Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Instructions and Recommendations: Coordinate with at least two colleagues within your practice domain (e.g., planning, design, law enforcement) and at least two colleagues each for other practice domains (e.g., policy, operations and maintenance, post-crash response) to discuss and arrive at an agreement on the extent to which your Safe System or safety coalition has implemented strategies outlined in the Strategy table. Consult with the Score Interpretation section at the end of this assessment to discern where your coalition stands with respect to Safe System implementation. Consider referencing and recompleting this assessment each year to inform your coalition’s improvement efforts and to document your progress toward implementing a Safe System.
Date of the assessment:
Name of Safe System (or Safety) coalition:
Score
Meaning
0
The strategy has not yet been implemented.
1
The strategy has started to be implemented within the past 6 months.
2
The strategy has been implemented for between 6 and 12 months.
3
The strategy has been implemented and has been the way we do things for at least the past 12 months.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Strategy
0
1
2
3
Score
Policy
Example Practice(s)
Advance adaptive safety policies
Adjusting policies automatically based on anticipated events; Conducting regularly scheduled policy review; Diversifying the types of implemented policies
Build up Safe System-consistent practices AND break down inconsistent practices
Allocating revenues generated from speed safety and red-light-running cameras to filling network gaps in safety infrastructure, especially in areas that have not been involved in decision-making to date
Provide reliable and protective system redundancies
Pairing automated vehicle lane-keeping technology with cable-wire barriers on the edges of rural roads
Policy Total
Planning
Example Practice(s)
Start from a collective vision for a Safe System
Defining what the future of the system should be and implementing policies that can help bring about desired changes
Vertically and horizontally integrate planning
Embedding Safe System principles across policy, network planning, and implementation of street design projects (vertical integration)
Requiring transportation planners and urban designers to coordinate their site plan reviews, corridor audits, and street standard policies with local land-use planners (horizontal integration)
Clearly define the functionality of roads
At a network level, determining which roadways will serve an access function and which will serve a mobility function, striving not to blend access and mobility where possible
Separate motor vehicle networks from active transportation networks
At a network level, separating motor vehicle traffic from vulnerable road users as vehicle speeds and volumes increase
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Strategy
0
1
2
3
Score
Design
Example Practice(s)
Institute self-explaining/enforcing roads
Designing roads with the same function, speed profile, and type of road users to (a) look similar, (b) look different from roads with different functions, speed profiles, and types of road users, and to (c) clearly communicate the desired driver behavior on a route
Design around human tolerances to crash forces
If vehicle-to-vehicle crashes could conceivably happen at angles of 90o or greater, introducing design speeds to not exceed 30 mph, and if vulnerable road users are exposed to vehicles, introducing design speeds to not exceed 20 mph
Physically separate fast-moving motor vehicles from vulnerable road users
Providing physical protection (e.g., via curbs, barriers, planters or bollards) to protect vulnerable road users along roads, and grade separation between road users of different masses and speeds at intersections
Design Total
Operations and Maintenance
Example Practice(s)
Separate road users of different mass, directions, and speeds in time
Providing discrete and alternating temporal opportunities for users to safely navigate the roadway (e.g., left-turn signal phasing, coordinated signal timing, leading pedestrian intervals)
Adapt road operations to changing environmental and social conditions
Regularly tracking operations performance and adjusting as needed (e.g., every three years or more often)
Inventory and manage infrastructure assets to sustain safety-related efficacy
Developing and maintaining a physical asset inventory and subsequently repairing or replacing assets that have degraded
Operations and Maintenance Total
Law Enforcement
Example Practice(s)
Work collaboratively to investigate serious crashes and share contextual insights
Coordinating with professional and community partners to identify the network of factors that shape road users’ behaviors that result in serious crashes, and share results of the investigations with the public and policymakers
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Strategy
0
1
2
3
Score
Enforce road-user protective policies
Preventing drunk driving (e.g., by installing ignition interlocks for all drivers convicted of driving under the influence) in addition to issuing fines for impaired driving
Observe, document, and share risk patterns with road designers and planners
Observing, documenting, and sharing risk patterns with road designers and planners to inform safety infrastructure improvements
Law Enforcement Total
Post-Crash Response
Example Practice(s)
Invest in crash notification and communications
Instituting advanced automatic crash notification (AACN) systems that share information on the probable injury severity of crash-involved parties with call centers
Strengthen prehospital care functions
Shoring up roadside and in emergency vehicle care provision via pre-hospital care training and resourcing
Enhance safety investments via research and sharing trauma and road safety data
Connecting trauma with police-reported crash data to improve decision-making on emergency medical care, vehicle designs that reduce injury impacts to occupants and vulnerable road users, and safety infrastructure investments
Post-Crash Response Total
Grand Total (across all Domains)
Score Interpretation
Total Possible Score = 57
0–14: Exploration. In this phase, Safe System coalition members assess and create readiness for change through an appreciation of how each role’s leadership, resources, interorganizational coordination, and funding play in experimenting with Safe System strategies and practices across the domains of Safe System: policy, planning, design, operations and maintenance, law enforcement, and post-crash response.
15–28: Installation. In this phase, Safe System coalition members acquire or repurpose the resources (e.g., hiring and training staff) needed to fully and effectively install Safe System–aligned strategies and practices. Topics discussed in the Exploration phase—and often captured in safety action plans (promises made)—become realized in the Installation phase (promises kept), wherein coalition members begin implementing Safe System strategies and practices.
29–43: Initial Implementation. In this phase, Safe System coalition members attempt to use newly learned Safe System strategies and practices within organizations just learning how to adjust to and support new ways of planning, designing, operating, and maintaining safe roadways. This stage includes staff developing their Safe System competencies and organizational administrators rearranging roles and functions to align with Safe System strategies and practices,
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
and leaders fully supporting the change to Safe System management via offering access to safety resources and training.
44–57: Full Implementation. In this phase, Safe System–aligned strategies and practices become the standard ways of understanding and improving safety via planning, design, operations, and maintenance. To sustain full implementation, leaders reliably provide Safe System coalition members with access to safety-based resources and training, and involved organizations work more effectively with one another via the sharing of data, funding, skills, and other resources. In full implementation, Safe System–aligned strategies and practices, along with their implementation supports (e.g., training, funding, leadership) become the new status quo.
Note: Full implementation of Safe System strategies and practices will likely require at least two (2) to four (4) years of committed work.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Abbreviations and acronyms used without definitions in TRB publications:
A4A
Airlines for America
AAAE
American Association of Airport Executives
AASHO
American Association of State Highway Officials
AASHTO
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix G: Safe System Strategy Implementation Self-Assessment." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/29147.
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A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations
2025
The Safe System approach is a holistic approach that provides a framework for making the U.S. national transportation system safer. It is based on building and reinforcing multiple layers of protection to prevent crashes from happening and minimize the harm caused when crashes occur. This safety approach differs from conventional ones because it focuses on human vulnerability and creates a system with many redundancies to protect all transportation users.
NCHRP Research Report 1135: A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations, from TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program, presents information for applying the Safe System approach among state departments of transportation and other transportation agencies.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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