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Highway Safety



Oregon's transportation safety programs address engineering, education, enforcement and emergency medical services issues. With approval of the Oregon Transportation Safety Action Plan, the Oregon Transportation Commission established its expectations regarding transportation safety.

The Oregon Department of Transportation's Traffic-Roadway Section manages the highway engineering safety programs, including the Highway Safety Improvement Program, the Project Safety Management System, applications of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Highway Safety Manual, and other related tools and evaluations.

Major Programs

All Roads Transportation Safety Program

Roadway Departure Safety

Intersection Safety

Work Zone Traffic Control

Speed Zones

School Zones

Interstate Truck Speeds

Safe Routes to School

Safety Corridors

Contact the Traffic Engineering Unit

4040 Fairview Industrial Drive, MS 5
Salem, Oregon 97302
Phone: 503-986-3568
Fax: 503-986-4063

Program Contacts


Manuals

Highway Safety Manual

Highway Safety Improvement Guide

Highway Safety Investigations Manual

Additional Resources

Safety Investigation Manual - Provides assistance to traffic investigators with highway safety project screening and evaluation. Though the content of this manual is targeted for use within ODOT, the procedures outlined within could be easily adapted by local jurisdictions for similar safety assessments.

Tutorial Videos

  • Tutorial 1 - Entering information on the Safety Investigation Manual (SIM) cover sheet
  • Tutorial 2 - Selecting PRC data from the ODOT webpage
  • Tutorial 3 - Understanding Patterns
  • Tutorial 4 - Using the Benefit/Cost Spreadsheet
  • Tutorial 5 - Completing the Highway Safety Investigation Report (HSIR tab)
  • Tutorial 6 - Google Maps

Video Training

Introduction to the Safety Investigations Manual - This series is a recording of an in-person training delivered by Dr. Karen Dixon of Oregon State University and Dr. Chris Monsere of Portland State University.

Additional Resources

​The Project Safety Management System is intended to improve the safety of the transportation system by assisting decision makers as they allocate transportation safety resources.

System Information

PSMS is a comprehensive data analysis and reporting system designed to improve safety on Oregon roadways. Use of PSMS will help ODOT meet goals set forth in the Transportation Safety Action Plan, specifically:

  • To reduce traffic fatalities in Oregon from 10 fatalities per 100,000 population (2009), to 9.25 per 100,000 by the year 2020.

PSMS provides pertinent crash, safety, and traffic mitigation information allowing data-based decisions to be made. Three major elements contribute to PSMS:

  • All Roads Transportation Safety Program
  • Safety Priority Index System
  • Systemic Improvement Plans

Biennial Status Reports

Highway Safety Improvement Program Annual Reports

The following pages contain links to the State Highway and Off-State Highway (local roads) Safety Priority Index System Reports.

Please note, property damage only (PDO) crashes are no longer included in the following reports.​

Pursuant to 23 USC 148(g)(4) these reports are not subject to discovery or admission into evidence in a federal or state court proceeding or considered for other purposes in any action for damages arising from any occurrence at a location identified or addressed in this report.

Reference Materials

​The systemic approach provides a comprehensive method for safety planning and implementation. Under the systemic approach, some low-cost countermeasures are applied over an entire road/corridor to reduce crashes and risks along the entire roadway/corridor. ODOT has developed the following systemic safety improvement plans:

Roadway Departure Safety Implementation Plan

Intersection Safety and Implementation Plan

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Implementation Plan

Wrong Way Driver Report

Oregon Speed Management Plan

The Federal Highway Administration and most states have identified three safety focus areas with the greatest potential to reduce fatalities. Those are:

  • Roadway Departures.
  • Intersections.
  • Pedestrian and Bicycle Crashes.

Many of the countermeasures applicable to these focus areas apply to speed-related crashes, which occur in the focus areas noted.

With speed as a crosscutting issue, the Oregon Speed Management Plan will help agencies take a broad look at their speeding-related policies, safety plans and programs to identify opportunities for integrating speed management.​

​Through House Bill 2017, ODOT sets aside state safety funds, in the amount of $10 million per year, for safety improvements on state highways. Refer to the following for information about this program.

​ State Safety Priority Funding Memo

State Safety Priority Funding Guidelines​

Additional tools are available for ODOT employee use and are accessible from the Traffic-Roadway intranet site.

Visit the Research Section to view all ODOT research reports.

Intersections, Signals and Signs

Vulnerable Users

Safety Performance

Other Safety Systems, Applications, and Risk Evaluations


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