Noteworthy Practices for Cross-Agency Traffic Safety Coordination

Traffic-related fatalities are increasing. In 2021, traffic crashes accounted for over 1.7 million injuries and 42,939 fatalities in the United States. Ensuring the safety of roadways for travelers of all modes is a collaborative process that involves stakeholders across state and local government agencies, advocacy groups, research communities, and between the private and the public sectors. The goal of this project was to summarize noteworthy practices currently being used regarding data-driven safety coordination between counties and first responder agencies—especially coordination activities that leverage available data assets of local jurisdictions to benefit and maximize the resources of the first responder agencies. This goal was accomplished through a literature review and survey. The literature review included a national and Florida-wide scan of literature and other sources related to coordination between local jurisdictions and first responder agencies for roadway safety. A survey was sent to the 23 largest Florida counties by population (the top third) to identify their coordination practices with first responder agencies on roadway safety issues. Research findings relate to roadway safety data and data sharing, relevant safety strategies, noteworthy collaborations for roadway safety, the role of law enforcement in roadway safety, methods used for coordination on transportation safety, and obstacles encountered when coordinating between counties and first responder agencies. Using the survey findings, a set of suggestions to enhance coordination between counties and local first responder agencies on transportation safety were developed. Although this study was conducted in Florida the findings and suggestions of this study are relevant to understanding agency coordination on transportation the U.S. and internationally.