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Traffic Safety Information Systems International Scan: Strategy Implementation White Paper

September 2006

FHWA-HRT-06-099

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
Research, Development, and Technology
Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center
6300 Georgetown Pike
McLean, VA 22101-2296

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FOREWORD

In October 2003, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) sponsored an international scanning study to visit and learn from the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia. The scanning study's objective was to understand how these countries built and used traffic safety information systems and to learn what brought success at reducing the level of harm on their roadways. The goals of this white paper are to build on that study's final report and the implementation plan developed by the scanning team; and to support critical strategies with action-related details as well as to add new strategies toward the team's goals. Furthermore, this white paper discusses the critical element of access to complete, accurate, and timely data.

It is our hope that this effort will expand the national discussion of improving safety data. Additionally, we hope that some of the suggested solutions, once implemented, and the resulting improvements in data, will lead to decisions that will help solve one of the largest public health problems faced by the United States—highway crashes.

Mike Trentacoste, Director
Office of Safety Research and Development

Notice

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers' names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.

Quality Assurance Statement

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

Technical Report Documentation Page

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized

SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
  • Role of Safety Data
  • Learning from Other Countries
  • Overview of Umbrella Project
  • Goal of This Paper
• Findings from THE Scan
  • Strategy
  • Efficiency
  • Utility
• Proposed Strategies to improve safety data
  • Overview
  • Strategies
    • Strategy 1—Increase Support for Both Safety Programs and Safety Information Systems (the Data) from Top-Level Administrators in Federal, State, and Local Transportation Agencies
      • Strategy 1.1—Sell safety programs to the public, who will then demand improved data
      • Strategy 1.2—Sell safety data directly to top-level administrators
      • Strategy 1.3—Market improved safety data to other nonsafety power players in the agency
      • Strategy 1.4—Market knowledge of how to develop better safety data to the engineers/mid-level administrators now in charge of the data
      • Summary of Suggested Tasks for Strategy
    • Strategy 2—Improve Safety Data by Defining Good Inventory Data and Institutionalizing Continual Improvement toward Established Performance Measures
      • Strategy 2.1—Develop definitions of good safety inventory data
      • Strategy 2.2—Develop performance measures to capture the current status of incorporation of these critical safety inventory elements in an agency's safety database
      • Strategy 2.3—Increase the emphasis on safety inventory data in State traffic records assessments conducted by NHTSA, FHWA, and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
      • Strategy 2.4—Ensure that good data are incorporated into efforts related to the development of XML schemes
      • Summary of Suggested Tasks for Strategy
    • Strategy 3—Improve Safety Data by Making Them Easier to Collect, Store, and Use
      • Strategy 3.1—Improve crash data by making collection easier
      • Strategy 3.2—Improve roadway inventory and traffic data by making collection of these elements easier
      • Summary of Suggested Tasks for Strategy
    • Strategy 4—Improve Safety Data by Increasing the Use of Critical Safety Analysis Tools (Which Themselves Require Good Data)
      
      • Strategy 4.1—Market existing safety analysis tools and those under current development
      • Strategy 4.2—Develop the next generation of safety analysis tools
      • Summary of Suggested Tasks for Strategy
    • Strategy 5—Improve and Protect Safety Data by Storage and Linkage with Critical Nonsafety Data
      • Strategy 5.1—Warehouse safety data with other critical nonsafety data
      • Strategy 5.2—Establish a data user/owner committee that includes both roadway inventory and traffic safety and nonsafety data administrators
      • Strategy 5.3—Move as rapidly as possible to a geospatial reference (e.g., GIS) system for all types of safety data
      • Strategy 5.4—Provide local agency access to the data, analysis tools, and other products
      • Summary of Suggested Tasks for Strategy
• Summary and Conclusions
  • Recommendations by Potentially Responsible Agency
  • Prioritization of Recommendations
  • Conclusion
• Appendix A: Cross-Mapping of the Original Strategies and Actions Developed by the Scanning Team to the Five Critical Strategies Covered in this Paper
• Appendix B: SAFETEA-LU Information Related to "State Traffice Safety Information System Improvements"
• Appendix C: Attendees at Focus Group Meeting to Review White Paper
• References

LIST OF TABLES

• Table 1 Agency responsible for implementation of recommendations and estimated timeframe and relative cost
• Table 2 Highest priority strategies as ranked by focus group attendees
• Table 3 Cross-mapping of original strategies and actions

Acronyms

AAA - American Automobile Association
AADTs - annual average daily traffic flows
AASHTO - Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
ADT - average daily traffic
ATSIP - Association of Traffic Safety Information Professionals
DHM - Digital Highway Measurement
DOT - department of transportation
EuroNCAP - European New Car Assessment Program
EuroRAP - European Road Assessment Program
FARS - Fatality Analysis Reporting System
FHWA - Federal Highway Administration
FMCSA - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
GIS - Geographic Information System
GPS - global positioning system
HPMS - Highway Performance Monitoring System
HSIS - Highway Safety Information System
HSM - Highway Safety Manual
IACP - International Association of Chiefs of Police
IHSDM - Interactive Highway Safety Design Model
ITE - Institute of Transportation Engineers
MMIRE - Model Minimum Inventory of Roadway Elements
MMUCC - Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria
MPO - metropolitan planning organization
NCHRP - National Cooperative Highway Research Program
NHTSA - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
SAFETEA-LU - Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users
SPR - State planning and research
STRCC - State Traffic Records Coordinating Committee
TraCs - Traffic and Criminal Software
TRB - Transportation Research Board
TSIMS - Transportation Safety Information Management System
TSSMU - Traffic Safety Systems Management Unit
USRAP - United States Road Assessment Program
XML - eXtensible Markup Language

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