Municipalities throughout North America—from small towns in Ontario to large U.S. metropolitan regions—are embracing a fundamental shift in road safety management. Increasingly, they are moving beyond reactive fixes toward comprehensive asset management grounded in the Safe System approach. This evolution is vital because drivers rely every day on dozens of safety assets—traffic signs, pavement markings, barriers—that must perform perfectly to keep them safe. Research by the U.S. National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) reveals a clear truth: “As assets deteriorate over time, they can lose their safety effectiveness.”¹

Complementing this, the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) has advanced a similar vision for Canadian provinces and municipalities through its “Vision Zero and the Safe System Approach: A Primer for Canada,” advocating proactive management to reduce fatalities and serious injuries to zero.² Across all North America, a shared imperative emerges: proactive, data-driven safety asset management is no longer optional.

The Safe System Paradigm across borders

Safe System principles originated in Europe but have become fully embraced across both Canada and the United States. They acknowledge an inescapable fact: humans make mistakes, and transportation systems must be designed to anticipate those mistakes while protecting vulnerable users.³

The U.S. Department of Transportation has formally adopted Safe System approaches as part of its National Roadway Safety Strategy, and Canadian jurisdictions are similarly aligning with TAC’s Vision Zero framework. These initiatives emphasize:

• Shared responsibility: Governments, planners, designers, and users share ownership for safety outcomes.
• Human vulnerability: Systems must protect car occupants, cyclists, pedestrians, and other vulnerable users from fatal injuries.
• Redundancy: Multiple, overlapping safety measures prevent single points of failure from causing tragedy.
• Proactive management: Risks are identified and addressed before crashes occur.¹ ² ³

Quantifying the cost of asset deterioration

Whether in Ontario’s freeze-thaw climate or California’s sun-baked roads, infrastructure assets degrade, elevating crash risk. Despite only about 25% of travel occurring at night, over 50% of crashes happen in low-light conditions. ¹,² Data from both U.S. and Canadian sources affirm the safety benefits of asset renewal:

• Renewed pavement markings can reduce crashes by 20%.
• Upgrading to highly retroreflective stop signs can cut crashes 5-10%.

The TAC’s Primer highlights that Canadian provinces, including Ontario, experience similar challenges to their U.S. counterparts and stresses the necessity of condition-based maintenance to optimize safety outcomes.²

Moving toward proactive asset management

Traditional, reactive approaches relying on complaint-driven fixes or sporadic inspections create safety gaps and expose municipalities to liability. The Safe System approach demands comprehensive asset inventories, consistent inspection schedules based on performance standards—not just asset age—and clear maintenance protocols that anticipate deterioration.¹,²

Across North America, innovative technology serves as a key enabler. Automated retroreflectivity and readability assessments, such as those pioneered by companies like Waysights, provide municipalities the ability to evaluate every sign and marking under real-world conditions, supporting proactive interventions before assets become safety hazards.³

The technology revolution in asset management

Traditional asset management approaches often fall short because they’re resource-intensive, inconsistent, and reactive. A municipal crew might check sign retroreflectivity annually using handheld devices, but this approach has significant limitations:

• Coverage gaps: It’s nearly impossible to test every sign in a municipality annually
• Consistency issues: Different crew members may test differently or miss subtle problems
• Nighttime blind spots: Traditional retroreflectivity testing doesn’t assess how signs appear to drivers at night

Documentation challenges: Paper-based or manual digital records are prone to errors and hard to analyze

Federal agencies on both sides of the border are issuing minimum standards for retroreflectivity and asset condition. Courts are increasingly holding municipalities accountable for systematic, documented asset management consistent with Safe System duties.¹ ²

Economically, proactive management reduces emergency repair costs, legal costs, and liability exposure while delivering consistent budget forecasts. Canadian and U.S. grant programs increasingly prioritize projects demonstrating alignment with Safe System principles and accountability, further motivating municipalities to adopt advanced asset management technologies.² ³

This is where innovators, like Waysights, are revolutionizing municipal asset management by combining automated retroreflectivity testing with first-of-its-kind readability assessment. Municipalities can finally implement the kind of systematic, proactive approach that Safe System principles demand.

The technology addresses a critical gap identified in the research: while retroreflectivity testing measures the technical reflection of light, it doesn’t assess whether drivers can actually read and understand the sign in real-world conditions. Waysights’ readability component assesses signs at night in their natural environment to examine the practical visibility of the sign and the message that the sign is intended to deliver to drivers.

Implementation strategies for sign inspection

Based on the Safe System research, municipal leaders should consider these implementation strategies:

1. Assess current state

• Inventory all traffic signs and their current condition.
• Evaluate existing inspection and maintenance procedures.
• Identify gaps in coverage or consistency.

2. Establish performance standards

• Define clear criteria for when signs need attention.
• Set performance targets based on safety outcomes, not just compliance.
• Develop decision trees for repair vs. replacement.

3. Implement systematic monitoring

• Move from reactive to scheduled inspection cycles.
• Consider automated technologies that provide comprehensive coverage.
• Ensure consistent application of standards across the entire network.

4. Build organizational capacity

• Train staff on Safe System principles and asset management best practices.
• Establish clear roles and responsibilities for asset management.
• Develop performance metrics that track safety outcomes for resource efficiency.

Building your safe system foundation

The research identifies three key strategies for Safe System operations and maintenance that directly apply to sign management:

• Separate road users by distance and space: While this principle often focuses on traffic signal timing, it also applies to signage. When signs fail to clearly communicate their message – whether due to poor retroreflectivity or readability issues – drivers must spend extra cognitive resources deciphering the information. This can delay their reaction time and increase the likelihood of conflicts with other road users.
• Adapt operations to changing conditions: Environmental and social conditions constantly evolve. New developments change traffic patterns. Aging demographics affect vision capabilities. Weather patterns impact sign visibility. A truly proactive asset management system must account for these changing conditions, not just the age of assets.
• Sustain safety-related efficacy: This is perhaps the most critical strategy for sign management. The research emphasizes that “maintaining assets through their useful life and replacing assets as they degrade beyond repair provides a roadway system for safer travel.”¹

The leadership imperative

Transitioning to a proactive, data-driven asset management model is no longer optional—it’s a leadership issue. Agencies that navigate this change early will not only improve safety and lower costs but also avoid costly legal exposure.

Municipalities that implement Safe System-aligned operations and new asset management technologies are building a future where zero road deaths is a reasonable goal, not a distant aspiration.¹

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References

1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2025). A Guide to Applying the Safe System Approach to Transportation Planning, Design, and Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

2. Transportation Association of Canada (2023). Vision Zero and the Safe System Approach: A Primer for Canada. Ottawa: TAC.

3. U.S. Federal Highway Administration and AAA Foundation (2024). Advancing the Safe System Approach in U.S. Municipalities and related sources