MISSION, VISION, AND GOALS
The mission of the Iowa SMS is to reduce human suffering and economic losses resulting from crashes on Iowa's roadways through the identification of causes, resources, and safety implications of policy decisions.
The vision of the Iowa SMS is of a state whose citizens enjoy the safest highway system possible. This system is achieved when service providers and citizens communicate needs, coordinate efforts, and cooperate across political and professional boundaries in the pursuit of the mission. The Iowa SMS is the tool for achieving and sustaining this vision and must:
- accommodate Iowa's specific social, economic, and geographic conditions;
- foster an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving;
- provide a forum for leadership in safety management; and
- achieve continuous improvement.
The goal of the Iowa SMS is to reduce the number and severity of crashes on Iowa's roadways by promoting systematic processes to identify, implement, and evaluate all opportunities for improvement relating to:
- highway planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operations;
- traffic and transportation law, law enforcement, and adjudication;
- emergency response, trauma patient care, and the educational activities of the health care community related to highway safety;
- other safety programs relating to vehicles, cargo, and people (included are special users groups such as older drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, commercial motor carriers, and hazardous material carriers);
- integration with railroads and with public transportation (included are railroad-highway grade crossings and relevant data such as number of trains, crossing warning devices, FRA numbers for linkage with motor-vehicle crash files, etc.);
- information systems to accomplish the above-mentioned tasks and for prioritizing problems and effectively utilizing resources.
