The second of two Strategic Highway Safety Summits in California will be held Wednesday, May 7, in Sacramento.
The first summit was held May 1 in Anaheim.

The summit will present and offer for discussion a set of 152 actions designed to reduce serious injuries and fatalities 10 percent on California's roadways by 2010, as recently announced by the California Department of Transportation California Office of Traffic Safety, California Highway Patrol, and California State Association of Counties.

Actions were created with goals geared toward reducing head-on collisions and run-off-the-road crashes, improving safety at intersections and interchanges, improving commercial vehicle safety and more.

Under the heading of "Improve Commercial Vehicle Safety," the plan includes the following:
• Establish minimum training standards for new commercial vehicle drivers.
• Increase the number of strike force operations.
• Conduct joint studies at high-crash collision locations involving commercial vehicles, identify appropriate infrastructure improvements, and make adjustments as needed.
• Enhance the Commercial Industry Education Program.
• Increase Biennial Inspection of Terminal inspections from 2006 levels.
• Study the feasibility of improving commercial vehicle safety by adding additional rest stops in identified locations, and increase the number of rest stops as needed.
• Advertise next rest stop location, use rest stop smart technology, and add rest stop information on the Caltrans website.

The actions stem from California's Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) that identifies the state's highest priority traffic safety needs and prioritizes investment decisions to achieve the 10 percent reduction in fatalities and disabling injuries versus 2004 levels.

The federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity
Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) established a new core Highway Safety Improvement Program that is structured and funded to make significant progress in reducing highway fatalities on all public roadways. As required under SAFETEA-LU, the California Department of Transportation is leading the effort to develop a statewide Strategic Highway Safety Plan to improve safety on all public roads by quantifying safety issues; identifying performance measures and targets; guiding transportation stakeholders to the most effective safety strategies and actions; identifying available funding sources; and providing methods for monitoring safety projects and initiatives.

For more information: www.dot.ca.gov/SHSP/