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Highway Safety Manual Training Materials (2012)

Chapter: Chapter 3 - Target Audience and Instructors

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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 3 - Target Audience and Instructors." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Highway Safety Manual Training Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22784.
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Page 6

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6The HSM overview training materials described in this report have been designed for a specific target audience and with the assumption that the instructors have a basic skill set that will enable effective introduction of the material covered. The target audience member is assumed to be any transpor- tation professional and does not require a mandatory safety background. This broad audience, therefore, includes a variety of practitioners from the state, county, MPO, and local level. With this diverse audience, basic instruction of the HSM tech- niques is essential, but the instructors must also have a depth of knowledge about the HSM procedures and the science-based research used for this document so they can respond correctly to key computational and statistical questions, if required. As a result, it is generally recommended that a minimum of two instructors participate in the workshop. At least one of the recommended instructors should have enough statis- tical knowledge to be able to clearly explain the role of key concepts, including regression to the mean and Empirical Bayes (EB). Since many of the workshop participants may have a basic understanding of historic safety procedures, the instructors should also be knowledgeable about the history and background of the HSM, why enhanced procedures are needed, and when the use of older, less reliable techniques is not appropriate. Since the individuals responsible for the development of the HSM include a wide variety of transportation professionals affiliated with state agencies, AASHTO, FHWA, universities, consultants, and special user groups, the instructors should be aware of the history and evolution of the HSM and how it developed to the current level. The workshop would be further enhanced if the instructors are active participants helping to develop future editions of the HSM, so that they can address perceived gaps in the manual, respond to questions specific to evolving content, and serve as feedback conduits to the ongo- ing HSM development. Ideally, an instructor team should include one member with specific safety management or project development experience so as to demonstrate the value of the HSM proce- dures and their application to specific, identified needs. An instructor with a strong linkage to the safety community will be able to direct workshop participants to best practices dem- onstrated by other transportation professionals. Finally, clear and concise language is always critical when teaching a workshop; however, the instruction of a safety workshop also requires sensitivity to the use of terminol- ogy that can be potentially misinterpreted. The instructors should be cognizant of how specific terms associated with safety can be perceived in the litigation context and how they have taken on connotations and implications far beyond their original meaning. The instructors should minimize the use of terms such as “hazardous locations,” “high crash site,” or “safety problem.” Phrases such as “anticipated crash reduc- tion” or “sites with potential for improvement” can convey the same general meaning without unnecessarily implicating litigation-related connotations and their associated risk. The instructors also need to impress upon their audience the need to express themselves in an objective, rather than subjective, manner. Terms such as “safer,” “less safe,” “preferable,” “best” and “worse” are mere statements of opinion. Factual descriptions in terms of expected number of crashes allow the user to conclude whether a facility is “safer” or not. Like- wise, the standard error or similar goodness of fit metric will inform the user of a methodology’s reliability and allow the user to determine if it is “preferable” or the “best” one to use. C h a p t e r 3 Target Audience and Instructors

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 715: Highway Safety Manual Training Materials provides training materials to aid in implementing the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Highway Safety Manual (HSM).

The training materials are designed to provide a broad overview of the HSM format and procedures.

The materials are included with the print version of NCHRP Report 715 in CD-ROM format. The training materials include presentation slides with speaker notes, participant handouts, interactive sample problems, smart spreadsheets, and similar supporting documents.

The CD-ROM is also available for download from TRB’s website as an ISO image. Links to the ISO image and instructions for burning a CD-ROM from an ISO image are provided below.

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CD-ROM Disclaimer - This software is offered as is, without warranty or promise of support of any kind either expressed or implied. Under no circumstance will the National Academy of Sciences or the Transportation Research Board (collectively "TRB") be liable for any loss or damage caused by the installation or operation of this product. TRB makes no representation or warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, in fact or in law, including without limitation, the warranty of merchantability or the warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, and shall not in any case be liable for any consequential or special damages.

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