Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) & Active Transportation Safety Action Plan (ATSAP)

Federal regulations require all states to have a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) that provides a comprehensive framework for reducing fatalities and serious injuries on public roadways and improving the safety of Arizona’s public roadways so everyone arrives safely home is a top priority for ADOT.

Working with partner agencies and benefiting from public input, ADOT completed a five-year update of the strategic plan focused on the following emphasis areas that account for a large percentage of life-altering crashes in Arizona: human behavior; intersections; lane departure; vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists; and incidents on tribal lands. The plan details dozens of strategies, including:

• improving visibility of vulnerable road users, all other users and roadway features;
• incorporating vulnerable road users more prominently in the planning, design and programming process;
• reducing high-risk movements by drivers; 
• conducting high-visibility enforcement at intersections; and 
• promoting safety at crash scenes.

While Arizona’s population has increased 12% since 2013, our recent safety data reveals a concerning trend. Annual traffic fatalities have increased 55%, with pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities having increased 90%. ADOT is taking action in cooperation with local, state, federal and other safety stakeholders to reverse this trend by developing the SHSP, a data-driven, multi-year safety plan that establishes a statewide vision, goal, and strategies for improving safety with the goal of reducing life-altering crashes by 20% by 2030. The plan is based on a Safe System Approach (see graphic below), which looks at all factors affecting safety and emphasizes our shared responsibility for improving safety on roadways.

SHSP Vision: Creating shared responsibility so everyone arrives safely home.

SHSP Goal: Reduce life-altering traffic crashes by 20% by 2030.

With pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities also increasing at a high rate, ADOT also developed Arizona’s first Active Transportation Safety Action Plan (ATSAP), which recommends location-specific projects to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists where they interact with the state highway system.

Under the completed SHSP, all highway safety programs in the state can leverage resources and work together to address transportation safety issues.

Arizona Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment

The Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment (VRUSA) is a statewide initiative to improve safety for Vulnerable Road Users (VRU) in Arizona. The assessment evaluates historical crashes involving VRUs, VRU activity levels, locations of underserved populations, and stakeholder consultation to develop strategies and programs to improve VRU safety in Arizona. The VRUSA informs both the SHSP and the ATSAP.