CHAPTER … 1

THE ROLE OF THE CIVIL

ENGINEER IN HIGHWAY
SAFETY

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who
has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has
intended us to forego their use."

...Galilo Galilei (1564-1642)

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 1.1 The Role

The role of civil engineers in highway safety is primarily in the area of planning,
design, construction and operation of physical facilities. Almost all of the highway
engineering activities affect safety to some degree. However, some projects are more
directly concerned with safety than others. In order to maximize safety in highway
facilities, civil engineers need to understand the relative impact on safety of various
improvement and maintenance projects. The financing available to undertake safety
projects must also be understood in the context of funding of all highway activities.
Next, as the resources are limited, it is necessary to allocate the available funds as
optimally as possible so that highway safety is enhanced and at the same time other
system objectives are satisfied. The end result of this process is the assignment of
priorities among competing projects within the constraint of budget levels and
specific requirements of funding resources.

The increase in the road transport is becoming more acute as the road sub-sector is
clearly the dominant mode of transport and its share has been increasing to its present
level of about 62% for freight and 80% for the domestic passengers. Thus the
importance the road network plays in the economic development of a country and the
vital role it has in national integration need no emphasis. The sea lanes for
transportation and communications in Pakistan are restricted to the coastal areas, the
air travel is expensive which further brings us to the inevitability of reliable road
communications.

There can be no accomplishment possible without making a start. Unless a beginning

is made there can be no competition. This fact of life has to be realized by every
individual.

Early historical records show that roads and the travel upon them have concerned
citizens of every land. Engineers were at the initial efforts at building of roads and are
involved from the first in each step of their development. As traffic increased with
enlarging populations legislation regulating road use become more and more
necessary. As operational problems became more complex, traffic engineering as a
new form of engineering developed. Traffic engineers became an important source of
recommendations for regulation, legislation and funding.

However, a traffic engineer, as a code of ethics, should realize that safety in his job
should be reached with vigor and ask for enthusiasm in response from his fellow
professionals and fellow citizens.

There can be little doubt that one of the most important, difficult and perplexing
problems facing the highway safety researchers is the inadequate of highway accident
data. In the absence of high quality representative accident data, the engineering
profession is severely hampered in identifying the casual problems, designing
countermeasures prioritizing changes and evaluating effects resulting from
implementing the changes. The entire planning, operation, and evaluation process
suffers accordingly.

As a matter of fact it is the road congestion which creates the traffic problems. Traffic

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congestion is not a new development resulting from the use of the motor vehicle.
Motor vehicle congestion affects small communities as well as large metropolitan
areas. Historically, cities of all sizes have been plagued by this problem regardless of
the mode of transportation. Traffic congestion results when a large number of people
attempt to occupy the same space at the same time. Inevitably they get in each other's
way, whether they travel bicycle or by automobile. Heavy pedestrian traffic in the
same area further complicates the problem.

One serious result of traffic congestion is traffic crashes. The fact that traffic in a city
may move at slower speeds should not lull a motorist into believing that traffic
crashes are infrequent and of a minor nature. Data is available in city police stations
that speeds between 30 and 40 miles an hour are the speeds at which most of the
driving populace sustains fatal or critical accidents. One of the obvious solutions to
the problem of congestion is the dispersal of traffic volume over a larger geographic
area. This has been attempted in many communities throughout the world. But the
vehicles with higher upward graph than the increase in the driving space. This,
however, cause the increase in the traffic crashes.

1.2 Identification of the Issues

A civil engineer has to focus on the current state-of-the-art of highway safety and the
civil engineer's role in confronting and solving highway safety problems. As a start,
he has to identify highway safety problem areas which he has to address. For some
problems, he may give directions, to the engineering profession and related
disciplines to solve them by:

 Identifying the best and most successful highway safety programs currently being
implemented,
 Indicating the available resources and identifying the related organizations
providing program management and,
 Providing information regarding the latest technological developments.

Nevertheless, a civil engineer has to establish and enhance communications among

professionals involved in highway safety at all levels of Government and the private
sector. Additionally, he must keep himself in touch with the periodicals, conferences,
seminars, workshops and the research being in progress at the universities of the
country. As such, he is an integral part of the highway safety and explores the
solutions for the amelioration of the carnage taking place on our nation's highways.

After toiling within the confines of highway engineering for nearly thirty-four years,
the author is convinced of two things. First, there is no real unified force or
constituency working to improve the trauma associated with traffic crashes. Secondly,
lacking that single constituency, the various special interests, fragmentary as they are,
lacking in more than one way. Unfortunately, we do not see much change in the way
we are proceeding. Safety programs, if at all they could be called as, "programs",
come and go. Those with special clout and influence can secure favorable legislation
for a while, but times change and other interests may prevail.

However, lately our national legislators have shown concern for traffic safety and

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have built a number of Motorways. Further calling international tenders on BOT
(build, operate, transfer) basis, for further motorway projects. As a frame work and a
guide for a highway engineer. Table 1 shows highway design elements related to road
safety.

Table 1. Highway Design Elements Related to Safety

Categories Elements
1. Number of Lanes
Travel way 2. Lane with
3. Surface
4. Grade on Tangent
Vertical Alignment 5. Grade on Curve
6. Sight Distance
Horizontal Alignment 7. Degree of Curvature
8. Shoulder Width
Shoulder
9. Shoulder Surface Condition
10. Delineators
11. Guide Signs
Traffic Control
12. Lighting
13. Marking
Median 14. Median Width

Civil engineers must consciously consider the safety aspects of all highway activities
and attempt to implement projects with high safety effectiveness. In this effort, it is
necessary to assess the relative safety impacts of various highway activities. To assess
safety impacts of various activities, the highway design elements affected by these
activities must be identified and then effect of each of the design elements should be
assessed for computation of aggregated index for accident reduction rate. Many
studies have been conducted to examine relationship between highway design
elements and accident reduction rates. Furthermore, studies should also be undertaken
to estimate safety impacts of the various highway activities. For example, study of
safety impact of resurfacing, restoration and rehabilitation. This is the task of relevant
Government authorities and the engineering universities of the nation.

1.3 The Three E's Concept

The three E's concept of traffic safety was originated by Julian H. Harvey while he
was director of the Kansas City Safety Council (U.S.A.) in 1923. Harvey suggested
that the solution to the traffic safety problem was directly related to the development
of comprehensive program of traffic safety involving education, engineering and
enforcement. Thus the three E's concept emerged. Sidney Williams of the National
Safety Council subsequently developed more fully the concept of three E's. They still
represent the essential elements of a comprehensive traffic safety program.

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The three E's concept has served as a stimulus towards the organization of traffic on
roads throughout the globe. Over a period of time, eleven specific functions, in traffic
safety and management were identified by the Action Program for Highway Safety
(U.S.A.):

1. Laws and Ordinances,

2. Traffic Accidents Records,
3. Education,
4. Engineering,
5. Motor Vehicle Administration,
6. Police Traffic Supervision,
7. Traffic Courts,
8. Public Information,
9. Organized Citizen Support,
10. Health and Medical Care,
11. Research.

However, the goal represented by the "3E's" concept has now changed to energy,
environment and economy. This concept succinctly indicates the change in emphasis
in Traffic Engineering. It has been pointed out that the once accepted simple objective
of traffic management which was to aid movement of vehicles has changed radically
during recent years. Traffic management measures are now employed to achieve
widely differing policy objectives. At the same time there has been a realization of the
necessity for integrating traffic management policies with those of highway
construction, public transport systems, environmental protection policies, road safety
and economic policies with respect to the allocation of scarce resources. This
approach has been summarized by American Traffic Engineers under the term
Transportation Systems Management (TSM).

Nevertheless, a critical element in highway safety program management is the

availability of an effective information system. This information system must include
monitoring of accident data, project cost data and accident reduction rates associated
with various safety improvement projects. The assessment of accident reduction rates
is particularly critical as the heart of a highway safety project evaluation lies in the
ability to estimate the extent of safety impact. Since the allocation of funds needed to
accomplish necessary projects for exceeds the available funds, the allocation of
resources among competing projects becomes the central issue in the programming
process. Priority setting has thus been the essential element in highway programming.
There are several approaches to setting priorities for selecting highway safety
projects. These approaches base on an examination of projects in terms of their costs
and safety impacts can be grouped into three broad categories: cost-benefit, cost
effectiveness, and mathematical programming. In the cost-benefit analysis, the safety
impact is represented by the dollar amount of accident cost savings, while the cost-
effectiveness approach is to consider the expected number of accidents reduced as the
measure of effectiveness. Both of these approaches provide a priority array that can
be used to select projects until the budget is exhausted. However, these approaches do
not assure an optimal allocation of funds. Mathematical programming techniques, on
the other hand, can be used to answer the following question: "What projects should
be undertaken in what locations so that the safety effectiveness is maximized within
the available funds?"

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 1.4 The Economic Assessment of Road
Improvement Schemes

There are two reasons for assessing the return from road improvements: (i) to
estimate the total amount that could be profitably invested in roads, and (ii) to
determine the best way of allocating the resources that are actually made available for
investments in roads.

Here we are mainly concerned with second of these objects, i.e. with making a choice
between possible road improvement schemes in order to maximize the overall return.
Often in practice the choice will be between a limited numbers of schemes. A
preliminary allocation of funds may have to be made before a firm estimate of costs is
available, and the allocation of funds may be based partly on factors which cannot be
allowed for when carrying out an economic assessment. However, there will usually
be alternatives between which a choice can and should be made on the basis of an
economic assessment and this section presents one technique for this.

The returns calculated by the methods given here are based on what is known as
"cost-benefit" analysis. Theoretically road improvements will bring benefits to road
users in the form of quicker, cheaper, safer and more comfortable journeys. Most of
the benefits which will accrue to the traffic affected by the improvements can be
assessed in monetary terms. It must be realized that the returns based on a cost-
benefit analysis are not the same as commercial rates of return. The income from a
commercial investment will be based on the sale of a number of commodities at a
standard price or at a price which is fixed for a very wide range. Many who buy at
this price would in fact have been prepared to pay more and thus the price charged is
not a full measure of the benefit received. On the other hand a number of people
would receive a benefit from owing the commodity in question but the benefit to
them would be less than the price asked. In the case of a road improvement the
benefits are measured at their full amount and will therefore tend to be over-estimated
in comparison with the normal method of assessing commercial investments. Other
factors may enter into the comparison, such as the value to be placed on amenity, and
it is not possible to make any estimate of the precise relation between the two types of
measurements. Cost-benefit returns cannot therefore be compared with commercial
returns.

There is no clear division between urban and rural (or inter-urban) roads. For
example, it is not possible to assess the effects of a by-pass, carrying inter-urban
traffic, without considering the relief to the urban traffic that continues to use the road
through the town.

However, in some cases such a statement may not be wholly true. The case under
consideration is that of by-pass on Superhighway (N5) in Jamshoro section. This by-
pass has brought relief to a portion of Hyderabad.

1.5 Cost-Benefit Analysis

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In this procedure, all candidate projects for a given period are arrayed according to
project costs and benefits. The selection of projects is then accomplished by
considering relative values of the costs and benefits. Once the benefits-cost ratios or
net present values are computed, the projects are ordered by magnitude of these
parameters, largest to smallest.

One of the early applications of this approach in ranking of various safety projects
was the one developed by Jorgensen in 1966. Another example of cost-benefit
approach is the procedure used in California called Safety Index Method. The safety
index represents the percentage of a project's construction plus right-of-way costs that
is returned to motorists as saving in the cost of prevented accidents.

It should be noted that although the benefit-cost ratio approach has been used widely
in the past, there are several points which limit the appropriateness of using this
approach. First, there is a concern over significance in relative values of benefit-cost
ratios; the ratios do not indicate the magnitude of the total benefits with respect to the
total costs. The preferred procedure is to use the net present value method where the
return is expressed as a lump sum instead of a ratio.

1.6 Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

The cost-benefit approach requires monetary definition of all costs and benefits.
However, the problem of establishing accident costs is difficult and any procedure
based on rupee values of accident costs can often be misleading. In reality, the actual
cost of an accident cannot be measured in monetary terms, because an accident cost
figure cannot include the psychological effect of an accident on drivers, passengers,
and their families. In this context, a cost-effectiveness approach is more desirable,
because this approach attempts to answer the question, "how much does it cost to
save one life, or one injury accident, or one accident?" without having to assign rupee
values to them. Another advantage of a cost-effectiveness approach is that this
procedure can accommodate all non commensurate consequences of highway
construction and maintenance projects in one evaluation framework. The procedure
offers more flexibility in the use of information about the project costs and benefits
including safety than that given by a cost-benefit approach.

The cost-safety effectiveness or various projects can be evaluated by considering

appropriate values for cost per fatal accident reduced, cost per injury accident
reduced, or cost per accident (all accidents) reduced. These values can be obtained by
dividing the equivalent uniform annual costs (or the present worth of costs) of a
project by the expected number of annual accident reductions (or total number of
accidents reduced during the analysis period).

1.7 Mathematical Programming

As the priority ranking of projects using engineering economic and cost-effectiveness

approach does not ensure an optimal solution, several mathematical programming
techniques can be used to optimize the project solutions. It was proposed that

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dynamic programming be applied to the selection of optimum combinations of safety
projects under the constraint of a fixed budget. Dynamic programming is an
optimization technique which transforms a multi-stage decision into a series of one-
stage decision problem. The decision at each state depends on the input to that stage,
the feasible set of decisions at that stage, and the conditional set of decisions from the
preceding stages. The total available fund will be the input to the first stage, and after
selecting the optimal project at stage1, the remaining available fund will be used as
the input to the second stage. This process continues until the total fund exhausts. One
of the early applications of dynamic programming procedure in priority setting of
highway safety projects was in Kentucky (U.S.A.). This procedure is now a routine
phase of the safety spot-improvement program in Kentucky DOT. Alabama Highway
Department has also applied dynamic programming in its Highway Safety Budgeting
System.

In addition to dynamic programming, experts suggested integer programming

approach for the purpose of ranking highway safety projects. Some adopted the
integer programming technique in a multiyear framework to optimize the
effectiveness of a statewide highway safety improvement program within the
constraints of a given budget for possible application in Indiana (U.S.A.). More
recently experts have reviewed integer programming technique as a priority setting
tool and demonstrated the advantage of this technique over other available methods.

1.8 Risk Analysis

The input information used in the evaluation techniques may be associated with a
certain degree of uncertainty in some cases, a small change in the estimated values of
cost, accident reduction, or any other data used in the evaluation process can alter
significantly the results. If the reliability of the input data is not high, it is advisable
that a series of computations be made to test the effects of possible errors in the
estimates of the input data including cost and safety impacts. The test can be
conducted with a range of possible values for the key input data. For example,
average values are generally considered for the unit project cost figures and accident
reduction rates. From sample variance the high and low estimates of these input
values can be estimated for a given level of confidence. Any evaluation methodology
can then be followed with three sets of data, observed value and its high and low
estimates.

1.9 Civil Engineer's Responsibility for Highway Safety

Engineering is a profession of change, and as has been a hallmark since the funding
of our profession, engineers will have to respond to his challenge. The role of the
Civil Engineer in Highway Safety is not only an important role but the most vital of
any of the many professions interested in highway safety. Many of the other
professions have limitations of their effectiveness on highway safety. Indeed there is
no group better equipped to build safety into our highways than the civil engineers.
Some of them specialize in Highways and Traffic Engineering. It is important that the
institutions that train highway engineers and the organizations that employ them
integrate concern for highway safety into their operations. Then as especially
knowledgeable citizens, highway engineers have a responsibility to inform their

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fellow citizens of the safety features built into our highways and of the limitations of
those features, as well as the efforts all citizens can make to promote highway safety.

No wonder, highway engineers, working as highway planners, designers, builders,

maintainer, and operators (traffic engineers)--should collectively know more about
highway safety than any other group that can have an effort on highway safety. The
highway engineer is the principal molder of the highway environment. As such, he as
a major influence on the difficulties confronting drivers and, in the case of run-off-
the-road accidents, an influence on how severe the situation will be for drivers who
fail in their driving tasks. Nevertheless, many of the other professions have
limitations of their effectiveness on highway safety. The enforcement officer can
greatly influence highway safety in the short run by the reasonable enforcement of
speed control or by the driver training and education programs he may sponsor, but
the programs he undertakes are generally effective over a short period of time. The
speed enforcement effectiveness may exit only during the time the enforcement
vehicle is visible to traffic. Few jurisdictions can afford to have a long term on the
driving habits of the public. Driver training again is most effective during the time the
driver is enrolled in the training program. Unfortunately, much of the information
gained during the training course is soon ignored by today's driver.

The mechanical and electrical engineers have an impact on highway safety by

producing more roadworthy automobile and traffic surveillance equipment.
Automobile design and performance are however, governed to a large extent by
market demands and unfortunately many of these demands are counter productive in
respect to highway safety. The motor vehicle administrator can have an effect on
highway safety by carrying on an effective vehicle maintenance program; but will be
limited compared to cost and manpower. The development of laws and regulations
often times is effective only to the extent of human acceptance, enforcement and legal
processes. Here the legal profession enters into the safety picture, and their role is of
variable effectiveness depending upon the backlog of court cases, public pressures
and acceptances and, in some cases confinement facilities. It is only the civil engineer
who can effectively bring the various disciplines together to produce an effective set
of traffic signs, signals, and standards.

Nevertheless, it is only the civil engineer who can monitor the latest research
activities in human factors, vehicle performance, and the physical properties of
materials and formulate from that research and experience the design and
construction of our highway systems of the future. No doubt it is only the efforts of a
civil engineer that "produce a product" that has a long term impact on highway safety.

Having said this, it may be added here that the highway engineer has many other
responsibilities. He must keep traffic moving efficiently, while meeting the
reasonable desires of individuals to travel where and when they wish. Reducing the
cost of that mobility, including reducing the cost in injuries and property damage
from traffic accidents, is what highway engineering is about.

A highway engineer job has an analogy in the words of Martin Luther King: If a man
hasn’t discovered something he can die for, he isn’t fit to live. Nevertheless, Aristotle
(384 B.C-322 B.C) reminds you, pleasure in the job puts perfection in work.

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 1.10 Integrating Safety into all Phases of
Highway Engineering

In the best interest of humanity, complete knowledge and devotion to safety should
permeate into the highway authority or firm where a young civil engineer finds
employment. In this environment, the engineer's safety education would continue on
the job. More and more this is close to reality. Which ever the agency should keep in
perspective the safety which can be accomplished by making it as an integral part of
all functions: planning, design, construction, traffic operations, and maintenance.

As for the engineer's continued training, he can hope that his employer will take an
active interest in continuing his training, as many employers do, but he also has a
responsibility as a professional to direct his own education. Indeed, “the sole hope of
human salvation lies in teaching. Great ability develops and reveals itself
increasingly with every new assignment”… Bernard Shaw (1856-1950).

Highway engineering firms, by virtue of their function as technical consultants not as

policy makers, are not in the same position to build safety into their operations as are
highway agencies. Nevertheless, they can do much by seeing that the latest
information in the area is available to their staff and by taking every opportunity to
incorporate safety considerations in services provided their clients. On the other hand,
there are opportunities to build safety into the highway agencies' operations from the
planning to the maintenance processes.

Planners, by the kinds of data they collect and the ways they analyze them, can both
ensure that safety receives its proper consideration at the program level and provide
designers with information on the effectiveness of various design features.

Designers have a responsibility to tell the planers and other data suppliers the kinds of
information they need so that they can continuously evaluate design standards and
rationally incorporate safety features in alternative design studies. Designers should
also be encouraged to visit accident sites to get a feel for how their designs are
executed and how well they work.

Traffic engineers and maintenance engineers are on the front lines in the highway
safety. They need to know how the safety features which designers incorporate into
our highways are supposed to work. At the same time, since they are closest, to the
working of our highways, they should feel performance information back to the
design engineers.

The civil engineering educational training programs, through which most

highway/road engineers reach their professional positions, create formidable
foundations upon which to build safety conscious highway engineers. It is also
believed that the service conscious person who seeks a civil engineering education
has the proper temperament to become such a professional. But, as with most things
in this world, there is room for improvement in this education. What one would like
to suggest is that, very early in their undergraduate years, potential highway engineers
should be made aware of the safety requirements of highway design and that all
graduate level courses in highway and traffic engineering should place a significant

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emphasis on safety design and operation.

Although special courses in highway safety would be useful, they may not be
necessary to accomplish what is being sought here. If professors bring understandings
of the principles of highway safety to the classroom, along with enthusiasm for their
dissemination, the job can probably be accomplished by incorporating illustrative
exercises in already established courses. For example, students could be asked to
work problems illustrating the effects of friction on vehicle control, the effect of
terrain on the stability and trajectory of run-of-the road vehicles, and the effects of
various types of vehicle crashes on vehicles and their occupants. These would give a
student a greater appreciation of comments, received later in a highway design
course, regarding the to select pavements that maintain high friction surface, the
desirability of gently rounded and sloped roadside terrain, or the requirement for
breakaway sign and luminaire supports. In an engineering economics course, the
various approaches for determining highway accident costs included in the analysis.
In addition, somewhere along the line the student should gain an appreciation of the
fact that people drive on highways and those highway designers must recognize the
limitations of these people and the mistakes they are likely to make.

A civil engineer who becomes a highway engineer accepts tremendous responsibility

for safety on our highways. However, he is also a citizen. As such, he should use his
expertise to inform his fellow citizens about what we do and why we do it, how
design features contribute to safety, what their limitations are, and why those
limitations exist. In particular, he must let the public know about the limits on how
well highway design can protect against poor driving practices or the disregard of the
safety equipment, particularly safety belts, available in vehicles.

Since the driver and the vehicle play a great part in these limitations, civil engineers
must also support and promotes efforts that enhance safety performance of drivers
and vehicles-measures such as: vehicle inspection programs, strong laws and
effective education against dangerous driving, and laws and education to increase
safety belts usage. And in our driver education programs, the limitation of the vehicle,
highway design, and the driver should be covered, along with the conventional
coverage of driving skills, safety belt usage, and responsible and sober driving.

Highway design engineers live in a constantly changing world. Changes in

technology, vehicles, traffic, wealth, and public demands affect the acceptability of
existing highways and suitability of established design standards. Designers need to
be aware of these changes and constantly evaluate current conditions and practices to
see if changes are needed. However, since highways last a long time once they are
built, the designer should do all that is practicable to design tolerance for change into
our highways.

Indeed, unfortunately in Pakistan absence of reliable quality crash data severely

hampers the researchers. Counter-measure design, priorities, and evaluation suffer, as
well as planning and operations. Collection of human, vehicle, and highway data is
often adversely influenced by officials who prefer "engineering judgment" approach
rather than insisting on a scientific method. This attitude is tolerated because of lack
of institutional commitment to highway safety. Little improvement is hoped for as-
long as the current attitude prevails. Safety continues to be somewhat a tolerated

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stepchild and not a valued and loved member of the family.

It is concluded by saying that unless and until the responsible agencies do not change
their current attitudes toward loss of life and properties due to the accidents, no
betterment could be imagined on our highways and streets. No doubt scientific
knowledge and technology of traffic engineering do exist in Pakistan; but
bureaucratic inertia does not allow it to move forward to its logical results.

Figure 1. Program Flow Chart

A program Flow Chart (Figure 1) intended to be a closed loop set of actions starting
with data, cycling through analysis, prediction, optimization, and ending with
evaluations to refine future data. The project selection process is, necessarily, based
on estimates of eventual cost and effectiveness. That is, it is not practical to wait
several years to determine the worth of any action before it is taken again at another
location. So, there is a need for an evaluation process to determine and refine the
accuracy of those estimates.

1.11 Enhancing Safety through Highway Maintenance

There are unlimited opportunities to enhance safety through maintenance and

operations. An awareness of the effects roadway features have on highway safety
might encourage a number of relatively inexpensive improvements, such as:

 More intensive mowing where sight distance.

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 Trimming vegetation in front of signs.
 Timely repair or replacement of hardware such as guardrail, break away sign
support and crash cushions.
 Maintaining legibility and reflectivity of signs.
 Correcting pavement edges and shoulder drop-offs.
 Removal of barriers and other devices that are no longer needed because of
changed conditions or improper placement.
 Upgrading obsolete features as they are damaged with currently acceptable
hardware rather than replacement in kind.
 Bills/advertisement of any kind should be strictly prohibited.

Obviously, the list could be much longer. The fact remains that the highway safety
community has largely ignored the maintenance requirements of the national
highways. The responsible personnel must learn how highway maintenance is
programmed, planned, managed, and conducted. These people have to keep a liaison
with the engineers responsible for the design office.

Thus, in short the maintenance staff is concerned with maintenance of roadway and
shoulder surfaces, bridges, drainage devices, right-of-way fences, mowing, signals,
signing, lighting, rest areas, pavement markings, safety appurtenances, snow and ice
control, maintenance of his own equipment, disaster control, and work site traffic
control. Nevertheless, he is plagued with personnel problems, equipment breakdowns,
limited budgets, complaints from the public, pressure from politicians, conflicting
instructions from headquarters, etc. etc., yet in many respects; these are the individual
who must see that the safety requirements of the public must be satisfied.

Overall, the maintenance management system might contain the following elements,
supported by an information system:

 The development and requirement of performance standards which describe the

maintenances activities; the procedures to be followed; the men, equipment and
materials to be used; and the rate of production to be achieved.
 The determination of workloads through the measurement of quantities of the
various elements on the highway system and factors such as weather and traffic
that act on these elements to create a need for maintenance.
 The budgeting and allocation of resources (men, equipment, materials) to meet
the predicted or actual workload.
 The planning and rescheduling of activities within the budgeted program.
 The evaluation and control of maintenance activities and programs through the
collection and reporting of information concerning work accomplished; labor,
equipment and materials utilized; the costs and time involved.
 The administration and management of assigned resources (personnel, equipment,
materials and facilities) that are necessary to the accomplishment of the
maintenance function.

The majority of states USA have formal maintenance management system (MMS).
An MMS allows the over-taxed maintenance engineer to program, budget, plan, and
schedule his work in a systematic fashion. An effective MMS will assist in
establishing priorities for work so that the most critical needs are served first.

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Through information provided by a MMS, engineers are able to perceive the impact
of their decisions on the quality of the highway network.

Obviously, highway safety should play an important part in MMS development and
operation. Repair techniques, response times and upgrading opportunities of highway
safety features must be fully integrated into the maintenance management system to
be successfully implemented. Maintenance performance standards, maintenance
manuals and policy statements are the administrative nuts and bolts that must reflect
these concerns. We can train, preach, bemoan and be labor safety needs all we wish;
but if the administrative tools don't reflect safety concerns, the plain facts are that
there will not be any changes in the field.

How can this be done? Communications! Communication is a two-way street. It is

the maintenance force that is the field on a daily basis. They see the results of
accidents and frequently the accidents themselves. Maintenance employees must
know how to identify indicators of safety problems that may not show up in accident
statistics such as erratic movements, skid marks, damaged hardware, etc. also, they
should know enough about the design and operation of safety features to spot
obviously incorrect designs or installed features. Understanding how to identify
potential problems is not enough. Clear communication procedures should be
established to pass the information to the appropriate person so that corrective
decisions can be made in a timely manner.

The maintenance and operation of streets and highways play a key role in the efforts
to reduce the number and severity of traffic accidents. In order to realize the positive
impact that maintenance can have on safety, the communications gap that frequently
exists must be closed. The highway safety engineer and the maintenance engineer (or
whatever may be their designations) must work together to reach their common goal,
safe and serviceable streets and highways).

It is worth wise to mention here that the transportation engineers do visualize that the
transportation system of the future will be a rapid transportation system; however, it
will not be a public rapid transit system. The system referred to will consist of
motorists; their private vehicles; and multilevel surface streets, underground
highways, and super motorways spanning and tunneling commercial and industrial
areas.

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