ND Rural Transportation Safety & Security Summit
Background

Safety has always been a critical issue in personal and freight mobility. Considerable resources have been focused on improving safety on our roads and highways, yet the annual death toll from traffic crashes remains at about 40,000, with rural crashes accounting for a disproportionately high number of those fatalities. The number of fatal crashes in rural areas is more than 40 percent higher than that in urban areas, and the fatality rate for rural crashes is almost double that of urban crashes.

The security of our transportation system has become equally as important as safety. Although urban areas have been the focus of most of the nation's efforts to improve transportation security, concerns about security in rural areas now demand increased attention, particularly in light of the region's large border areas, the high volume of commercial truck traffic, and limited security resources. Sparse populations, vital transportation infrastructure, and the more trusting nature of rural residents tend to complicate approaches for dealing with security issues in rural areas.

To improve safety, our challenge is to work together to continue to pursue and implement programs and policies that specifically address rural transportation.

Our challenge with security is to understand the risks unique to, and priority issues facing, regions outside urban and metropolitan boundaries.

A prospective role for the Rural Transportation Safety and Security Center is to serve as the focal point for safety and security research, education, and outreach, as well as for coordinating and leveraging resources for improving safety and security.