ATSSA Signal September October 2019

American Traffic Safety Services Association 18 Innovation & New Programs traffic fatalities. These improvements are designed largely to keep vehicles from leaving the correct lane and to reduce the consequences of a vehicle leaving the roadway,” said Gaffney. “Making needed roadway safety improvements would result in a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries.” Despite limited resources and other challenges, there are cost-effective road- way safety infrastructuremeasures and examples of how they’ve been success- fully implemented on rural roadways to save lives. According to Gaffney, FHWA has part- nered with the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) to deploy an Unsignalized Intersections Improvement Guide in conjunctionwith the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Julian shared that, aside from cable barriers, one of the most effective countermeasures he’s seen for rural roadway safety is high friction surface treatments (HFSTs). “We’vehad stateswithhuge, huge success, like Pennsylvania, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, that have just embraced HFST … it’s like a miracle,” said Julian. Other countermeasures highlighted by FHWA include the use of improved curve delineation, retroreflective pave- ment markings, signs, shoulder and center line rumble strips, edge lines, and enhanced roadway lighting. The role ATSSA members play in manufac- turing, supplying, and installing roadway safety infrastructure devices in these cases is crucial, and it’s important that additional funding be invested in these countermeasures. “I don’t care how wonderful a counter- measure is, it only works if you get it out on the road. That’s the key to everything,” said Julian.  We’ve had states with huge, huge success, like Pennsylvania, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, that have just embraced HFST … it’s like a miracle.