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| SDS FAQs |
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| 1. For what is SDS used?
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| 2. What are the confidentiality procedures used by the State Data System? |
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| 3. Who should I contact for more information about the State Data System?
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| 4. How will joining SDS benefit our State’s traffic safety programs? |
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| 1. For what is SDS used?
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| SDS is primarily used to identify traffic safety problems, to aid development and implementation of vehicle and driver countermeasures, to evaluate motor vehicle safety standards, to support new safety regulations, and to study crash avoidance and crashworthiness issues. SDS is also used to monitor State progress implementing the voluntary standardized data reporting procedures of the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). For recent detailed examples, please see the fact sheet titled “SDS Usage.”
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| 2. What are the confidentiality procedures used by the State Data System? |
| All State data received are held in the strictest confidence. In accordance with the Highway Safety Act of 1966 [Public Law 89-564, 80 Stat. 731], NHTSA safeguards the privacy of individuals. Any personal identifiers inadvertently left in the raw data files received by NHTSA are dutifully removed. In addition, to protect vehicle owner and driver privacy, Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) are truncated to 12 characters.
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| 3. Who should I contact for more information about the State Data System?
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| For general questions: For technical or data-related questions:
Barbara Rhea Rory Austin
Chief, State Data Reporting Systems Division State Data System Technical Manager
barbara.rhea@dot.gov rory.austin@dot.gov
(202) 366-2714 (voice) (202) 366-2676 (voice)
(202) 366-3189 (fax) (202) 366-3189 (fax)
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| 4. How will joining SDS benefit our State’s traffic safety programs? |
| Besides the satisfaction of knowing that your State is making an active commitment to the advancement of traffic safety research, States also benefit through:
1. Analysis on demand. NCSA can conduct supplementary analyses of interest to your State, at no charge.
2. SAS data sets & manuals. Upon request, NCSA will also provide its SAS versions of your data sets, with an accompanying user’s manual specific to your State’s variables, at no charge. User’s manuals contain detailed appendices listing frequency distributions of the data variables by year; these appendices provide valuable information regarding error rates of data entry personnel.
3. Quality Control. During annual processing of State files, NCSA meticulously compares old and new data; this inspection can find changes in the data that may otherwise go undetected.
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