ARIDE: Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement training
CBO: Community-Based Organization
Communities of Concern: Communities of Concern are defined as census tracts with a higher concentration of specific demographic groups that were shown through crash data analysis to have higher exposure to high-crash corridors. Based on the population share of the identified demographic groups (minority, low-income, and limited English proficiency), tracts were classified into four categories: most marginalized, more marginalized, less marginalized, and least marginalized.
Complete Streets: A transportation policy and design approach that requires streets to be planned, designed, operated, and maintained to enable safe, convenient and comfortable travel and access for users of all ages and abilities regardless of their mode of transportation
Corridor of Concern: A roadway corridor, defined in this Vision Zero Action Plan, with two or fewer fatal and serious injury crashes that were excluded from the final High-Injury Network
DCR: Massachusetts Department of Conversation and Recreation
FARS: Fatality Analysis Reporting System, a national database of fatal crashes maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
EA: Emphasis Areas, also called Contributing Crash Factors, are identified in the 2023 Strategic Highway Safety Plan (2023 SHSP) and definitions are consistent with the IMPACT Emphasis Area Definitions
EMS: Emergency Medical Service
EPDO: Equivalent Property Damage Only, an index used to assess the severity of crashes
FHWA: Federal Highway Administration
Federal Functional Classifications: Functional classifications define the role each element of the roadway system plays in serving travel needs. Functional class definitions are used to determine the eligibility for federal highway funds; set roadway performance targets; develop guidelines and regulations for access management; plan transit routes; and designate travel routes. The following is a summary of the functional classification definitions in the Federal Highway Administration’s publication, Highway Functional Classification Concepts, Criteria and Procedures (2023 Edition):
FSI: Fatal and Serious Injury
HAWK: A “High-intensity Activated Crosswalk” beacon, also known as a pedestrian hybrid beacon, is a traffic control device with enhanced signals to stop road traffic and allow pedestrians to cross safely.
HIN: High-Injury Network, the network of streets with higher numbers of traffic fatalities or injuries
HRN: High-Risk (Systemic) Network, a proactive approach that focuses on sites with the highest risk of future fatal and serious injury crashes based on the presence of contributing risk factors from a systemwide perspective
HSIP: Highway Safety Improvement Program, a program administered by MassDOT to provide funding for eligible improvements that reduce fatalities and serious injuries on public roads
iRAP: International Road Assessment Programme, which offers an innovative and proactive risk assessment tool for analyzing and mapping the safety of a roadway and generating data-driven solutions for correcting hazards
ITS: Intelligent Transportation Systems
KABCO: A scale of injury severity typically used for crash reporting, in which
LRTP: Long-Range Transportation Plan, e.g., the Boston Region MPO’s Destination 2050
MassDOT: Massachusetts Department of Transportation
MassDOT Impact Portal: A tool for researching crash-related data in Massachusetts
MBTA: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
MGL: Massachusetts General Laws
MPO: Metropolitan Planning Organization
NACTO: National Association of City Transportation Officials
NHTSA: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
OWI: Operating Under the Influence, or driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs
Primary Risk Sites: Locations identified in the High-Risk (Systemic) Network that are ranked in the top 5th percentile, indicating the highest risk level for a given emphasis area
RMV: Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles
Safe System Approach: A holistic and comprehensive transportation safety strategy focused both on human mistakes and vulnerability that promotes a transportation system designed with many redundancies in place to protect all road users
Safety Action Plan: A comprehensive regional safety plan aimed at reducing and eliminating fatal and serious injury crashes affecting all roadway users
Secondary Risk Sites: Locations identified in the High-Risk (Systemic) Network that are ranked in the second-highest 10th percentile (i.e., the 6th to 15th percentile), representing a moderate level of risk
SHSP: Strategic Highway Safety Plan, a data-driven, strategic plan that identifies key safety needs in the state and helps direct funding to improvements that reduce highway fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads
SRTS: Safe Routes to School, a program to increase safe walking, biking, and rolling among elementary, middle, and high school students by using a collaborative, community-focused approach that bridges the gap between health and transportation
SS4A: Safe Streets and Road For All, a US DOT grant program
Subregion: The Boston Region MPO area is divided into eight smaller subregions:
TIM: Traffic Incident Management
TIP: Transportation Improvement Plan, a five-year, rolling capital plan
US DOT: US Department of Transportation
Vision Zero: An approach to roadway safety based on the assumption that serious traffic crashes are preventable and that we can change how we design, operate, and maintain our streets for the safety of all road users
VRU: Vulnerable Road User, which typically includes pedestrians, bicyclists, and other nonmotorized road users
V2X: “Vehicle to Everything” connected vehicle communication that enables vehicles to exchange data with other vehicles, infrastructure, and other devices