Mitigation of Lane Departure Crashes in the Pacific Northwest through Coordinated Outreach - Phase II

Abstract

There are multiple approaches available to roadway safety officials to reduce the 17,000 average annual fatalities that occur because of roadway departure crashes (FHWA 2016). One of these approaches is educating the driving public about the safety issues associated with a roadway departure through outreach efforts and public service announcements (PSAs). To engage the public in the Pacific Northwest about lane departure crashes, PacTrans supported a high school and college student competition to develop PSAs related to lane departure crashes. This deliverable constitutes Phase II of the project which includes implementation of the competition that was planned in Phase I. The competition involved high school and college students in the Pacific Northwest creating a set of PSAs in the form of a short video, a series of social media posts, and a poster. Students submitted their competition entries through the online submission website. Next, the entries were evaluated by the project team members based on the criteria presented in the competition guidelines and prize winners were awarded at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place levels in both the high school and college categories. The entries were judged to be of high quality and demonstrated a creative understanding of this safety issue. Many of the entries highlighted the role of distracted driving as a primary cause of lane departure crashes. The materials from the entries will be distributed through various PacTrans communication outlets including the webpage, list serve, and social media accounts. The final element of this outreach project, Phase III, will expand the competition to include K-9 students and will further educate the public in the Pacific Northwest regarding the safety issue of lane departure crashes.