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 Highway Safety Program
Who we are: The ADD Highway Safety Program is a partnership with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) Highway Safety Program in regional efforts to reduce fatalities, injuries, and economic losses relating to traffic collisions in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The program is coordinated by the ADD Highway Safety Liaison.
What we do: The main focus of the ADD Highway Safety Program is to work in the coordinated partnership as an extension of the KYTC’s Highway Safety Program through the use of the four "Es" of Safety: Engineering, Enforcement, Education, and Emergency Response. This focus will be carried out through Emphasis Area Task Teams, and will be under the direction of the Department of Transportation Safety. The KYTC Department of Transportation Safety Traffic Safety Data Service is responsible for conducting a review of roadway, collision, and other pertinent highway safety information. This review will identify highway safety emphasis areas to be addressed by Emphasis Area Task Teams. The Tasks Teams are comprised of members from a variety of disciplines, depending on the tasks to be addressed. Task teams will establish safety improvement goals, select countermeasures, develop implementation plans, and set performance measures. Task team activities are data-driven and outcome oriented. The PADD Highway Safety Liaison is integrated into these task teams. The intent is to maintain an adequate and comprehensive local, regional, and state public involvement process through the Emphasis Area Task Teams and ADD Highway Safety Programs. One of the tasks designated to the Highway Safety Program from 2004 through 2006 were seat belt surveys, 609 of which are done statewide. These sites are chosen by the Kentucky Transportation Center, in an effort to represent each functional class of roadway in each county. The KTC chose 43 sites in the Purchase Area, which were to be surveyed for 2 hours at each location. The results are shown in the seat belt survey folder located at the FTP site at the bottom of the page, along with state and national survey results from the same period. The state of Kentucky ranks 47th nationwide in seat belt usage. Approximately 66% of Kentucky’s drivers use their seat belts, according to the Kentucky Transportation Center’s own independent study. Unrestrained vehicle occupants account for 66% of the fatalities that occur. These kind of numbers put a spotlight on a primary seat belt law, which, according to a report by the KTC, has been shown to raise usage in other states a minimum average of 11%. Using a number of factors, including this percentage and the 2004 fatality count of 964, it is also estimated that a minimum of 62 lives would be saved in Kentucky the first year of enactment. Also, an additional result would be a windfall of hundreds of millions in various economic costs for the state, due to the lessened severity of the crashes on the occupants. This includes insurance costs, which affects nearly every citizen in the state. Another benefit is the recent federal highway reauthorization bill (SAFETEA-LU) included an incentive for states with or enacting a primary seat belt law. Kentucky’s share is $11.2 million. Due to these incentives, the Kentucky General Assembly passed primary seat belt legislation in 2006. An ongoing effort among several local and state agencies is the construction of a Rollover Simulator for the Purchase region. The project started with significant donations from Key Auto and Carroll Tire in Murray, and Meadows Towing in Paducah. A $7,500 grant was applied for by the PADD and received from the Governor’s Highway Safety Program to fund the material costs of a rollover simulator, which is essentially a pickup truck cab that spins like a rotisserie, simulating a rollover crash. Dummies, which represent the human occupants, remain stationary when buckled. When unbuckled, however, they toss around the inside of the cab, and typically exit through the windows. The Murray State University Department of Agriculture agreed to build this at no charge. Upon completion, the demonstrator is to be donated to Kentucky State Police Post 1, who will be able to use it in events throughout their area. The ADD Highway Safety Program also involves working with local agencies conducting local educational programs such as child safety seat inspections and other highway safety demonstrations. Another aspect of the program involves the utilization of information provided by the KYTC Traffic Safety Data Service. Crash data, which is collected from both the state police and local agencies, is processed by KYTC. PADD requests the data, which is then integrated into GIS and plotted using the centerline road files. The result is crash maps, which are done county by county, with city insets. This data is available to local agencies upon request. Crash data from 2006 will not likely be available until sometime later in 2007. Assistance is also being provided to the Kentucky Transportation Center with their Safety Circuit Rider program. Calloway and Ballard counties were selected as focus counties by the KTC steering committee. PADD staff worked with KTC, Calloway, and Ballard County officials in identification of high crash areas on their county roads. A number of improvements were made by both the counties as a result of the program. The next Kentucky Lifesavers Conference was held on April 23-25, 2007. Please visit the website for more information if you are interested or would like to attend next year. The following FTP site has various information and pictures regarding our highway safety program and activities: |