In Iowa, hundreds of people die and thousands more are injured on our public roadways each year despite decades of efforts to end this suffering.
Past safety efforts have resulted in Iowans benefiting from one of the best state roadway systems in the nation. Due to multi-agency efforts, Iowa has achieved 90 percent compliance with the state’s mandatory front seat belt use law, earned the nation’s second-lowest percent of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes and made safety gains in system-wide roadway design and operational improvements.
Despite these ongoing efforts, the state’s annual average of 445 deaths and thousands of life-changing injuries is a tragic toll and an unacceptable public health epidemic in our state.
To save more lives on our roadways, Iowans must be challenged to think differently about lifesaving measures addressing young drivers, safety belts, and motorcycle helmet use and accept innovative designs such as roundabouts. Iowa must apply evidence-based strategies and create a safety culture that motivates all citizens to travel more responsibly. They must demand a lower level of tolerance for Iowa’s roadway deaths and injuries.
The Iowa Comprehensive Highway Safety Plan (CHSP) engages diverse safety stakeholders and charts the course for this state, bringing to bear sound science and the power of shared community values to change the culture and achieve a standard of safer travel for our citizens. The plan development stakeholders identified the following areas for emphasis in the Iowa Comprehensive Highway Safety Plan:
Top Five Safety Policy Areas
-
• Young drivers
• Occupant protection
• Motorcycle safety
• Traffic safety enforcement
• Traffic Safety Improvement Program
Top Eight Safety Program Areas
-
• Lane departure
• Safety corridors
• Intersections
• Local roads
• Crash data records
• Senior mobility
• Safety training and education
• Unpaved rural roads
How many roadway deaths and injuries are too many? Iowa’s highway safety stakeholders believe that, “One death is one too many” and effective culture-changing policy and program strategies must be implemented to help reduce this death toll from an annual average of 445 to 400 by the year 2015.
- Young drivers - Strengthen minor school license (MSL) and graduated driver's license (GDL) laws with stronger provisions that are proven to reduce specific risks and save lives.
- Occupant protection - Require occupant restraints in all automotive vehicle seating positions.
- Motorcycle safety - Restore a motorcycle helmet law.
- Traffic safety enforcement - Support traffic safety enforcement and adjudication with adequate resources.
- Traffic Safety Improvement Program – Increase Iowa Traffic Safety Improvement Program funding from 0.5 percent to a full 1 percent of Iowa’s Road Use Tax Fund.
- Lane departure - Enhance lane departure related design standards and policies (e.g., paved shoulders, rumble strips and median barriers).
- Safety corridors - Identify safety corridors and use multidisciplinary strategies to mitigate specific crash causes such as impairment, speeding, driver inattention, and other factors.
- Intersections - Promote innovative intersection designs, such as roundabouts and other configurations.
- Local roads - Create local multidisciplinary safety teams to identify and resolve local crash causes.
- State traffic records - Enhance data availability and use by all stakeholders.
- Senior mobility - Develop a single point of contact to help older persons and their caregivers navigate existing programs regarding changing mobility needs.
- Safety training and education - Provide state and local multidisciplinary traffic safety education programs for professionals and the driving public.
- Unpaved rural roads - Promote public awareness of the risks of driving on unpaved rural roads.
