Our first issue of 2017 brings us another opportunity to spotlight a member of our Stakeholder Group. We are happy to share with you some information about Byron Bluehorse, who is an Assistant Professor with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Tribal Management Program.

 

Byron is also the manager of the Alaska Tribal Technical Assistance Program, whose mission is to help tribes become aware of the significance of tribal transportation issues through education and training, to help tribes define transportation systems that enhance community and economic development, promote desired land use, protect cultural resources, to orient and coordinate federal, state and local governments, and maximize efficient use of indigenous transportation resources.  

 

Byron Bluehorse is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. He holds a bachelors degree in University Studies and a masters degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of New Mexico. From 1993-1997, Byron served in the U.S. Marine Corps, an experience which led him to Japan, Panama, and the Philippines. After receiving an honorable discharge, Byron returned home to New Mexico to pursue a higher education. While in graduate school, Byron served as an AmeriCorps volunteer where he helped to establish the University of New Mexico Tribal Service Corps. Byron's past employment experience includes the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Forest Service, Resource Center for Raza Planning and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). After moving to Alaska in 2005, Byron began working as a Contracts and Grants Specialist for the BIA. In this capacity, he provided technical assistance in the area of P.L. 93-638 Indian Self-Determination contracting to tribal entities in the Interior and Arctic Slope regions. Byron currently lives in Fairbanks and is a member of the American Planning Association.

 

Becoming involved in safety

 

While working for the Alaska Tribal Technical Assistance Program Center (AKTTAP), Byron met many Tribal planners who were passionate about shedding light on the need for more safety opportunities.  Those mentors opened his eyes to the safety arena.  AKTTAP eventually hosted a Regional Safety Summit, which many Tribal Governments participated in, to raise awareness of available opportunities and technology to improve and develop new programs.  They also worked with several Tribes to develop safety plans. AKTTAP also held a peer-to-peer safety workshop session where they utilized Tribal input to create a safety website ( tribalsafety.org ) where Tribes can access numerous resources.

 

Byron shared an example of a safety activity that he has been involved with that he feels could be a best practice for others. He has participated in several Road Safety Audit (RSA) teams, one of which led to a report in which he served as lead author. Byron shared that being a part of these teams has opened my eyes to the history, process, and benefits of an RSA. He strongly encourages anyone interested in RSAs to take RSA training and participate in an RSA audit. Such opportunities provided him with a better understanding of the built environment and the movement of people.  He also developed a greater appreciation for low-cost options such as roadway reconfiguration, also known as Road Diets.

 

The United States Department of Transportation Traffic Records Coordinating Committee (DOT/TRCC) is a collaborative group representing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the USDOT Office of the Secretary to maximize the quality of safety data and analysis. This occurs across six systems: crash, vehicle, driver, roadway, citation & adjudication, and injury surveillance.

Data quality is critical. Completeness, timeliness, and accuracy are all important factors when it comes to using traffic safety data for decision-making. Since data is necessary for pinpointing traffic safety issues and identifying appropriate countermeasures to reduce crashes, there is a vested interest among transportation professionals in ensuring traffic records are accurate.

Improved collection, management, and analysis of traffic safety data at the State and Federal levels is at the crux of the work of the TRCC. In order to help states with their traffic safety data collection, management, and analysis, there are multiple support resources the DOT/TRCC member agencies provide. These include NHTSA's Crash Data Improvement Program, Traffic Records Executive Training, and GO Teams Program; and the FHWA Roadway Data Improvement and Data and Analysis Technical Assistance Programs. To learn more about these five opportunities for States, please visit the Technical Assistance and Training page.

Each state has a Traffic Records Coordinating Committee Chair and Coordinator. There are many variations among the ways individual states handle their own traffic records coordinating committee membership and roles. Recognizing that there were states looking to their peers for ways to optimize their activities, the DOT/TRCC conducted a project to review state TRCC effectiveness. The resultant report includes definitions of successful TRCCs and provides examples from six case study states, and others. The recommendations provide state TRCC members with ideas they can adopt and adapt to their own. In late 2015, FHWA published the results of their State Traffic Records Coordinating Committee Noteworthy Practices guidance document.