Local Road Safety Plan: Your Map to Safer Roadways

Approximately 75% of rural roads are owned by local agencies, and while local roads are less traveled than state highways they have a much higher rate of fatal and serious injury crashes. Developing a Local Road Safety Plan (LRSP) is an effective strategy to improving local road safety for all road users while also supporting the goals of a state’s overall Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP).

Although the development process and resulting plan can vary significantly depending upon local agency needs, available resources, and targeted crash types, aspects that are common to all LRSPs include:

• Stakeholder engagement representing the 4E’s: engineering, enforcement, education, and emergency medical services
  
  
• Collaboration among municipal, county, tribal, state, and/or federal entities to leverage expertise and resources
  
  
• Identification of target crash types and crash risk with corresponding recommended proven safety countermeasures
  
  
• Timeline and goals for implementation and evaluation
  
  

Local road agencies should consider developing an LRSP to be used as a tool for reducing roadway fatalities, injuries, and crashes. In California, agencies must complete an LRSP (or equivalent) as part of a compliance package to access Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) federal aid funds.

Ready to get started? The National Center for Rural Road Safety has prepared an excellent step-by-step guide to help you prepare a Local Road Safety Plan, and offers a collection of tools and videos to walk you through the process. Use these and the resources at the right to make your efforts efficient and successful.