Minnesota Department of Transportation

511 Travel Info

State Aid for Local Transportation

Traffic safety education and resources

Traffic safety education and resources

Overview

In the early 2010s, State Aid and the Office of Traffic Engineering launched a traffic safety education and outreach initiative, leading to the development of County Roadway Safety Plans (CRSP). This initiative enabled counties to access federal and state safety funds for implementing effective safety strategies, significantly reducing fatal and serious injury crashes on Minnesota roads. Education, a key component of the Towards Zero Deaths (TZD) program, plays a crucial role in fostering a culture of traffic safety. However, a decade has passed since the initial outreach, resulting in significant turnover among city and county engineers and a potential knowledge gap in safety planning.

Currently, approximately 70 percent of fatal and serious injury crashes occur on local roadways, with a troubling increase since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this, a new set of local road traffic safety workshops was developed in 2024, incorporating gaps from city, county, FHWA, and MnDOT staff. These workshops aim to fill knowledge gaps by providing education on updated crash data, traffic safety countermeasures, funding opportunities, and public engagement strategies.

As noted by Ted Schoenecker, MnDOT State Aid, Assistant Division Director, “It takes effort and intention on the part of all of us to achieve Minnesota’s goal of zero fatalities. Local agencies play a critical role in this effort, and we are asking each of you to be a safety champion.”

Traffic safety webinars

Upcoming

  • Rural horizontal curves
    • Wednesday, September 23, 2026 from 10 a.m. - Noon
    • This session will highlight effective countermeasures, design considerations, and operational improvements aimed at reducing crashes and improving safety at rural horizontal curves. Addressing the unique risks and challenges present on our rural roads is a critical to building a Safe System. Individuals that benefit most from the webinar include residents, cities, counties, DOT staff, consultants, and other transportation agency staff involved in developing infrastructure projects intended to improve traffic safety, specifically at rural intersections and roadways. Participants can expect to walk away with resources and contacts to utilize for their local projects.
    • Secure your spot now by registering at https://bit.ly/MnDOT-RuralHorizontalCurves.
      • If you’re experiencing issues accessing the registration page, please first try opening the link in Chrome. If that does not work, email maddie.huempfner@hdrinc.com to be manually added to the webinar.
  • Coming soon
    • Urban intersections
    • Urban segments (speed management)

Past

Workshop materials (2024-2025)

Crash data summaries

*An extensive crash analysis has also been conducted for each city and county by district, with summary data and workshop materials available for review. Contact Girma Feyissa at girma.feyissa@state.mn.us to request a copy.