Tribal Transportation Safety Assessment (TTSA)

Tribal Transportation Safety Assessment (TTSA)

Participants conducting a needs assessment in Happy Camp, 2019

Needs assessment for the Karuk Tribe (Happy Camp, 2019)

UC Berkeley SafeTREC is inviting 12 California Tribes to apply for the next round of Tribal Transportation Safety Assessments (TTSAs) to be completed by September 30, 2023. TTSA studies will be based on the Tribal communities' input about their transportation choices, challenges and opportunities, and can help Tribal staff and leadership plan and prioritize safety improvements for all travel modes (walking, bicycling, transit, driving) on Tribal roads and pathways, and on roads accessing Tribal lands. Tribal staff can also use the TTSA reports in support of their funding applications.

Funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), TTSAs are FREE to California Tribes. 

TTSA engagements include:

  • Crash data analysis by SafeTREC staff
  • Community engagement survey to understand household transportation choices, challenges and opportunities. (Online and/or printed)
  • With Tribal staff, selection of several focus (study) areas on or near Tribal lands (intersections, corridors, paths, or routes including walk/bike to schools)
  • One-day on-site field visit by a safety expert (walk-audit/drive-about)
  • Detailed illustrated report of findings with analyses, suggestions and concepts


NEW Virtual TTSA - This option is also available to bring a transportation safety assessment to your community!

We are excited to share that we are now offering Tribes the additional option to apply for a virtual Tribal Transportation Safety Assessment (TTSA) tailored to the specific transportation safety needs of their community. The Virtual TTSAs will be conductedby SafeTREC safety evaluators and around the same criteria that Tribes would receive during an in-person assessment. The only difference will be that instead of an in-person field audit, the assessment will be conducted utilizing Google Map and StreetView.


NEW TTSA Tutorial Presentations - "How to Conduct a Transportation Safety Assessment for your Tribe"

These online live presentations can be requested by any interested Tribe for their staff and scheduled during August and September of 2023. During these 1 to 2-hour presentations, our transportation safety experts will provide information about transportation safety topics. Topics may include:

  • Safe System Principles

  • Crash data collection

  • Community engagement with Tribal communities

  • How to identify transportation safety issues and focus areas for safety assessments in your Tribe

  • How Tribal staff can conduct transportation safety audits 

  • How Tribal staff can utilize best known countermeasures for improving motorist, bicyclist and pedestrian safety


Apply for the 2023 TTSA Program

Applications for the 2023 TTSA Program are now closed. For more information about the program, download the TTSA Flyer or contact Afsaneh Yavari, Research & Development Engineer, at afsaneh.yavari@berkeley.edu.

The assessment will provide a roadmap which allows us to focus on priority issues that will make transportation planning easier and ultimately more effective.
TTSA Tribal Community Participant

The TTSA Program

Since 2015 SafeTREC has conducted 39 transportation safety assessments for California Tribes. The TTSA program is just one of SafeTREC’s free resources for California tribal communities. Others include Tribal Street Story – a map-based “crowdsourcing” tool for gathering community input, and Tribal Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS), a map-based crash data search and visualization tool.

Testimonials for the Tribal Road Safety Program

"One of the only Tribes to be selected for this highly competitive grant [California Transportation Commission’s Active Transportation Program (ATP) grant], we were awarded $9.9 million dollars for the Happy Camp Complete Streets Project! The TTSA report was a large part of why our application was successful, and we highly recommend other Tribes to take advantage of the TTSA opportunity while it’s available."

Misty Rickwalt
Karuk Tribe Transportation Director

"I'd like to convey to you EBKI’s deep gratitude for the amazing, excellent final report. The work produced is superlative and will serve EBKI well over many years. “  

Will Micklin
CEO Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians