Strategic Highway Safety Plan
The California Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) is a comprehensive, statewide transportation safety plan which provides a collaborative framework for reducing fatalities and serious injuries across all travel modes and on all public roads. The SHSP utilizes a data-driven process to identify key safety needs and guides resource and investment decisions that provide the greatest potential to achieve the plan’s goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all of California’s public roadways. Started in 2005, the SHSP is updated regularly to ensure continued progress and to meet changing safety needs. Currently, over 1,390 safety stakeholders from over 530 public and private agencies and organizations work together on this effort under the guidance of the SHSP Executive Leadership and Steering Committees.
The SHSP is a federally required plan. Per the Federal Highway Administration, “A Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) is a major component and requirement of the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) (23 U.S.C. § 148). It is a statewide-coordinated safety plan that provides a comprehensive framework for reducing highway fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads. An SHSP identifies a State's key safety needs and guides investment decisions towards strategies and countermeasures with the most potential to save lives and prevent injuries.” The SHSP also sets a consistent message and tone with all partners to ensure that there is a collective responsibility in promoting a safety culture.
The SHSP is made up of Executive Leadership, Steering Committee, and the Challenge Area Teams. A brief description of their responsibilities is presented below.
Executive Leadership provides direction and approval on SHSP policies and procedures and engages support from multiple agency executives.
Steering Committee establishes the strategies and processes to implement the SHSP and provides oversight for the Challenge Area Teams.
Challenge Area Teams evaluate relevant data and track best practices related to their area and are responsible for the development and completion of actions in the Implementation Plan.
The California SHSP Crash Data Dashboard was developed to provide SHSP implementers with direct access to crash data to support data-driven implementation of the SHSP. The dashboard currently uses finalized crash data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) and allows users to customize reports by location and other characteristics, including whether a fatal or serious injury crash was within five miles of a tribal boundary. The California SB 535 Disadvantaged Communities Dataset (2022) is featured under the Location tab within the SHSP Crash Data Dashboard.
The SHSP Crash Data Dashboard allows for filtering of the number and characteristics of fatal and serious injury crashes over the last 10 years.
Some filtering options include:
- SHSP Challenge Area
- Crash Severity
- Location: District, County, Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and City
- Crash Cause
- Crash Time
- Crash Party and Victim Demographics
Please provide us your feedback on the data that is being provided for the SHSP by filling out a very brief survey.
The 2025–2029 California Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) is undergoing development using data findings and input from regional outreach events to determine effective strategies to reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries. The development process will include, but is not limited to, a review of the previous SHSP cycle, analysis of collision data trends, establishing a vision, and outreach events and webinars.
The SHSP is a two-plan process – main plan signed and approved by the governor; other part is the implementation plan for the next four years.
The California SHSP is aligning its activities and actions with the Safe System Approach (SSA), which identifies six interconnected elements to achieve the goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all of California’s public roadways:
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Proposed California SHSP Guiding Principles (which are the Safe System Approach Principles)
| Death and Serious Injuries are Unacceptable | While no crashes are desirable, the Safe System Approach prioritizes crashes that result in death and serious injuries, since no one should experience either when using the transportation system. |
| Humans Make Mistakes | People will inevitably make mistakes that can lead to crashes, but the transportation system can be designed and operated to accommodate human mistakes and injury tolerances and avoid death and serious injuries. |
| Humans Are Vulnerable | People have limits for tolerating crash forces before death and serious injury occurs; therefore, it is critical to design and operate a transportation system that is human-centric and accommodates human vulnerabilities. |
| Responsibility is Shared | All stakeholders (transportation system users and managers, vehicle manufacturers, etc.) must ensure that crashes don’t lead to fatal or serious injuries. |
| Redundancy is Crucial | Reducing risks requires that all parts of the transportation system are strengthened, so that if one part fails, the other parts still protect people. |
| Safety is Proactive and Reactive | Proactive tools should be used to identify and mitigate latent risks in the transportation system, rather than waiting for crashes to occur and only reacting afterwards. |
Vision*
Safe and accessible roads for all road users in California.
Mission*
Collaborate to enhance safety for all modes of travel on California’s public roadways.
Goal*
Zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all of California’s public roadways.
*The Vision, Mission, and Goal are currently in draft form and awaiting final approval to be formally adopted for the 2025–2029 SHSP.