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Minnesota: Highway Safety Improvement Program 2021 Annual Report
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2021-01-01
[PDF-1.71 MB]
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Abstract:The many challenges of 2020 are reflected in changes to transportation behavior and ultimately into traffic safety. Over the preceding five years, fatalities and serious injuries have decreased approximately 9% annually; this year, there was a 3% increase in serious injuries and 8% increase in fatalities. These increases in deadly outcomes were coupled with a 15% reduction in vehicle miles traveled. Further analysis shows that the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in poorer traffic safety culture. Increases in high risk behavior may be fueling the increases in strategic focus areas (e.g. rises in speed, motorcycle, unbelted, and impaired fatal and serious injury crashes). Single vehicle run-off-road crashes--more prevalent in rural areas and correlated to these high risk behaviors--in turn rose in 2020. Changing travel patterns impacted these severe crashes. Vehicle traffic shifted from the state system to the county and city roads--with a similar pattern in fatal and serious injury crashes. Based on statewide continuous monitoring sites, walking and bicycling nearly doubled. This resulted in an increase in vehicle-bicycle severe crashes but not in pedestrian crashes. Many of these patterns confirm that Minnesota should continue to support our HSIP initiatives while exploring new strategies to ensure there is not a plateau in traffic safety. Minnesota uses a Toward Zero Deaths initiative to coordinate regional, grassroots safety efforts. This inter-agency, inter-disciplinary approach has consistently focused on improving traffic safety culture and driver behaviors including impairment, speeding, distraction, and seat belt use. The Department of Transportation distributes HSIP funds geographically across all regions, setting aside funds for local agencies. Proactive safety and local planning have allowed wide-deployment of traffic safety countermeasures across all public roads, particularly the state and county systems. New Strategic Highway Safety Plan action teams and evaluation of the existing TZD organizational structure will help direct further statewide strategies to ensure Minnesota can return to mitigating these severe outcomes.
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