Safety Corridors Mike Quintana, New Mexico Department of Transportation, Traffic Safety Bureau Alan Ho, Federal Highway Administration New Mexico Division Logos Importance of strong partnerships

New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) Traffic Safety Bureau (TSB) Mission: reduce traffic fatalities & injuries  by developing & supporting a comprehensive, multi-strategy approach: Enforcement: Deterrence, Prevention Education: Media, Training Legislation & regulation Data management & analysis.

Reduce Crashes & SAVE LIVES Goal: Reduce crashes and fatalities by 20%, New Mexico, saving 20 to 40 lives/year 12 Safety Corridors 2 per NMDOT district based on crash/fatality data 3 - 5 year history length determined by: data clusters – serious injury and fatality crashes consult with LE - enforceability The purpose of safety corridors is to reduce crashes and save lives authorized by New Mexico Statute Section 66-7-301, Subsection A (allows DOT to designate safety corridors), and Section 66-8-116, subsection D (doubles fine for speeding in the corridor). or until the Transportation Programs Division Director determines, designation as a Safety Corridor is no longer necessary. another section in the same district will be designated as a Safety

Who The 4E’s Engineering Education Enforcement Emergency Services Our program is developed around the 4E concept.

Who Building your team-Possible players State New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) Traffic Safety Bureau (TSB) /Highway Safety Office (HSO) DPS State police MTD IRIS van Motor Carrier safety Federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admin (FMCSA) Local agencies LE City police departments Sherriff’s offices Tribal police Fire EMS For NM building a team involves local/state/ and federal partners

Who Building your team-Possible players TOGETHER WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE Together we make a difference

WHO Crash Fatalities in New Mexico by Age and Sex, 2005 It’s important to review data in several formats The chart above is crashes by age and sex Note the largest percentage group are males ages 19-34

Where Geographics 5th largest state 121,355 square miles (316,332 square km) Approximately 128,635 lane miles Safety corridors about 150 highway miles? Largely rural Population less than 2 million statewide The 12 NM safety corridors account for only about 150 highway miles Add north America map with NM highlighted as background

Where pilot Limited to 2 per district 6 NMDOT districts Length Other states designate from border to border NM focus on the high crash sections Shortest 7 miles Longest 38 miles Majority 15-20 miles Enforcement input on workable length Road conditions weather patterns Trauma centers Rural roads Statewide program Corridors are a regional approach at looking at traffic patterns We have been doing STEP at the city and county levels for many years Again this a statewide program and….

Where are our and fatalities happening in NM? About 70% of fatalities are on rural highways

Why data driven FATALITIES HIGH RATE ON RURAL HIGHWAYS Approximately 70% of NM fatals Serious injuries Overall crashes

When 3-5 year history Each runs for at least 3 years Evaluate crash data Type of crashes Time of day Day of week When numbers come down move to new location Selected NM corridor locations will run for 3 years The program will then be reviewed and evaluated before expanding the program or relocating the sites

Crashes in Corridors by Year How – Data Analysis Crashes in Corridors by Year District Corridor FY 01 FY 02 FY 03 FY 04 FY 05 total Enforcement Began 1 I 10 mp 146-164 76 93 106 85 436 3/1/2004 I 10 mp 35-75 66 74 78 69 64 351 11/26/2003 2 US 82 mp 2-16 41 50 44 36 28 199 7/1/2002 US 70 mp 264-302 61 83 79 349 5/1/2003 3 I 25 mp 206-225 240 261 273 287 216 1277 12/1/2005 I 40 mp 168-184 130 110 90 117 153 600 4 I 40 mp 267-279 39 49 22 30 170 12/5/2003 US 64 mp 375-395 16 12 23 8 19 12/10/2003 5 US 64 mp 40-67 340 334 341 323 401 1739 5/23/2006 NM 502 mp 4-20 77 62 368 11/15/2005 6 I 40 mp 53.6-64.8 55 53 71 3/9/2005 US 491 mp 1.1-14 116 115 86 34 374 3/16/2005 1281 1271 1278 1218 1166 6214 Green start of corridors vs first full year (get rid of enforcement began column) Red high numbers if we only go by high numbers we would capture mostly 4 lane highways leading into urban areas Only metropolitan areas: Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Farmington would be surrounded by the corridors 2/district helps capture the rural segments orange numbers orange roads that might get bumped out if went purely on high numbers but we all know they are problem sections 82 rural 2-lane mountainous curves 491 (old 666) rural high concentration high profile always in the news, including ped, alcohol 502 commuter traffic bulk of crashes during am 6-9, pm 3-6 peaks weekday (verify) wildlife/livestock 82, 64 Clayton-Raton This 150 miles represents about 3%of the state’s total crashes

Crashes in Corridors by Year District Corridor FY 01 FY 02 FY 03 FY 04 FY 05 FY 06 total 1 I 10 mp 146-164 76 93 106 102 68 521 I 10 mp 35-75 66 74 78 69 70 44 401 2 US 82 mp 2-16 41 50 36 29 236 US 70 mp 264-302 85 61 83 42 47 396 3 I 25 mp 213-225 204 241 256 260 292 295 1548 I 40 mp 168-184 130 110 90 117 184 98 729 4 I 40 mp 267-279 39 49 22 30 25 187 US 64 mp 375-395 16 12 23 8 20 14 5 US 64 mp 40-67 NM 502 mp 4-20 77 79 65 454 6 I 40 mp 53.6-64.8 55 53 71 48 300 US 491 mp 1.1-14 46 33 224 842 848 884 866 915 734 4355

How – Graphic Analysis Graphic review We just got this information before coming this week The preliminary data for the year 2006 shows a 20% decrease in total crashes total crashes decreasing form 915 to 734 with the data being reported on 11 of the 12 corridors

Crash Map Comparison 6 of 12 have alcohol related crashes Alcohol involved crashes contribute to about 3% total crashes likewise the corridors represent 3% of the state’s total crashes. Note corridors corresponding to the alcohol crash concentrations: half of the corridors correspond to the high oh crashes I-10 Anthony to Las Cruces I-25 south of Albuquerque I-40 east of Alb i-40 thoureau 491 gallup 64 bloomfield to kirtland (Farmington) 6 of 12 have alcohol related crashes

How - Partnerships Legislative actions (state or local) Develop guidelines/criteria Develop standard signage plans Districts responsible for signage Funding for enforcement, signage, other corridor needs Enforcement Paid/earned media Partnerships 4E’s - engineering enforcement traffic cops reconstructionist education emergency services ambulance fire ER Media – TV news commercials PSAs radio print newspapers newsletters magazines posters flyers restaurant table tents

How Legislative Double Speeding Fine Zone Authorization New Mexico Statute 66-7-301 Speed regulation A (4) the posted speed limit …as double fine zones… B (3) to protect workers in construction zones posted as double fine zones or other safety zones posted as double fine zones as designated by NMDOT It helps to have legislative support Here’s the NM law passed in 2004 allowing for double fines

How Guidelines/Criteria The Foundation of Program 5 year history of serious injury and fatality crashes in a moving 5 mile stretch Crash Investigation Unit (review of contributing factors) Review of Existing Law Enforcement and Engineering initiatives (what already exists, don’t duplicate) District Engineer review/approval of proposed safety corridor Public awareness campaign (community buy-in) Review of Equipment and sign needs The foundation of the NM safety corridor program is based on these 6 steps

How Develop standard signage plans Standard plans Coordinate with state and federal engineers Developed in accordance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD)

How - Enforcement High Visibility Enforcement Corridor overtime funding 100 Days of Summer Campaign A corridor could have multiple enforcement agencies; State police, county sheriffs, Tribal police, Metropolitan police, Motor transportation police (regulation of big trucks) In addition we will be running the 100 days of summer which will add additional enforcement through our peak summer travel months

Funding for enforcement, signage, other corridor needs Overtime wave enforcement Special overtime funding – NHTSA/State Signage Districts – FHWA/State Enforcement 402 NHTSA funds Road fund (state) For example, in 2007 NM has invested an additional $600,000 for overtime enforcement to work the safety corridors areas. Explain Wave enforcement signage HE – Hazard Elimination 152 Sanction funds 154 open container/164 repeat offender???

How Enforcement Targeted enforcement Time of day Day of week Type of crashes Tie back to I-25 commuter traffic needs enforcement

How Earned Media Kick Off Events Community presentations Media is an important component of our campaign Kick Off Events Community presentations Radio/TV talks shows Newspaper articles

How Paid media TV spots Radio Print Billboards Bus panels Flyers

How - Media No such thing as Bad press Editorial cartoon from the Las Cruces Sun News JUST BECAUSE WE SHOULD!

How - Media No such thing as Bad press I-25 South, Albuquerque KOAT Channel 4 Radio talk shows

state Rural or Interstate Speed related crashes corridor state Rural or Interstate state % Rural or Interstate % all state FY 01 52 1069 1837 4.86% 2.83% FY 02 50 965 1729 5.18% 2.89% FY 03 63 1037 1847 6.08% 3.41% FY 04 61 1000 1940 6.10% 3.14% FY 05 54 845 1714 6.39% 3.15% FY 06 34 636 1336 5.35% 2.54% total 314 5552 10403 5.66% 3.02%

Statewide program – big picture look at crashes in NM Some of the worse crash locations in the state Note that many corridors reflect traffic coming into metro areas: Albuquerque, Las Cruces/ El Paso, Gallup, Farmington Higher concentration of traffic correlates to higher number of crashes Trauma Level one Centers: UNM Hospital in Albuquerque or El Paso

SAVE LIVES Reduce Crashes & Conclusion The purpose of the safety corridor program is to reduce crashes and save lives. Bigger picture…

Questions?

Mike Quintana New Mexico Department of Transportation Traffic Safety Bureau johnny.quintana@state.nm.us 505-827-0491 Alan Ho New Mexico Federal Highway Administration alan.ho@dot.gov 505-820-2037