OCALA, FL (352today.com) – The Ocala Marion County Transportation and Planning Organization held their Technical Advisory Committee meeting Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2025.
The 2026 Safety Performance Measure targets were discussed at length with the TAC having to provide their recommendations for setting targets. Ultimately those targets will be approved by the TPO governing board.
It’s a federal requirement that the TPO tracks its progress over the years to ensure that the public is aware of the statistics as well as their targets. The safety performance measure targets are integrated into the TPO’s Long Range Transportation Plan and the Transportation Improvement Program. There are no penalties for not achieving the targets.
The TPO board will take action Jan. 27, and then the targets will be submitted to the Florida Department of Transportation by Feb. 27, 2026.
Last year, there was discussion by the TPO board regarding targets and goals. The overall goal is always zero for fatalities and serious injuries, regardless of whether the committee adopts a zero target or another number, pursuant to the board’s commitment to the Zero Action Plan. The TPO emphasized the elimination of fatalities and serious injuries by 2045.
“We realize that crashes are preventable, and our choices matter to our lives and the lives of others,” said Rob Balmes, Ocala Marion County TPO director. “We pledge to make safety a priority to focus on driving, to slow down, be aware of our surroundings, walk, ride or roll, in a safe and predictable manner, and to set an example for those around us.”
Progress has been made toward achieving those goals through performance measures. The performance measures that have been used since the federal requirement in 2018 by the USDOT are fatalities, the rate of fatalities, serious injuries, serious injury rate, non-motorized injuries and serious injuries.
“For targets clarification, we must submit to the DOT targets based on those five performance measures,” said Balmes.
The committee also reviewed the past five years of fatalities and serious injuries on public roadways in Marion County. The average fatalities per year was 103 during the five-year period, 2020-2024. Fatalities grew at an average rate of 2.9 percent per year during that time frame.
- 104 fatalities, 2020
- 91, 2021
- 109, 2022
- 97, 2023
- 112, 2024
The study didn’t screen roadways that weren’t publicly maintained by the FDOT, the county, and the municipalities of Ocala, Belleview and Dunnellon. That’s something that’s emphasized in the FDOT methodology. This would include crashes in driveways, parking lots, and ATV users, for instance–in the Ocala National Forest there have been injuries with ATV users and people walking on rail lines.
Fatalities for 2025 are expected to be less than the five-year average.
Serious injuries for the five-year period, 2020-2024, the average of serious injuries is 347 per year.
- 292, serious injuries, 2020
- 250, 2021
- 469, 2022
- 422, 2023
- 302, 2024
“It’s been encouraging to see the numbers drop the past two years,” said Balmes, who’s expecting a continued downward trend in the numbers for 2025.
The average serious injury rate has been slightly higher than the statewide average for the five-year period, 2024-2025.
Bicycle fatalities:
- 2, 2020
- 3, 2021
- 5, 2022
- 5, 2023
- 10, 2024
Bicycle serious injuries:
- 12, 2020
- 8, 2021
- 14, 2022
- 9, 2023
- 5, 2024
Pedestrian fatalities:
- 22, 2020
- 18, 2021
- 17, 2022
- 13, 2023
- 21, 2024
Pedestrian serious injuries:
- 14, 2020
- 16, 2021
- 17, 2022
- 13, 2023
- 21, 2024
The targets that the TPO Board adopted the last year were also recommended by the TPO, the Citizens Advisory Committee and the Technical Advisory Committee. Compared to the five-year average, they failed to meet the fatalities target or non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries targets; however, they did meet the serious injury target and serious injury rate targets.
Two options were presented to the committee for their consideration. In 2025, the TPO began the process of the 5 percent reduction to prior year targets, said Balmes.
“The thinking behind that is to focus in on our ultimate goal, zero fatalities and zero serious injuries,” said Balmes.
Option A called for a 5 percent reduction that would be applied to all 2025 targets; it would be the same methodology as 2025 and there would be a continuation of the 5% percent declining targets to be aligned with the Commitment to Zero goal of zero fatalities and zero serious injuries by 2045, said Balmes.
Option B called for adopting the state target of zero. If the TPO Board adopts the state targets, they would have to continue annual targets of zero for all five performance measures until changes are made by the FDOT. The TAC voted to recommend adopting option B.
The FDOT since the beginning of the process in 2018 has adopted targets of zero for all five performance measures.
The 2026 recommendation from the TPO staff was to adopt Option A to continue a focus on declining annual targets. The CAC also agreed with staff’s recommendation to adopt option A. They sought the TAC’s recommendation.
The preponderance of Metropolitan Planning Organizations and TPOs in the State of Florida, 21 0f 27, have decided to adopt targets of zero for all five performance measures.
Since the TPO decided to adopt option B, then moving forward the federal requirements they would have to continue to adopt the same targets as DOT, until such a time they make a change, said Balmes. They would have to continue with the zero target for the foreseeable future.
