Safety & Security

The Southern California Association of Governments' (SCAG) Safety and Security Program seeks to support the capabilities of local and county governments to better protect its region's transportation systems and critical infrastructures, as well as to enhance the overall level of preparedness for responding to harmful incidents or disasters.

Within that construct, SCAG has four security roles:

  1. Provide a policy forum to help develop regional consensus and education on security policies and emergency response.
  2. Assist in the planning and programming of transportation infrastructure repairs.
  3. Leverage projects and planning functions (including Intelligent Transportation Systems) that can enhance or provide benefit to transportation security efforts and those responsible for planning and responding to emergencies.
  4. Become a central repository/mirror for regional geo-data that can be used for planning, training, response and relief efforts of security and emergency stakeholders.

However, terrorist attacks and catastrophic events are not the only threats to the SCAG region. Each year thousands of people are killed and injured in the SCAG region in roadway accidents. In 2005 alone, over 2,800 people died and just nearly 150,000 were injured on roadways in the SCAG region. And each year since 1998 the number of fatalities has grown.

While much of the growth in fatalities can be attributed to the growth in vehicle miles traveled, it represents an unacceptable personal burden on those involved. There is also a regional burden in lost productivity, increased traffic congestion and pollution.

SCAG has been working with the State of California in the development and implementation of the Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) in order to help reduce the number of people killed annually on SCAG roadways.

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