The Safe System Approach (SSA) is central to U.S. transportation safety. While progress is underway, it is often siloed and reactive. On October 28, 2025 SafeTREC director Julia Griswold will present a poster at the 2025 AASHTO Safety Summit and Peer Exchange in New Orleans, LA that proposes a Unified Safe System Implementation Framework combining concepts from public health, context-sensitive design, and kinetic energy risk management to address this. The matrix links SSA elements to context types and intervention tiers, guiding practitioners to align strategies, prioritize upstream actions, and institutionalize safety while advancing Vision Zero goals. Visit the event webpage to learn more and access the agenda.
About the 2025 AASHTO Safety Summit and Peer Exchange
This event will provide a forum for:
- Exchanging information and ideas on safety practices among leadership-, managerial-, and practitioner-level representatives of state departments of transportation.
- Discussing evolving strategies for addressing safety issues related to all elements of a safe transportation system.
- Collaborating across the state DOT and roadway lifecycle as well as with external partners to work toward common safety goals.
The Summit will present a diverse and practical program that highlights AASHTO President Garrett Eucalitto’s emphases on safer communities, safer road users, and safer workers. Each session of the Summit will be designed to incorporate the event objectives, with a primary format of interaction and conversation among participants, presenters, panelists, and moderators. There will be a mix of plenary and concurrent sessions.
This presentation is related to SafeTREC research supported by the Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety (CPBS), a Tier-1 University Transportation Center (UTC) supported by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) and led by the University of New Mexico (UNM). Learn more about UC Berkeley SafeTREC's participation in the CPBS.