Section 2: Highway Safety Plan (HSP)
Background
Each federal fiscal year (October 1 – September 30), the Texas
Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Traffic Safety Division -
Behavioral Traffic Safety Section (TRF-BTS), develops a state Highway
Safety Plan (HSP) to qualify for federal highway safety funding.
The HSP includes:
- The State’s response to the Section 405 National Priority Safety Program Grants qualification criteria.
- The State’s planned highway safety program for all funding sources for the upcoming fiscal year.
After Texas Transportation Commission approval has been obtained,
TRF-BTS submits the HSP to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) for approval in accordance with 23 C.F.R. Part 1300, Uniform
Procedures for State Highway Safety Grant Programs. NHTSA regional offices
are required to determine if the HSP is in compliance with Chapter
4 of Title 23 U.S.C. as amended by the Moving Ahead for Progress
in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), and Part 1300 - Uniform Procedures
for State Highway Safety Programs, and provide “best” practice recommendations
to support program progress.
Once the HSP is approved, NHTSA sends TxDOT a letter acknowledging
the State’s submission of the Performance Plan, HSP, Certificates
and Assurances, and Cost Summary comply with all federal requirements.
The HSP is due on July 1 annually, and is submitted to NHTSA for
review and approval.
Significant changes pertaining to the HSP were made in interim
federal regulations as a result of the passage of MAP-21 on July
6, 2012. A consolidated application process for the Section 402 program
and six national priority safety programs, codified into a single
section as the Section 405 program, was established effective with
the Fiscal Year 2014 application year.
Beginning in FY 2018, 23 C.F.R. Part 1200 was recoded
to 23 C.F.R. Part 1300, the part associated with NHTSA programs.
This section provides an overview of the traffic safety program
planning and development process used by TRF-BTS to develop the
annual HSP, which is the foundation of the State’s highway safety program.
Influencing Factors
Each fiscal year, at the beginning of the HSP development
process, traffic safety planners consider a number of factors in
determining project priorities and areas of emphasis. These factors
include:
- Federal legislation.
- State statutes.
- Federal and national priorities and goals.
- State and local problems.
Other influences can be federal and state legislative bodies,
community-based organizations, local and national interest groups,
state and local traffic safety related non-profit organizations,
and local governments. Projects can be proposed directly or indirectly
by members of any of these organizations. The key goal is to assure
that all projects in the Texas HSP are data driven and not solely responses
to political or community pressures.
From time to time, Congress designates or earmarks federal
highway safety funds for specific purposes and uses. Projects developed
in response to these earmarked funds must be data driven as well,
with the earmarked funds dedicated to the areas of the state with
the greatest threat to public safety.
The HSP is intergovernmental in nature, functioning either
directly or indirectly, through grant agreements, contracts, service
purchase orders, and requisitions. State and local sources analyze data
to identify traffic safety problems by identifying specific causes
of motor vehicle crashes (see “Problem Identification and Community
Assessment” in Section 3 of this chapter). They then submit proposals
to TxDOT TRF-BTS for grants to address the problems (see Chapter
3 of this manual for more information on Traffic Safety Project
Proposals).
A strong problem identification statement by an organization
requesting a grant defines the nature and magnitude of the problem
to be addressed, and is supported by verifiable and sourced data. Grant
requests also identify specific traffic safety problems through
archived and collected data from various sources, including community
assessments, traffic analyses, local speed and occupant restraint
use surveys, local law enforcement agencies, and hospital and emergency
room reports. The proposals must provide specifics on site location
(city, county, roadway section, statewide, etc.), population data,
target audience, and over or under-representation comparisons (i.e.,
either over or under state or federal level crash data, or over
or under the standard safety belt usage rate at the local level).
It is through the analysis and synthesis of the data described
above, and the stringent requirements placed on potential subgrantees
and contractors, that the State’s traffic safety problems are identified
and prioritized for inclusion in the annual Texas HSP.
TRF-BTS processes grant agreements and contracts for local
jurisdictions, other state agencies, educational institutions, and
non-profit organizations, and develops the HSP using the proposals approved
for funding. TRF-BTS then submits the proposed funding amounts for
the annual HSP to the Texas Transportation Commission for approval.
After Commission approval, an approved project list is issued.
Highway Safety Program Areas
The Texas HSP typically addresses 14 program areas. These
14 program areas form the framework for providing detailed descriptions
of the selected traffic safety projects. See the table below for
a complete listing of the HSP program areas with their respective
and applicable federal two-letter alpha character accounting code
designators.
Program Area # / Title (NHTSA
Accounting Code) | |
---|---|
01 | Planning and Administration
(PA) |
02 | Alcohol (AL) |
03 | Emergency Medical Services (EM) |
04 | Motorcycle Safety (MC) |
05 | Occupant Protection (OP) |
06 | Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety
(PS) |
07 | Police Traffic Services (PT) |
08 | Speed Control (SC) |
09 | Traffic Records (TR) |
10 | Driver Education (DE) |
11 | Railroad-Highway Crossings (RH) |
12 | Roadway Safety (RS) |
13 | Safe Communities (SA) |
14 | School Bus Safety (SB) |
TxDOT has designated additional priority program areas
as eligible for funding based on needs assessments and NHTSA approval.
Proposed projects must support the goals and strategies for the
program areas in the HSP. Grant agreements implement the HSP.
Program Funding
Funding of the project within the 14 program areas comes from
state and federal (NHTSA) sources, and from local cost sharing by
subgrantees.
Highway Safety Plan Development Process
The Texas HSP describes the processes used to identify the
State's traffic safety problems, establish performance measures,
and propose the projects and activities the State plans to implement
to reach its performance targets. Performance measures for each
target track progress from a baseline toward meeting the target
by the specified date.
The Texas highway safety planning process consists of six
stages:
- Planning to select or review program strategies and performance goals and measures.
- Problem Identification.
- Issuance of Request for Proposals.
- Internal Coordination.
- Review, Comment, and Approval.
- Implementation.
Explanations of these stages follow under separate subheadings.
Planning, Problem Identification, and Request for Proposals (Stages 1, 2, & 3)
Planning, Problem Identification, and Request for Proposals, the first three stages of the HSP process, include the steps shown in the following table.
Dates shown are approximate, and deadlines may vary from year to year.
Step | Responsible Party | Action | Approx. Date |
---|---|---|---|
1 | TRF | Conducts strategic planning every several years to review performance goals and strategies for the HSP. | May–June |
2 | TRF-BTS | Performs statewide and local problem identification. | Sept.–Oct. |
3 | TRF-BTS | Announces Highway Safety Request for Proposals (RFP), posts RFP on the TxDOT website, and publishes RFP in the Texas Register .Contacts law enforcement agencies regarding possible participation in STEP grants. | November |
See Section 3 of this chapter for more information on “Problem Identification.”
Internal Coordination (Stage 4)
Internal Coordination, the fourth stage of the HSP process, includes the steps shown in the following table.
Dates shown are approximate, and deadlines may vary from year to year.
Step | Responsible Party | Action | Approx. Date |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Local & State Agencies | Submit project proposals to TxDOT through eGrants. | January |
2 | TRF-BTS | Collects project proposals. | January |
3 | TRF-BTS | Reviews and scores all project proposals. | Jan.–Feb. |
4 | TRF-BTS | Shares proposal results with proposing agencies. | Mar.–Apr. |
Local community-based organizations, state agencies and other organizations submit their project proposals to TRF-BTS through the TxDOT Traffic Safety Electronic Grants Management System (eGrants). Once the Planner determines basic project eligibility, the project is assigned to a scoring team. Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) proposals are processed through the eGrants system. When all eligible general projects have been scored and STEPs processed, the results are calculated and reviewed by TRF-BTS and the TRF Director, and a recommended project list is generated. Based on this list, TRF-BTS prepares the program area module narratives to include the project descriptions for the HSP.
Review, Comment and Approval (Stage 5)
Review, Comment, and Approval, the fifth stage of the HSP
process, includes the steps shown in the following table.
Dates shown are approximate, and deadlines may vary
from year to year.
Step | Responsible Party | Action | Approx. Date |
---|---|---|---|
1 | TRF Planner | Develops first draft of HSP
project list. | March |
2 | TRF Planner | Develops first draft HSP. | April |
3 | TRF-BTS | Negotiates proposals as necessary. | April |
4 | TRF-BTS | Submits final HSP project list
to TRF Director for review. | April |
5 | TRF | Prepares final copy of HSP funding
recommendations and Minute Order for Texas Transportation Commission
meeting. | May |
6 | Texas Transportation Commission | Approves HSP funding and Minute
Order. | May |
The HSP funding recommendations are prepared and submitted
to the Texas Transportation Commission for approval in May, so the
HSP can be submitted to NHTSA for approval no later than July 1.
Federal approval of the State’s HSP is in the form of a letter from
NHTSA acknowledging the State’s submission of a certification statement
that the HSP complies with all the requirements.
Implementation (Stage 6)
Implementation, the sixth stage of the HSP process, includes
the steps shown in the following table.
Dates shown are approximate, and deadlines may vary
from year to year.
Step | Responsible Party | Result | Approx. Date |
---|---|---|---|
1 | TRF-BTS | Submits draft HSP to NHTSA for
review. | June 1 |
2 | TRF-BTS | Submits final HSP to NHTSA. | July 1 |
3 | TRF | Project list is approved. | July |
4 | TxDOT | Processes and approves grant
agreements and contracts. | Sept. |
5 | TxDOT | Receives NHTSA approval of HSP. | Sept. |
6 | TxDOT | Activates HSP and implements
projects. | Oct. 1 |
When the funding for the HSP has received Commission approval,
projects on the project list are approved. Grant agreements are
then generated for approval by the subgrantees and TxDOT.
Projects can be activated only after federal funding approval
for the State’s HSP has been received. The negotiation of more than
300 project agreements usually requires 30 days to complete. The ultimate
goal is to have all of the agreements ready for activation on October
1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year.
Required HSP Contents
The HSP is required by USDOT NHTSA regulations. The federal
regulations outline the required content of the HSP, including the:
- Planning Process Performance Plan.
- Strategies and Projects Performance Report.
- Program Cost Summary.
- Certifications and Assurances.
- Teen Traffic Safety Program.
- Section 405 Grant Application.
Each of these elements is described in more detail in the
following subsections.
For the most part, the HSP development is an internal activity
conducted within TRF-BTS under the leadership of the TRF-BTS Program
Planner. Input and information collected throughout the year from
federal, state, and local traffic safety sources and partners is
considered by TRF-BTS. In some cases, TRF-BTS may specifically solicit
input from selected partners or others with experience in a selected
program area. This process ensures state and local agencies, as
well as public and private organizations using the program areas,
targets, and strategies developed by TRF-BTS, can then propose projects
that directly support and implement those strategies.
This guidance is provided to subgrantees annually in the TRF
Traffic Safety Request for Proposals (RFP) publication. The RFP
includes a synopsis of the State data and the selected funding priorities,
key problem areas, targets and emphasis areas, and proven strategies.
Highway Safety Planning Process
The HSP contains the targets, strategies, performance measures
and objectives Texas sets for each fiscal year.
The TRF-BTS Program Planner coordinates the strategic planning
process for the Texas Behavioral Traffic Safety Program. This involves
the development of an informal five-year strategic plan, which provides
the general mission of the Traffic Safety Program and is created
through a process that includes input from TRF-BTS project managers
and other program partners.
Strategic Planning –
The strategic planning
process re-evaluates the program areas, goals, and strategies and
reviews the traffic safety program mission statement.As an outgrowth of the strategic planning process:
- Texas developed specific goals, strategies, and performance measures for the Texas Behavioral Traffic Safety Program.
- Objectives were established for all performance measures.
- TRF-BTS seeks public comments by posting a Request for Comments in theTexas Registerand sending e-mail notifications to all registered users of eGrants.
The Texas HSP planning process includes a brief description
of the data sources and processes used by the State to:
- Identify highway safety problems.
- Describe highway safety performance measures and define performance targets.
- Develop and select evidence-based countermeasure strategies and projects to address problems and achieve performance targets.
- Identify the participants in the processes (e.g., highway safety committees, program stakeholders, community and constituent groups).
- Discuss the strategies for project selection (e.g., constituent outreach, public meetings, solicitation of proposals), and list the information and data sources consulted.
- Describe the efforts to coordinate (and the outcomes from the coordination of) the HSP, data collection, and information systems with the Texas Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) as defined in 23 U.S.C. §148(a).
Performance Plan
The Texas HSP contains the following elements:
- A list of annual quantifiable and measurable highway safety performance targets that is data-driven, consistent with the , and based on highway safety problems identified by the State during the State’s planning process.
- Performance measures developed by TxDOT in collaboration with the Governor's Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and others, beginning with the MAP-21 directed (DOT HS 811 025), which are used as a minimum in developing the performance targets identified in this section.
The performance measures common to the State's HSP and the State Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) (fatalities, fatality rate, and serious injuries) are defined identically, as coordinated with the Texas SHSP. At least one performance measure and performance target that is data driven is provided for each program area that enables the State to track progress, from a specific baseline, toward meeting the target (e.g., a target “to increase seat belt use from X percent in Year 1 to Y percent in Year 2,” using a performance measure of “percent of restrained occupants in front outboard seating positions in passenger motor vehicles”).
For each performance measure, the State provides:
- Documentation of current safety levels.
- Quantifiable annual performance targets.
- Justification for each performance target that explains why the target is appropriate and data-driven.
For program areas where performance measures have not been jointly developed, Texas has developed its own performance measures and performance targets that are data-driven.
Highway Safety Strategies and Projects
The annual Texas HSP contains a description of:
- Each countermeasure strategy and project the State plans to implement to reach the performance targets identified. At a minimum, the State HSP describes one year of Section 402 and 405 countermeasure strategies and projects (which includes countermeasure strategies identified in the Texas SHSP), and identifies funds from other sources, including federal, state, local, and private sector funds, that the State plans to use for the projects or use to achieve program area performance targets.
- The State's process for selecting the countermeasure strategies and projects described above. At a minimum, the State provides an assessment of the overall traffic safety impacts of the strategies chosen and proposed or approved projects to be funded.
- The data and data analysis or other documentation supporting the effectiveness of the proposed countermeasure strategies described above.
- The evidence-based traffic safety enforcement program to prevent traffic violations, crashes, and crash fatalities and injuries in areas most at risk for these incidents. At a minimum, the State provides:
- An analysis of crashes, crash fatalities, and injuries in areas of highest risk.
- Deployment of resources based on that analysis.
- Continuous follow-up and adjustment of the enforcement plan.
- The planned high visibility enforcement strategies to support national mobilizations.
Performance Report
The Texas HSP also includes a program-area-level report on
the State's success in meeting performance targets from the previous
fiscal year's HSP.
Program Cost Summary and List of Projects
The Texas HSP contains a Summary of Planned Funding to reflect
the State's proposed allocations of funds (including carry-forward
funds) by program area. The funding level used is an estimate of available
funding for the upcoming fiscal year based on amounts authorized
for the fiscal year and projected carry-forward funds.
An accompanying list of projects that the State proposes to
conduct for that fiscal year and an estimated amount of federal
funds for each project must be provided for each program area.
Certifications and Assurances
The Texas HSP contains the required Certifications and Assurances
for Section 402 Grants signed by the Governor's Representative for
Highway Safety, certifying the HSP application contents, and providing
assurances that the State will comply with applicable laws and regulations,
financial and programmatic requirements, and, in accordance with
, the special funding conditions for the Section
402 program.
Section 405 Grant Application
The Texas HSP includes an application for any of the national
priority safety program grants, in accordance with the requirements
of 23 C.F.R. Part 1300, Subpart C, including Appendix D to Part 1300
— Certifications and Assurances for Section 405 Grants, signed by
the Governor's Representative for Highway Safety.
The TxDOT Executive Director is the designated Governor’s
Highway Safety Representative.
Coordination with the Texas Strategic Highway Safety Plan
Under MAP-21 and the FAST Act, the State is required to include
in the HSP a description of the efforts made to coordinate the HSP
and the outcomes of the coordination, data collection and information
systems with the Texas Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP).
TRF-BTS coordinates closely with the State staff responsible
for development of the SHSP to maximize integration and utilization
of data analysis resources, fully represent driver behavior issues and
strategies, and utilize any statewide safety committees to obtain
input from state and local traffic safety partners for the Texas
HSP. TRF-BTS will ensure the targets and objectives contained in the
SHSP are considered in the annual development of the HSP and incorporated
to the fullest extent possible. TRF-BTS will review the SHSP and
HSP to identify any gaps in addressing driver behavior issues and
eliminate any redundancy to ensure the maximum use of resources.