Speed Management for Safety
The Speed Management for Safety resource hub is an interactive website on speed management for all transportation professionals seeking to safely manage speeds. The Institute of Transportation Engineers developed this resource hub, with funding from the Road to Zero Coalition, to provide transportation professionals with tools when considering the intricate factors in advancing effective speed management and road design. Creating a comprehensive speed management program can be an element of a successful Vision Zero plan toward eliminating roadway-related fatalities in the United States by 2050.
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Speed management is the coordinated use of land use, roadway design, operations, technology, appropriate speed limits, and evaluation to achieve target speeds that minimize fatal and serious-injury risk. Under the Safe System Approach, agencies reduce exposure and severe conflicts and use self-explaining or self-enforcing roads so that the safe speed is intuitive. Speed limits, enforcement, communication, and education should reinforce upstream initiatives in a safer system.
This Speed Management for Safety resource hub provides a comprehensive overview of factors and resources available to transportation professionals when evaluating, designing, implementing, and sustaining safe speeds. The resource hub is not meant to be a stand-alone resource on all aspects of speed management, but instead is intended to expose all transportation professionals to speed management concepts and available resources.
Click on the focus areas below to learn more about each element of speed management for safety.
Speed as a Safety Problem covers the relationship of speed to crash causation and fatalities.
Setting Speed Limits provides approaches and factors to determine speed limits based on various road conditions.
Measures for Managing Speed explains how self-explaining roadway design, operations, technology, speed safety cameras, and supporting measures can be used to achieve target speeds.
Creating a Speed Management Program guides creation of a comprehensive speed management program in all types of communities.
Start with Speed as a Safety Problem to understand Kinetic Energy risk; use Setting Speed Limits to establish target and posted speeds; use Measures for Managing Speed to align roadway design and operations with the target speed; and use Creating a Speed Management Program to institutionalize and sustain the work.
For additional information on speed management as it relates to Vision Zero, check out the ITE Transportation Safety webpage, the Vision Zero Network Safety over Speed webpage, and the Federal Highway Administration Speed Management Safety program. Transportation professionals can also use resources available on speed management and safety from the World Health Organization’s UN Road Safety Collaboration, the National Association of City Transportation Officials, the Governors Highway Safety Association, and the National Transportation Safety Board.
- When Transportation Professionals Safely Manage Speeds--A Showcase of Data-Driven Speed Management Practices
- Speeding Away from Zero
- Speed Limits: Leading to Change
- Canada and the Safe Systems Approach to Road Safety
- Speed, Kinetic Energy, and the Safe Systems Approach to Safer Roadways
- A Model for Setting Credible Speed Limits in Urban Areas
Case Studies
- Safe System Success Stories: Case studies in proactive injury prevention in transportation
- A Case Study on Speed Data using Uber Movement Speeds
- City of Boulder, CO, USA Creates Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program
- Setting Speed Limits, a Case Study of USLIMITS2 in Charlotte, NC, USA
- Speeding as a Safety Problem, a Case Study in Richmond, Virginia, USA
Safe System Approach to Speed Management Case Study Database
Webinars
- VZN Rethinking Speed Management for Safety
- VZN Safety Systems for Vision Zero: Putting Theory into Practice
- VZN Cities Can Look to Boston IIHS for Inspiration to Reduce Speed Limits
The Speed Management for Safety resource hub is an evolving resource, and we encourage input to keep the information provided current to transportation professionals. To suggest additional information, suggested improvements or additional resources, please email athomas@ite.org.