Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
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 âhazardous locations,â âhigh crash site,â or âsafety problem.â Phrases such as âanticipated crash reduc- tionâ or âsites with potential for improvementâ 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 âsafer,â âless safe,â âpreferable,â âbestâ and âworseâ are mere statements of opinion. Factual descriptions in terms of expected number of crashes allow the user to conclude whether a facility is âsaferâ or not. Like- wise, the standard error or similar goodness of fit metric will inform the user of a methodologyâs reliability and allow the user to determine if it is âpreferableâ or the âbestâ one to use. C h a p t e r 3 Target Audience and Instructors