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September 2006
Summer Institute addresses themes, strategies for rural safety center
James Oberstar
Lee Munnich
Tom Horan
Nic Ward
Max Donath
Cynthia Burbank
Anthony Kane
Michael Halladay
Three dozen leading state and national transportation officials, researchers, policymakers, and professionals joined U.S. Rep. James L. Oberstar in Duluth on July 24 and 25 to develop strategies for improving rural safety.
This was the first meeting of an annual Summer Institute that figures prominently into plans for supporting the newly established Center for Excellence in Rural Safety, led by Lee Munnich of the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. CTS, with staff leadership from director of communications and outreach Gina Baas, is collaborating with the Humphrey Institute to provide the Center’s outreach services, including coordination of the Summer Institute. Other partners include the School of Information Systems and Technology (Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California) and the New England Transportation Institute (White River Junction, Vermont).
“Rural roads have the highest traffic fatality rate in the nation,” Oberstar said, offering insight into several pressing issues facing rural America. He led the charge for attendees to dive into the two days ahead packed with presentations, discussion, and strategizing. “What we need is a comprehensive view, not just a patchwork approach to rural transportation safety. That’s what this Center is intended to do.”
Congress created the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety in July 2005 as part of a broader, multiyear, multimillion-dollar directive establishing four national centers for surface transportation excellence in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) transportation funding legislation.
Oberstar, a long-time champion of rural transportation issues, stressed the need to transform rural America with the same energy and thinking that went into the creation of the interstate highway system.
The mission of the new Center is to provide citizen-centered research, training, and outreach to enhance rural safety and meet the online and seminar training needs of rural transportation practitioners and policymakers. The Center will conduct several focused research activities exploring policy, behavioral, and technology approaches, such as projects addressing safety-conscious planning, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and rural emergency response, integrated policy approaches, related human factors, societal trends, and stakeholder needs analysis.
Center director Munnich, also director of the Humphrey Institute’s State and Local Policy Program, emphasized the importance of building strategic collaborations to leverage a wealth of existing research and expertise in rural safety while also carving out areas the Center can focus on most effectively. “Part of what we need to do is to get messages to policy leaders about why this is such an important issue,” he added.
Research director Tom Horan, a visiting scholar at the Humphrey Institute and executive director of the Claremont Information and Technology Institute, described the purpose of the Summer Institute as building awareness about the Center among its many stakeholders and collaborating to finalize research themes and focus areas. The ultimate goal, he said, is to develop policy recommendations for decision makers. He outlined in detail a three-part, five-year plan built around behavioral, technology, and policy issues related to rural transportation safety.
A panel comprising mostly University of Minnesota researchers provided an overview of rural traffic safety issues and their effects. Nic Ward, director of the HumanFIRST Program at the University, probed the behavior of rural drivers and the relationship to traffic safety. Mechanical engineering professor Max Donath, director of the ITS Institute at CTS, added a technological perspective to the research panel, updating attendees on the latest tools and systems to help drivers avoid crashes. Horan presented his research into rural emergency response systems.
Another panel supplied a national perspective on current programs and research related to rural safety and suggested topics for future study. Panelists were Mike Halladay and Cynthia Burbank, Federal Highway Administration; Richard Compton, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; and Anthony Kane, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. “Highway safety is a top priority,” said Halladay. “We’re very excited about the tools and focus on rural safety that the Center is going to give us.”
During another panel, Thomas Adler and Matthew Coogan of the New England Transportation Institute (NETI) described current rural transportation research efforts in Vermont and presented opportunities for collaboration that will facilitate the national scope of the Center. Adler, co-founder and former director of NETI, will serve as technical advisor and liaison between the Center and NETI. In addition, NETI plans to host the Center’s 2007 Summer Institute.
Representatives from the Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths Program—Mn/DOT’s Susan Groth and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Kathryn Swanson—also discussed their state-level traffic safety activities and grassroots initiatives. TZD partners are key stakeholders for the new Center.
The forum included several brainstorming sessions on research, education, and outreach needs. Resulting strategies and directions will soon be available on a Center Web site.