Current State of Highway Safety Education: Safety Course Offerings in Engineering and Public Health

Abstract

There is a need to investigate educational offerings in highway safety available through engineering, public health, and injury prevention programs at universities in the United States. A series of surveys was distributed to universities and transportation engineering research centers throughout the United States from March 2004 to March 2005, requesting information about safety course availability and content (e.g., course outline, syllabus, references, and notes). Of 117 engineering programs contacted, 29 safety courses were identified at 25 universities; of 34 public health programs, only seven indicated traffic safety content. A detailed assessment of course content and syllabi revealed that many use reference materials drawn from other areas of transportation (e.g., design and operations); few use educational references reflecting contemporary scientific analyses of safety. Existing course content was compared with safety core competencies developed by a Transportation Research Board Subcommittee to provide an indication of adequacy of course content. The comparison indicated relative strengths in identifying origins and characteristics of crash data and safety management systems, but persistent weaknesses in describing highway safety as a field with underlying scientific principles, which drive how analysis is conducted and decisions are made. The courses also lacked a systemic multidisciplinary perspective, important for success in today’s safety management field. While safety is a primary responsibility of transportation engineers, there is a lack of complete and consistent coverage of this topic at the university level.