The Wisconsin Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) 2023-2027 has been approved and is now available to be viewed.

Click here to view the approved Wisconsin 2023-2027 SHSP 

The Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) planning process was completed in January of 2023. The 2023-2027 SHSP was sponsored and produced by the Traffic Safety Council within the Bureau of Transportation Safety. It will replace the Wisconsin SHSP 2017-2020 as the statewide long-range SHSP plan. The SHSP will support WisDOT's vision for transportation safety in Wisconsin, as identified in Connect 2050.

WisDOT has always prioritized transportation safety. A safe transportation system benefits all of Wisconsin, whether by providing safe highways for freight movement and vehicular traffic, safe ways for pedestrians to cross roadways, or safe and secure airport facilities.

Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment

The Vulnerable Road User (VRU)assessment conducted pursuant to the stipulation of 23 U.S.C. 148(I) and defined by the Infrastructure Investment Act (IIJA) was undertaken by the Wisconsin Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). The VRU assessment provided valued feedback that will enhance the emphasis areas of the SHSP. The implementation of these efforts will continue through our partnerships with local governments, the private sector, community organizations, and private citizens. A total of six new tasks were added to the SHSP. Three were added to the Improve Safety Culture, Safety Data, and Safety Technology emphasis area; and three were added to the Improve Non-Motorist Safety emphasis area. The tasks focus on education, policy, design, adoption of technology, and advocacy. The VRU Assessment will be added as an appendix to the SHSP 2023-2027 as a detailed reference. These emphasis areas have been updated to reflect the recommendations.

Federal Initiatives

The Federal Highway Administration is promoting the Safe System Approach in order to reach the Vision Zero mission of zero deaths related to traffic accidents. Wisconsin has also committed to zero traffic deaths and has adopted the Safe Systems Approach for the SHSP 2023-2027. This commitment recognizes that traffic deaths are not only unacceptable, but entirely preventable.

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What is a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP)?

Wisconsin’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) is a statewide, comprehensive, and data-driven plan that implements the framework for supporting the safety goals related to Zero in Wisconsin, which aims for zero deaths related to traffic incidents and collisions.

How is a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) used?

An SHSP is used to develop statewide goals and safety programs to help WisDOT and other state and local highway safety partners work together to better leverage resources and effectively meet common highway safety objectives.

The SHSP provides the framework for several WisDOT highway safety planning and program documents that are submitted annually to the United States Department of Transportation to guide allocation of federal funds provided to Wisconsin, as shown in figure 1.

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Local Participation & Partnerships

The 2023-2027 SHSP was developed by the TSC in partnership with external highway safety partners. Implementation will largely be carried out at the county level by traffic safety commissions, in order to maintain a multi-disciplinary approach when accurately applying the SHSP on the local level.

Traffic Safety Commissions meet quarterly and acquire data through the Safety Laboratory (UW TOPS Lab) to support implementing local decisions on traffic safety. These include Community Maps, County Profiles, and Traffic Safety Commissions Guidelines.

‍SHSP Framework and Prioritization ‍

The Wisconsin SHSP was modeled on the 1998 National Stategic Highway Safety Plan, which was developed by a multi-disciplinary coalition of organizations, under the leadership of the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO). For the 2023-2027 SHSP, twenty-five significant highway safety topics were included throughout the evaluation process:

Wisconsin currently has a nationally recognized low fatality rate. However, specific challenges have still been identified to get Wisconsin closer to zero fatalities.

In 2021 there were: 

• 128,296 police-reported traffic crashes – an average of 353 per day.

• 595 persons were killed in 546 fatal traffic crashes – an average of three lives lost every two days on Wisconsin roadways.

• 35,676 persons suffered non-fatal injuries – an average of 98 people per day.

Also in 2021:

• Of the 595 persons killed, 28% (166) died in alcohol-involved crashes and 31% (186) died in speed-related crashes.

• Of the 595 persons killed, 8% were either pedestrians (50) or bicyclists (9), and 20% (120) were motorcycle drivers or passengers.

• When safety belt use could be determined by the investigating officer, 51% of persons killed in passenger car and light truck crashes were not using safety restraints.

• When helmet use could be determined by the investigating officer, 70% of all motorcyclists killed in crashes were not wearing helmets.

• Roads and streets under local jurisdiction (i.e., non-State trunk or Interstate highways) accounted for 63% (81,002) of all crashes in 2021.

• There were 614,4327 registered vehicles in 2021 – a 5.5% decrease from 2020.

• There were 4,361,931 licensed drivers in 2021 – a 1.07% increase from 2020.

• There were 65,002 million vehicle miles of travel in 2021 – a 12.9% increase from 2020.

• The fatality rate in 2021 was 0.92 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles of travel.

• The 2016-2020 average fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled on rural roads in Wisconsin was 1.21 compared to 1.18 for the 2011-2015 average.

The Wisconsin Performance Targets outlined in the 2023-2027 SHSP envisions the following as actionable goals to be met by the year 2027:

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