Inventory and Appraisal

The Annual Inventory of Traffic Safety Activities, a nationwide program administered by the National Safety Council with the co-operation of several national professional organizations, provides an accurate measurement of progress in putting the features of the Action Program into effect in cities and states. Recommended standards and criteria against which these voluntarily reported programs are measured are raised as traffic safety activities in cities and states improve. In 1957, the average performance of states met 67 per cent of the cur rently recommended minimum. The average for cities over 10,000 population was 53 per cent of minimum recommenda tions. The Traffic Inventory grew out of the National Traffic Safety Contest and was approved by the President's Highway Safety Conference in 1947. While only 600 cities reported the first year, more than 1,200 now report; forty-seven states and Puerto Rico also report. Each of these cities and states receives a detailed written analysis containing recommendations for im provement. Inventory results are presented to local officials and at a public meeting by trained field representatives. Among other functions, the inventory provides a program guide for officials and citizens in cities and states and serves to keep attention focused on the features of the Action Program.