ITE Journal - May 2020 - 4

| president's message
Speed - A New Era Rises
INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTION

International President
Ransford S. McCourt, P.E., PTOE (F)
Portland, OR, USA

International Vice President
Alyssa A. Reynolds Rodriguez, P.E., PTOE (F)
Assistant Director, Public Works,
City of Henderson, NV, USA

Immediate Past International President
Bruce Belmore, P.Eng., PTOE, VMA (F)

Director, Western Canada Transportation Planning, WSP,
Regina, SK, Canada

Directors
Gordon E. Meth, P.E., PTOE, PTP, RSP1 (F)

(Northeastern District) Transportation Engineering
Expert Witness, Robson Forensic, Cedar Knolls, NJ, USA

Jeff Riegner, P.E., AICP, PTOE (F)

(Mid-Colonial District), Vice President,
Whitman, Requardt & Associates, Wilmington, DE, USA

Scott Knebel, P.E. (M)

(Great Lakes District), Group Manager,
Crawford, Murphy, and Tilly, Columbus, OH, USA

Kristi M. Sebastian, P.E., PTOE (M)

(Midwestern District), Traffic Engineer,
Dakota County, Apple Valley, MN, USA

Kirsten Tynch, P.E., PTOE, LEED AP BD+C, ENV SP (F)
(Southern District), Managing Director,
VHB, Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Karen E. Aspelin, P.E., PTOE (F)

(Mountain District), Principal, MaxGreen
Transportation Engineers, LLC,
Colorado Springs, CO, USA

Cathy Leong, P.E. (F)

(Western District), Associate Director,
Wilson Okamoto Corporation, Honolulu, HI, USA

Carlos Ortiz, P.E., T.E., PTOE (M)

(Western District), COO, Advantec,
Consulting Engineers, Irvine, CA, USA

Jen Malzer, M.Sc., P.Eng. (F)

(Canadian District), Transportation Engineer,
City of Calgary, AB, Canada

Daniel Przychodzki (M)

(Global District) Team Leader, Transport,
City of Greater Dandenong, Victoria, Australia

Dale Picha, P.E., PTOE (M)

(Texas District), Traffic Operations Manager,
Texas Department of Transportation, San Antonio, TX, USA

Andrew Velasquez, P.E., PTOE (M)

(Florida Puerto Rico District) Program Manager - Planning
and Traffic Engineering, AECOM, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

Ex-Officio Members
J. Andrew Swisher, P.E., PTOE

(Missouri Valley District) Project Manager,
HR Green, Inc., Des Moines, IA, USA

Jason Crawford, P.E. (F)

(Coordinating Council Chair)
Research Engineer/Division Head, Texas A&M
Transportation Institute, Arlington, TX, USA

Since my birth, nearly three-quarters of a million people in the
United States have perished using our transportation system due
to excessive speeding. We all do it. Our culture and our siloed
approach to this topic makes it nearly impossible for anyone to
get their hands around the issue and tackle it to the ground. One
would think with the amount of studies and research involving
vehicle operating speed and speed limits, and the billions of
dollars in infrastructure created using speed-based criteria,
we would have solved this. But we've learned through research
RANSFORD S. MCCOURT,
that engineering alone, education alone, enforcement alone,
P.E., PTOE (F)
adjudication alone, or the public alone will not solve this issue.
ITE International President
Those same efforts completely united under common guiding
principles produce a vector of substantial proportion-contributing to Vision Zero.
Vision Zero will not happen without prioritizing safety outcomes-data show large fatality
groupings associated with arterial streets and rural highways. Conflating issues doesn't help-
such as stating that speed kills related on limited access facilities when arterials have greater
fatalities; using the 85th percentile away from high-speed facilities and claiming it to be the gold
standard; replacing speed signs, or building wide neighborhood streets rather than investing in
speed management and being surprised by high operating speeds. These approaches divide us
and distract from our common purpose. Here are three areas that we can advance collaboratively:
1. Let's be leaders in setting speed limits properly by using context and science. Let's
consider all road users in our decisions and stop using simplistic "one size fits all"
approaches. Montana and Texas are not Hawaii or New York. Use emerging research
(such as NCHRP 17-76) and National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
(NCUTCD) recommendations. Consider broadening the use of statutory maximum
speed limit designations and use of default-citywide urban speeds.
2. Let's engage judicial, enforcement, engineering, and the users together, not in silos.
Collaboration is hard and time consuming. Judges who enable law enforcement to feel
like they cannot make tickets "stick" unless they write them many mph over the posted
maximum speed is no more right than setting speed limits too low or too high relative to
road context. We can work together-other countries have (see feature article on page 32
on safety efforts in Oslo, Norway).
3. Let's set clear policy on the application of automated enforcement. The Governors Highway
Safety Association, AAA, and so many others know of its proven safety effectiveness. If we're
committed to Vision Zero, then we must be committed to zero entrapment, zero undue
enrichment, zero privacy invasion, and zero inequity in its application. PERIOD. If we
commit to this together, then the barriers and fears preventing its application can be broken.
I jumped in with both feet to the speed topic a few years ago with the NCUTCD on
establishing appropriate speed limits. What I learned is this issue evokes a lot of emotion. ITE
and our profession have many resources on this topic, and a feature article on page 26 describes
the Safe System approach and ITE's efforts in this arena. We can meaningfully help shape our
communities, but only if we work together-now more than ever.

Abbas Mohaddes, P.E. (F)

(Industry Council Chair)
President and COO, Econolite, Anaheim, CA, USA

Institute of Transportation Engineers
1627 Eye Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20006 USA
Telephone: +1 202-785-0060 | Fax: +1 202-785-0609

www.ite.org

May 2020

i te j o urnal

Ransford S. McCourt, P.E., PTOE (F)
ITE International President

http://www.ite.org

ITE Journal - May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ITE Journal - May 2020