What is a Transportation Safety Countermeasure?

Transportation Safety Countermeasures are roadway-based strategies to reduce the how many times a crash occurs and/or the level of injury severity. Countermeasures can include changes to infrastructure, or non-infrastructure such as enforcement, or public education. Countermeasures can affect at least on or more safety issue in different and are specific to the types of collision trends occurring. For example, Median barriers are longitudinal barriers that separate opposing traffic on a divided highway and are designed to redirect vehicles striking either side of the barrier. Median barriers significantly reduce the number of cross-median crashes, which are attributed to the relatively high speeds that are typical on divided highways. These are targeted towards head on collisions from cross over traffic and can reduce fatal and injury crashes by 97% depending on the setting. Countermeasures include more than just infrastructure improvements and can also include education and enforcement programs.

When selecting a transportation safety countermeasure, it is important to review the collision trends at a location so that the most appropriate option is utilized. Countermeasures can range in cost, ability to implement, and their effectiveness can depend on the roadway characteristics and community. Not all countermeasures are appropriate for the setting or collision profiles and careful, data driven consideration must be taken when selecting countermeasures.

The flyer below shows examples of potential countermeasure for the City of Monterey.

For more examples please visit the Caltrans 28 proven countermeasure website, these countermeasures include examples for more rural settings and highway settings which may not be appropriate for the City of Monterey. Additionally, some countermeasures such as automated speed enforcement cameras are only allowed to be installed through a CA legislature approved pilot program. https://dot.ca.gov/programs/safety-programs/proven-safety-countermeasures/countermeasures