WTI Presents Implementation Tools and Solutions at NRITS Conference

Steve Albert (seated far right on dais) at the opening session of NRITS
Steve Albert (far right on dais) at the opening session of NRITS

WTI Researchers traveled to Fort McDowell, Arizona last week for the National Rural Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference and Exhibit, held in conjunction with the 25th Anniversary of ITS Arizona, which focused on the theme of “Creating ITS Implementation Solutions for All Communities.”

WTI helped launch NRITS more than 25 years ago, and staff members continue to play a leading role by sharing their expertise at the annual forum. WTI Director Steve Albert opened the conference at the plenary session, presenting a history of NRITS and a eulogy for longtime NRITS champion, Bill Legg of Washington DOT.  Later in the conference, Steve led the “Roundtable on Rural ITS,” which offered an overview of the challenges and opportunities facing rural areas interested in developing and implementing new transportation technologies.  At the workshop on “Utilizing ITS for Rural Road Safety,” Natalie Villwock-Witte presented the Rural ITS Toolkit, which was recently updated by WTI staff through the National Center for Rural Road Safety. David Kack was a speaker at the “Multimodal Transportation Technology” workshop, where he presented on the Wyoming Intercity Bus Study, which provides a model for finding and filling transit gaps in rural areas, and Doug Galarus spoke at the “Rural ITS Weather Applications” workshop, where he presented on the Aviation Weather Information (AWI) system developed for the California Department of Transportation.

Bicycle/Pedestrian Planning Highlighted at Society of Women Engineers Conference

Sara Dunlap (MnDOT), Dorian Grilley (BikeMN), and Natalie Villwock-Witte at the Society of Women Engineers Conference
Sara Dunlap (MnDOT), Dorian Grilley (BikeMN), and Natalie Villwock-Witte

At the annual meeting of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) in Minneapolis in October, WTI Researcher Natalie Villwock-Witte and her research partners at Minnesota Department of Transportation and Bike Minnesota were invited to lead a presentation entitled “Bicycles and Pedestrians: Advocacy, Planning, and Research.” Known as the “The World’s Largest Conference for Women Engineers,” SWE is attended by more than 10,000 engineers, students, and industry leaders.

New Publications Released on Traffic Safety Culture and Traffic Safety Citizenship

A Strategic Approach to Transforming Traffic Safety Culture to Reduce Deaths and Injuries

The Transportation Research Board’s (TRB’s) National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has released the results of a national study on traffic safety culture, led by P.I. Nic Ward of the Center for Health and Safety Culture and Cambridge Systematics. “A Strategic Approach to Transforming Traffic Safety Culture to Reduce Deaths and Injuries” provides guidance to state transportation agencies on how to transform the traffic safety culture of road users and stakeholders, with the long-term goal of sustaining improvements in traffic safety for all road users. Background information is available on the project webpage. The report is available at http://nap.edu/25286

Citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. A Strategic Approach to Transforming Traffic Safety Culture to Reduce Deaths and Injuries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25286.

The Role of Social Capital in Traffic Safety Citizenship

Kari Finley Ph.D., Jay Otto M.S., and Nic Ward Ph.D. with the Center for Health and Safety Culture (CHSC) at Montana State University have published an article in the International Journal of Interdisciplinary Civic and Political Studies. The article titled “The Role of Social Capital in Traffic Safety Citizenship” focuses on two traffic safety citizenship behaviors: asking a passenger to wear a seat belt and asking a driver to stop texting on a cell phone while driving and explores the role of social capital to facilitate engagement in these behaviors with strangers. Results indicate that social capital may influence engagement in traffic safety citizenship behaviors. This project was conducted in cooperation with the US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), as part of a Traffic Safety Culture Pooled Fund. The article is available through Open Access and can be found at The Role of Social Capital in Traffic Safety Citizenship or at https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/works/the-role-of-social-capital-in-traffic-safety-citizenship.

Citation- Finley, K., Otto, J. & Ward, N.J. (2018). The Role of Social Capital in Traffic Safety Citizenship. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Civic and Political Studies 13:2, 29-41. doi:10.18848/2327-0071/CGP/v13i02/29-41.

Coming up Soon! December Summit will Focus on Rural Road Safety

Banner image promoting National Summit on Rural Road Safety, December 4-6, 2018. Photo depicts first responders assisting at a traffic accident

Following a highly successful inaugural forum in 2016, the National Center for Rural Road Safety and the National Association of County Engineers will host the 2nd National Summit on Rural Road Safety from December 4-6, in Savannah, Georgia.  At the first summit, more than 100 attendees from around the country collaborated on defining the future for “Moving Rural America” by articulating the key transportation safety issues facing rural areas, culminating in a call to action of “On the Road to Zero, We Cannot Ignore Rural.”

For the second summit, participants will continue to move the rural conversation forward and focus more intently on safety solutions and “Bridging the Gap.”  Some of the key questions they will tackle include how to create a unified voice for rural areas, and how to implement safety solutions with rural constraints.

“After the first summit, participants were encouraged by the progress we made to develop an initial action plan and they wanted to keep the momentum going,” said Safety Center Manager Jaime Sullivan. “At the upcoming summit, we’re looking forward to taking the next step of how to select and implement safety solutions that will make a real difference on rural roads.”

If you’re interested in attending, early bird registration closes on November 12!  The agenda and registration information are available here.

Major Milestones

Photo of WTI staff members receiving service awards at Montana State University ceremony
Susan Gallagher, Kathy Rich, Jamie DuHoux and Leann Koon receive service awards from MSU President Waded Cruzado

Congratulations to the WTI staff members who were recognized last week for their years of service to Montana State University.  Many of them were able to attend the Milestones in Service ceremony on October 2, during which they received congratulations and service awards from MSU President Waded Cruzado.  Thanks to all of you for your (combined) 75 years of dedication and contributions to WTI and MSU!

Jamie DuHoux – 20 years

Susan Gallagher – 15 years

Marcel Huijser – 15 years

Leann Koon – 10 years

Jamie Arpin – 5 years

Karalyn Clouser – 5 years

Kathy Rich – 5 years

 

New Publication on the Effects of Wildlife Fencing

Photo of wildlife fencing along a segment of rural highway
Wildlife fencing

Road Ecology Researcher Marcel Huijser and his colleagues have a newly published journal article in Biological Conservation.  “A fence runs through it: A call for greater attention to the influence of fences on wildlife and ecosystems” is one of the first empirical investigations of the interactions between fences, wildlife, ecosystems, and societal needs. It illustrates the global prevalence of fencing, outlines fence function and common designs, reviews the pros and cons of fencing relative to wildlife conservation, and identifies knowledge gaps and research needs in fence ecology. The full article is available at online.

CITATION: Jakes, A.F., P.F. Jones, L.C. Paige, R.G. Seidler & M.P. Huijser. 2018. A fence runs through it: A call for greater attention to the influence of fences on wildlife and ecosystems. Biological Conservation 227: 310-318.

NEW PROJECT: CHSC to Develop Safety Culture Training Modules

Transportation, law enforcement, and public health organizations are showing growing interest in incorporating the principles of traffic safety culture into their safety programs.  As a result, there is new demand for training materials on these topics for engineers, planners, emergency responders, public health professionals, and other practitioners.

Through this project, the Center for Health and Safety Culture will create three safety culture trainings for safety staff. The training modules will cover the basics of safety culture, organizational safety culture and road user safety culture.  CHSC will develop supporting materials, such as a facilitator guide, videos, interactive handouts, and assessment tools.  These modules will be made available to the Local Technical Assistance Programs (LTAPs) in each state, expanding access to culture-based training throughout the country.

As the project progresses, more information will be available on the CHSC website and the WTI project page.

NEW PROJECT: Helping DOTS Create a Strong Safety Culture

Many state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) have adopted the Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) vision as part of their work towards the elimination of fatal and serious injury crashes.  These efforts are facilitated when a DOT has a strong, internal safety culture of its own.

The Center for Health and Safety Culture (CHSC) has initiated a research program to grow a strong safety culture among a cohort of DOTs by providing tools and guidance to assess and transform organizational safety culture to support safety programs and achieve the TZD vision.  These resources will include:

  • A standard measurement tool to assess the safety culture of each participating DOT;
  • A set of relevant strategies and a process for transforming identified aspects of the safety culture of the DOT;
  • A range of support services to help guide and support implementation; and
  • An evaluation of the effectiveness of the implemented transformation process.

CHSC will work with each DOT to develop and implement individualized tools.  This project will launch the effort with the North Dakota Department of Transportation, the first DOT to join the cohort study.  CHSC will provide research services to NDDOT and administer the NDDOT Safety Culture Training which encourages new resources and novel strategies to work towards the elimination of fatal and serious injury crashes.

As the project progresses, more information will be available on the CHSC website and the WTI project page.