The ways to improve highway safety

Traffic safety has been one of most critical transportation issues in USA. In past decades, transportation agencies at different government levels have spent great efforts to improve highway safety with the use of many types of countermeasures, including education, enforcement, and engineering countermeasures. The combined efforts have resulted in the continuous reduction in highway fatal crash rates. This paper presents the current traffic safety situation in USA and discusses research results from several research projects, including leading causes of motor vehicle fatal crashes, cost impacts of traffic crashes, traffic safety issues and concerns of special population, traffic safety issues opinion survey, and strategy highway safety plan. The main purpose of this paper is to provide summarized information related to highway safety in USA to transportation professionals working in the similar fields.