Transcript Instituting a Safety Culture in our Transportation System

Instituting a Safety Culture in
our Transportation System:
Parallel Visions and a Plan
Khalil J. Spencer
Chair, Los Alamos County Transportation Board
Board Member, Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico
Information taken from ongoing projects by the
National Center for Bicycling and Walking and
The American Automobile Assn. Foundation
43,000 fatalities per year. Safety?
What is a “safety culture” and how
would it work?
• A worldview that asserts that safety is not
a goal, but a core value that must be
preserved in the workplace
• Not sacrificed to expediency
• Core values drive goals and objectives,
not the other way around.
Parallel Visions: AAA Foundation and
NCBW
• AAA Foundation:
• promote a “safety culture.” (develop) a Safety
Culture Index (SCI), with which to quantify the
present state of affairs ...
• (focus) upon developing safety cultures in
highway safety agencies at the state and local
levels
• NCBW:
• redefine societal perspective on motor vehicle
crashes, reducing their occurrence, and…
significantly decreasing the …number of injuries
and fatalities.
But the problem…context!
• Chapter 9: Fragments of a Movement—(Lisa
Lewis, Partnership for Safe Driving)
“Many…movements (for roadway safety) … have
something in common…organizing around a
single problem…without awareness of or
concern for the context in which it is occurring…”
• A Safety Culture provides such a context
So how does one achieve a safety
culture?
• Competing visions of safety:
• Garbage Can (Cohen, et al. 1972) organizational
model—safety is one of many competing, incompatible
interests (i.e., the present traffic situation).
• High Reliability model: safety is a compelling interest and
core value (TJP model).
• (see Scott D. Sagan, The Limits of Safety, Charles
Perrow, Normal Accidents
• In a safety culture, safety is a core value. All aspects of
an endeavor are looked at in the context of how the parts
influence safety (nuclear, airline, chemical industries)
ALARA: borrowed from the nuke industry—
sets minimizing injury as a core value
• “As Low As Reasonably Achievable”
• ALARA asks and we answer before we start: how do we
prevent this accident/injury?
• Integrated approach: examine all aspects of a problem
for the risk analysis before endeavor goes forward.
• Retains focus on safety as core value in spite of other
competing values (faster, cheaper, sexier, bigger)
• Translates into tangible concepts in accident
minimization, as follows…
ALARA Tools
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Substitution of a less dangerous device such as a
bicycle, transit, Corolla
Reduced exposure: lower VMD requirements for same
connectivity--smart P&Z
Engineering Controls that protect and control without
user input: ABS, SMS, speed governors linked to GPS
Administrative Controls that elucidate hazards and
social directions (speed laws, driving tests)
Personal Protective Equipment such as seat belts,
helmets. Use indicates awareness of safety.
Realistic, often-repeated training and drills to ensure
competency in a crisis: real driver ed.
Weaknesses of tools if not seen as part of a
safety culture
• Inconsistent with “closed course, don’t try this at home”
or “Get out of my way…”
• Create passive behavior, i.e., the gizmo will protect me “
• Engineered controls can be expensive (stability
management systems), seen as oppressive (i.e., GPS
speed limiters)
• Admin. rules (traffic laws) ignored if no negative
consequences for violating them
• Vehicle mismatch can defeat defensive measures (i.e.,
SUV vs. subcompact)
• Low quality of driver training & licensing not reflective of
real world situations, (none required for bike-walk)
Safety culture: behavioral-based
• Get inside people’s heads!
• Civil, not defensive driving (society, not “me”)
• (Apr. 2006) Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
and NHTSA found that almost 80 percent of
crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved
some form of driver inattention within three
seconds of the event*. (from Insurance
Information Institute web site) yet cell phone use
is endemic
• * ~1 football field at 60 mph
Accountability
• Instead of auto “no fault”, use airline and
nuke model: zero accidents are the goal
and people accountable for harm done
• Long-term paradigm-shift in DWI is a
potential model
• Use of devices such as legally-certified
EDR’s (automotive black boxes) to provide
better crash data and hold accountable.
What would an ALARA-based
safety program look like?
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A theme: prevention, not “crash control”
Most vulnerable users define safety standards
Parts not ends in themselves, but part of a whole
Accountability and recurrent training, certification
Evaluate risk factors for a clear understanding of
how traffic works BEFORE operational decisions
are made.
• Ownership: not imposed, but buy-in
What would an ALARA-based
safety program look like?
• Constant review and improvement (feedback)
• “High reliability organization” rather than a
“garbage can” of competing and incompatible
interests, which means…
• Traffic engineers, marketers, law enforcement,
end-users, lawmakers, health professionals,
safety modelers, advocates all on same page.
TJP Locally: Los Alamos
gs
res
MS + res
gs
res
HS + UNM
downtown
LANL
Current Diamond Dr. Profile, soon to change
Don’t fall...
At the local level: Education
• One principle employer (LANL) & school
district. If they require a safety-culture
based drive-bike-walk training program,
would cover lion’s share of residents (got 3
LCI’s...)
• Police Chief has regular community safety
meetings
• Safety op-eds by LAPD, BSC, T-Board
At the local level, Enforcement
• Low crime,so police can concentrate on traffic,
since it could be people’s greatest risk.
• LAPD has recently increased patrols, underage
alcohol sales stings, and DWI checks
• MANY have DOE security clearances. These
are revocable for bad character. Fines (esp.
speeding) > $250 must be reported. Use to put
“fear of God’ into drivers.
• Make LANL employment contingent on safe
behavior
At the local level, Engineering
• Design in consideration of hazards (HS, College, and
LANL on same main drag) (Co Bike Plan)
• Safety is high priority. (roundabouts vs. signalized
intersections)
• County’s new transit system (less dangerous device,
alternatives for youth and elderly).
• Large, higher speed roads (Trinity Drive) should not be a
design feature of urban areas unless they are both grade
separated and do not impede bike or ped modes.
• Effective traffic calming
Central Ave: 85%-ile < posted 25 mph speed
limit
Bulbouts & lane width
reduction in
commercial/government
district
Proposed model: Sweden
• The concern for human life and health is an
absolutely mandatory element in the design and
functioning of the road transport system. This
means that a road traffic safety mode of thinking
must be clearly integrated into all the processes
that affect safety within the road transport
system. The level of violence that the human
body can tolerate without being killed or
seriously injured shall be the basic parameter in
the design of the road transport