ALDOT Statewide TSMO Strategic Plan ALDOT Statewide TSMO Strategic Plan 20190522 | Page 7

3.1 SAFETY AND MOBILITY CONCERNS
Safety and mobility are independently necessary concerns within any transportation system, however,
the inherent relationship between safety and mobility places added importance and complexity to
isolating and solving these concerns. Alabamians experience a variety of safety and mobility challenges
every day—from an increased commute time due to a fender bender; to a road closure due to an
overturned tractor trailer; to a traffic fatality.
3.1.1 Safety
Traffic incidents such as stalled vehicles, major and minor crashes,
and spilled freight loads account for one-fourth of all delays on the
highway system in Alabama (ALDOT, 2018). Each minute a lane is
blocked can lead to four minutes of delay which can mean a 30-
minute lane blockage resulting in a potential two-hour distribution
in traffic (FHWA, 2010) (SHRP 2, 2014). Importantly, for each
minute that a primary incident continues, the likelihood of a
secondary crash increases by 2.8% (FHWA, 2010). The United
States Department of Transportation (USDOT) estimates that
Source: The Anniston Star
secondary crashes represent more than 20% of all crashes on
freeways and 18% of fatalities on interstates (FHWA, 2010). Fewer incidents and quicker clearance of
incidents help to reduce congestion, allowing the transportation system to operate more safely and
efficiently.
There were 157,094 people involved in crashes in 2017 in Alabama with 15,003 non-capacitating injuries
and 119,470 people involved in property damage only crashes as illustrated in Figure 2. In 2017, crashes
in Alabama resulted in 860 fatalities and 6,413 incapacitating injuries (ADVANCE, 2018).
Figure 2: Alabama Crash Severity, 2013 – 2017 (ADVANCE, 2018)
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