Safety Countermeasures are critical for all of Ohio’s roadways if we are going to reduce our fatal and serious crashes towards our goal of Zero Deaths. Beginning two years ago, our LTAP Center started highlighting each of the Nine Proven Safety Countermeasures in our quarterly newsletters. With the publication of information on the Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon in the Spring 2015 edition, all Nine Countermeasures have now been shared with you.
We are pleased to have provided the quarterly focus, but want to help increase your knowledge even further as you consider implementing a countermeasure (or countermeasures) on your roadways. To aid you, we are pleased to announce this new Ohio Community of Practice for the Nine Proven Safety Countermeasures.
What is a Community of Practice? A Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. This definition reflects the social nature of human learning.[1] Ohio’s Nine Proven Safety Countermeasures CoP is focused on providing information which you can use. The Ohio Local Roadway Database of Installed Proven Safety Countermeasures lists where countermeasures are being implemented in Ohio, who you can talk to about the countermeasure’s implementation and the latest information on each countermeasure. Up-to-date information about real Ohio only projects – so you can contact the project owners and ask questions or get their firsthand advice on how their implementation went. The CoP is intended to let you learn from each other by connecting with other local roadway agencies who have already completed a same or similar project to what you are considering for your roadways.
How can I become involved with the CoP? There are a few different ways to become involved with the CoP:
- Use it as a resource to reach out and ask questions of other Ohio local roadway agencies who have already ‘been there and done that’ concerning a proven safety countermeasure;
- Submit your own completed safety countermeasure project to the CoP so others can reach out to you and ask questions concerning your firsthand experience;
- Share information about the this CoP with those you work with to make them aware of this new and valuable resource.
If you would like to submit a project to be included in the CoP, please go to the Project Information Form.
Even if you are just getting started considering a possible proven safety countermeasure, this CoP is for you! It already contains information on Federally funded, local projects for each countermeasure type. We encourage you to check out this valuable new resource and join in using the information available on our first, official Community of Practice within Ohio’s Local Roadway Community.
[1] http://wenger-trayner.com/resources/what-is-a-community-of-practice/ (last visited 6/5/2015).
Want to learn more about the Nine Proven Safety Countermeasures?
General information on each of the Nine Proven Safety Countermeasures is available on the FHWA website. Click here.