Safety & Operations

The Safety and Operations program finds sustainable solutions for improving rural highway safety and operations in key areas including human factors in driving crashes on rural highways and integration of rural ITS.

The mission of the Safety and Operations program is to be at the forefront of the national momentum to address safety and operational challenges in rural America. Our goal is to develop sustainable solutions to improve safety and operations through innovation and research in several areas, including:

  • Human factors as related to driver performance, highway design, information system, special users, education and training;
  • ITS planning, demonstration, deployment, and evaluation;
  • Traffic safety improvement through engineering, education, enforcement and EMS.
  • Development of tools to better monitor and assess traffic operations on rural highways
  • Traffic control and safety during nonrecurring events (e.g., extreme weather conditions, work zones, traffic-related incidents, special events, natural disasters);
  • and Supporting multi-agency transportation system management and coordination efforts;

The program consists of emphasis areas in safety, operations and human factors.