The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced Wednesday they had been selected by the Federal Highway Administration and the Roadway Safety Foundation for their 2021 National Roadway Safety Award in recognition of California 2020-2024 Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP).
“This recognition is a testament to everything California is doing to make our transportation system safer for everyone on the road,” David S. Kim, California State Transportation Agency secretary, said. “From Caltrans and our other state departments to federal, tribal, local and community-based safety partners, our collective focus is on tackling this issue with urgency and taking a bolder, more innovative approach to implementing strategies that will save lives.”
The goal of the SHSP is zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries, Caltrans officials said. Starting in the summer of 2020, state transportation leaders from organizations across the state decided to take a bolder, more focused approach to traffic safety. That change led to creating a plan that focused on high-priority areas, expanding SHSP membership and adopting four principles in the statewide traffic safety plan — integrating equity into the plan; implementing a safe system approach, doubling down on what works and accelerating advanced technology.
Based on those principles, the 2020-2024 plan placed a renewed emphasis on addressing historical, systemic and present day biases and improving safety for all groups, especially in vulnerable and underserved communities.
“Caltrans is irrevocably committed to achieving zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2050, and seeing deep, quantifiable and consistent reductions in those numbers in the years going forward,” Toks Omishakin, Caltrans director, said. “We welcome the Federal Highway Administration and the Roadway Safety Foundation’s award because it attests to our commitment in working to combat the tragic, decade-long rise in fatal and injurious incidents on California’s roadways.”
The biennial National Roadway Safety Awards rely on judges from a variety of disciplines to evaluate projects involving infrastructure, operational, or program-related innovations, and to select winners based on effectiveness, innovation and efficient use of resources.