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FHWA Home / Safety / HSIP / Safety Performance Management Measures Final Rules Overview

Safety Performance Management Measures Final Rules Overview

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Background

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and Safety Performance Management Measures (Safety PM) Final Rules in the Federal Register on March 15, 2016, with an effective date of April 14, 2016. The HSIP Final Rule updates the HSIP regulation under 23 CFR Part 924 to be consistent with MAP-21 and the FAST Act, and clarifies existing program requirements. The Safety PM Final Rule adds Part 490 to title 23 of the Code of Federal Regulations to implement the performance management requirements in 23 U.S.C. 150.

The Safety PM rule supports the HSIP, as it establishes safety performance measures to carry out the HSIP and to assess serious injuries and fatalities on all public roads. Together, these regulations will improve data; foster transparency and accountability; and allow safety progress to be tracked at the national level. They will inform State DOT and MPO planning, programming, and decision-making for the greatest possible reduction in fatalities and serious injuries.

HSIP Final Rule

The HSIP is a core Federal-aid program with the purpose to achieve a significant reduction in fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads. The HSIP requires a data-driven, strategic approach to improving highway safety on all public roads that focuses on performance. The HSIP regulation under 23 CFR 924 establishes FHWA's HSIP policy, as well as program structure, planning, implementation, evaluation and reporting requirements for States to successfully administer the HSIP. The HSIP Final Rule contains three major policy changes related to: (1) the HSIP report content and schedule, (2) the Strategic Highway Safety Plan update cycle, and (3) the subset of the model inventory of roadway elements (MIRE), also known as the MIRE fundamental data elements.

Content and Schedule of the HSIP Report

The HSIP report schedule remains the same; the HSIP and Railway-Highway Crossing Program reports are due on August 31st each year. All States must now use FHWA's online reporting tool to submit their annual reports.

In addition to the existing reporting requirements, the HSIP Final Rule also requires States to describe in their annual reports the progress toward achieving safety outcomes and performance targets, including:

Strategic Highway Safety Plan Update Cycle

The HSIP Final Rule requires States to update their SHSP at least once every 5 years, consistent with the current state of the practice. The first SHSP update is due no later than August 1, 2017.

Model Inventory of Roadway Elements (MIRE)

Roadway Category Number of MIRE
Fundamental
Data Element
Non-local paved roads 37
Local paved roads 9
Unpaved roads 5

States must collect and use the MIRE fundamental data elements on all public roads to support enhanced safety analysis and safety investment decision-making. The HSIP Final Rule establishes three categories of MIRE fundamental data elements based on functional classification and surface type, as shown in the table. States must incorporate specific quantifiable and measurable anticipated improvements for the collection of MIRE fundamental data elements into their Traffic Records Strategic Plan by July 1, 2017, and have access to the complete collection of the MIRE fundamental data elements by September 30, 2026.

Safety PM Final Rule

The Safety PM Final Rule supports the data-driven performance focus of the HSIP. The Safety PM Final Rule establishes five performance measures to carry out the HSIP: the five-year rolling averages for: (1) Number of Fatalities, (2) Rate of Fatalities per 100 million VMT, (3) Number of Serious Injuries, (4) Rate of Serious Injuries per 100 million VMT, and (5) Number of Non-motorized Fatalities and Non-motorized Serious Injuries.

These safety performance measures are applicable to all public roads regardless of ownership or functional classification. The Safety PM Final Rule also establishes a common national definition for serious injuries.

State Targets

States will establish statewide targets for each of the safety performance measures. States also have the option to
establish any number of urbanized area targets and one non-urbanized area target for any or all of the measures.
Targets will be established annually, beginning in August 2017 for calendar year 2018. For common erformance
measures (number of fatalities, rate of fatalities and number of serious injuries), targets must be identical to the targets established for the NHTSA Highway Safety Grants program. The State DOT must also coordinate with the MPOs in the State on establishment of targets, to the maximum extent practicable. States will report targets to the FHWA in the HSIP report due in August of each year.

MPO Targets

MPOs will establish targets for the same five safety performance measures for all public roads in the MPO planning area within 180 days after the State establishes each target. The targets will be established in coordination with the State, to the maximum extent practicable. The MPO can either agree to support the State DOT target or establish a numerical target specific to the MPO planning area. MPOs' targets are reported to the State DOT, which must be able to provide the targets to FHWA, upon request.

Met or Made Significant Progress Determination

A State is considered to have met or made significant progress toward meeting its safety targets when at least 4 of the 5 targets are met or the outcome for the performance measure is better than the baseline performance the year prior to the target year. Optional urbanized area or non-urbanized area targets will not be evaluated. Each year that FHWA determines a State has not met or made significant progress toward meeting its performance targets, the State will be required to use obligation authority equal to the baseline year HSIP apportionment only for safety projects. States must also develop a HSIP Implementation Plan.

Additional Information

The HSIP and Safety PM Final Rules are available at www.regulations.gov (Dockets: FHWA-2013-0019 and FHWA-2013- 0020). FHWA will issue supplemental guidance to support implementation of the HSIP and Safety PM Final Rules.


Additional information related to the HSIP and Safety PM Final Rules can be found at http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/hsip/tpm/.

Page last modified on February 8, 2018
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