Road Safety Takes Center Stage In Minnesota’s New Plan

The State of Minnesota certainly has lofty expectations for its residents when it comes to traveling on the interstates, highways and other roadways around the state when they say their hope is for zero deaths in Minnesota from vehicle accidents. 

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This isn’t a new revelation from the state, but it’s one they continue to double down on trying to get the message across. Late last week the Minnesota Department of Transportation presented their updated Strategic Highway Safety Plan.  

This plan is revised or updated every five years using the data MnDOT has collected since the last changes were made. The main points of interest that the state evaluates the most are: 

• Crash Data Analysis: This information looks at the most common characteristics of accidents around the state such as the frequent locations for accidents, the time-of-day accidents most often occur, how weather conditions play into those accidents, and driver behavior. 

• Stakeholder Engagement: This aspect of the study takes public input from drivers from all walks of life to share their experiences with the state. 

• Focus Area Framework: In this part of the information collected, MnDOT identifies the key causes for fatal accidents and wrecks that result in serious injuries. The main objective of this part of the study is to better understand the contributing factors of the accidents that the state is trying to avoid.  

• Safety Strategies and Tactics: These ideas are developed from information collected and then matched with proven ideas to reduce the crashes that have most commonly occurred.  

The 2025-2029 is 274 pages long and gets very specific in how the plan for the next few years should be carried out. You can read the entire outline the state has put together, here’s the link to the entire plan.