What we're doing / the experiment
We've issued a Request for Ideas & Information (RFI) on a variety of roadway safety topics. The RFI is an Action Item responsive to our 2023 Strategic Highway Safety Plan.
The RFI is broken out into three (3) sections: Speed Safety Cameras; Telematics; and Non-digital tools and ideas. By writing in plain language per the federal plain language guidelines, we hope that a broader set of interested parties — not just established businesses with a product they are pitching — will feel able and compelled to respond and contribute to roadway safety in Massachusetts. Companies interested in sharing about safety cameras and telematics can submit through COMMBUYS. Those wishing to share a non-digital tool or idea with us can use our simplified form.
In response to a set of questions compiled from potential submitters to help clarify the content of the RFI document a set of answers has been supplied.
We may publish excerpts of the results of the RFI on mass.gov so that others may learn from our information-gathering effort.
Why we're doing it
Over 300 people were killed on Massachusetts roadways in 2023. Since the COVID pandemic, speeding-related serious injuries have steadily increased. We know there is no single solution, no silver bullet, no quick fix to achieving roadway safety. We know we don't have all the answers ourselves, and we need to work in collaboration with partners.
We hope this RFI serves as the beginning of a conversation and invites everyone into shared responsibility for safety on our roadways. An RFI allows us to ask questions and learn, without boxing us into trying to write a request for proposals (RFP) for something we aren’t even aware exists.
Through the RFI, we also hope there will be media interest in covering roadway safety in an ongoing fashion: not just the crashes*, but the actions that lead to them and potential ways to address them. There is research to suggest that, for specific safety initiatives such as a hands-free bill becoming law, the increased media coverage of the topic correlates with better driving behavior in the immediate term.
*And even changing behavior on something that might seem simple, like using the word crash not accident.
What we learned
We received 18 responses in the speed safety cameras and movement telematics categories. We also received 57 responses in the non-digital tools and ideas category. These responses represented a wide range of product, policy, engineering, and design ideas. Responses to the Request for Ideas & Information are submitted by external parties and do not necessarily represent MassDOT’s views or indicate an endorsement of a product or idea.
Speed Safety Cameras and Movement Telematics
Listed below are the 17 respondents to the first two categories. We are sharing these in the interest of transparency and collaborative learning.
- MassDOT RFI response - cameras - ACLU Massachusetts
- MassDOT RFI response - cameras - Altumint, Inc.
- MassDOT RFI response - cameras - Conduent
- MassDOT RFI response - cameras - Numina
- MassDOT RFI response - cameras - Sensys Gatso USA
- MassDOT RFI response - cameras - Sitestream, LLC
- MassDOT RFI response - cameras - Traffic Logix Corporation
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - ACLU Massachusetts
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - Cambridge Mobile Telematics
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - Carbin AI, Inc.
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - Ernst and Young
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - Geotab USA
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - GoFleet Corporation
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - Inrix, Inc.
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - Netradyne
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - Nexar, Inc.
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - UMass Lowell
- MassDOT RFI response - telematics - Vianova, LLC
Non-digital tools + ideas
We offered this category to engage with stakeholders who aren't necessarily representatives of businesses or specific products. It was our hope that, by creating a simple submission form that didn't require a COMMBUYS profile, more residents would contribute their ideas for roadway safety.
Within this category, we received a range of ideas across the Safe System Approach themes discussed in the RFI. Respondents were allowed to select multiple Safe System Approach themes that they thought their idea best matched:
- Safer Roads: 46 ideas
- Safer People: 43 ideas
- Safer Speeds: 33 ideas
- Safer Vehicles: 31 ideas
- Post-Crash Care: 2 ideas
Of the 57 responses, 50 (or 88 percent) were from Massachusetts residents and 7 (or 12 percent) were not.
In the table below, we list a sample of responses with an excerpt from the submitter for each of the Safe System Approach themes.
| Safe System Approach theme | Idea name | Excerpt from response |
|---|---|---|
| Safer Roads | Build a Freedom Network | “We need to connect people without cars to essential services and places (schools, food stores, recreation centers, libraries and more).” |
| Safer Roads | 10,000 new daylighting, speed bump, and bollard installations | “We need to embark on a project to daylight every intersection that involves a crosswalk; to install bollards by transit stops and other pedestrian-centered amenities.” |
| Safer People | Mandatory video & quiz of proper driving near pedestrians and cyclists | “At 16/older, all new driver's should have interaction with people and smaller vehicles on the road as a part of the learning and test.” |
| Safer People | Traffic Safety Education | “Traffic safety should be given higher prominence in academic curriculums, beginning with young children.” |
| Safer Speeds | School streets | “School streets are streets in front of schools where automobile traffic is restricted in order to create safe routes to school, safe places to play, and expanded public space.” |
| Safer Speeds | Raise all crosswalks | “Anywhere there is a crosswalk where "HAWK" or other traffic-light crossing device is installed should be replaced with, or augmented with, a raised crosswalk.” |
| Safer Vehicles | Aftermarket Intelligent Speed assistance (ISA) | “Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) systems represent an evolution in driver support, dynamically adjusting vehicle speed to maintain safety and compliance with legal limits.” |
| Post-Crash Care | Crash Response Prevention Unit | At all crashes that require medical care or vehicle tow, a unit of engineers is deployed to investigate the contributing factors of the crash, then a report that includes short term, medium term, and long term infrastructure changes that would minimize the likelihood and severity of future crashes. |
What comes next?
The Lab is continuing to reference the content of these responses for the insights and knowledge they provided on particular products or unexpected ideas. As we build out our project portfolio, we expect to find ways to bring some of these ideas forward for implementation testing.
If you have additional questions about the responses we received from the RFI, or what we’re up to next in this arena, please reach out to thelab@dot.state.ma.us.