Over the past two decades, as researchers have gained more knowledge about driver visibility needs and aging driver population trends, some transportation agencies have begun to use longitudinal pavement markings that are wider than the 4-inch minimum for standard centerline, edge line, or lane line applications. This report describes a project with two primary activities. The first activity was identifying the current use of wider markings among transportation agencies in the United States, Canada, and other countries. The second activity was a review of the technical literature related to wider markings, with a particular emphasis on
previous studies of the costs and benefits of using wider markings. This research report summarizes the significant findings from the project.

ATSSA members work on the front lines of traffic safety. They make roads safer by installing modern roadway safety devices and protecting workers during the road construction process. ATSSA members also work to reduce the number and severity of roadway crashes. According to federal statistics, each year motor vehicle crashes claim 42,000 lives and injure 3,000,000 people, incurring $230.6 billion in societal costs and $21 billion in direct taxpayer costs. The International Union of Police Associations says that more police officers die in motor vehicle crashes every year than by criminals’ bullets. According to AASHTO’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan, unless there is a change in crash rates, six out of 10 children born today will be injured in motor vehicle crashes during their lifetime, and one in 84 will die violently on roadways. 

Approximately 3,500 people die every month on our nation’s roadways. The increased tax burden from these crashes for taxpayers is nearly $14 billion with societal costs well over $150 billion. ATSSA’s proposal to invest $3 billion a year to enhance the nation’s roadway safety infrastructure is a sound investment that will pay for itself in reduced crashes. In addition, the funding mechanisms put in place to fund the Roadway Safety Program would provide much needed additional revenue to enhance the capacity of our nation’s transportation system. We look forward to taking these proposals to Congress and the American people to get their support for improving our roadway safetysystem and making “Safer Roads - Save Lives” a reality.

ATSSA has a committee dedicated to the advancement of guardrails. The association’s Guardrail Committee works to preserve funding through the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), a federal program which dedicates funds to infrastructure safety, promote a fully funded Highway Trust Fund (HTF) and other funding opportunities, work with ATSSA chapters and members to develop and deliver government relations services at the state level and encourage members to utilize these services, and educate the administration on roadway safety infrastructure.

FHWA barrier guidance is contained in the AASHTO Roadside Design Guide. However, FHWA field offices often raise numerous issues that involve interpretations, extrapolations, device selection, hardware deployment, or simply trying to fit safety devices into real world conditions. These questions and answers offer clarification on the use of roadside hardware for issues not covered by FHWA policy or topics that simply need additional explanation. They are the considered opinions of engineers in the FHWA Office of Safety Design and the FHWA Resource Center with helpful input from members of the American Traffic Safety Services Association's Guardrail Committee. 

This new publication, "Safety Benefits of Median Barrier and Roadside Guardrail," was developed to address some of the negative assumptions that have recently affected the guardrail and cable barrier industry. The study showcases the various technologies designed to specifically improve safety on our roadways. Featured are “success stories” where road user(s) lives were saved by the successful performance of guardrail and median barriers.