan, and additional priority areas were identified using the same methodology.
To view the vulnerable road user crash data, click here for the interactive mapping application.
ACTIONS
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Perform analyses and studies on the High Injury Network segments to identify appropriate safety measures and develop programmable improvement projects
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Implement improvements at locations with high concentrations of lane departure crashes
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Improve bicycle and pedestrian safety along identified Vulnerable Road User segments
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Coordinate with regional partners to develop programs, strategies, and enhanced enforcement to reduce impaired driving