Secretary Slater Releases BTS Plan To Improve Transportation Safety Data

Contact BTS 12-00 Dave Smallen 202-366-5568

Wednesday, September 13, 2000 -- U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today released Safety in Numbers: Using Statistics to Make the Transportation System Safer, establishing the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) as the lead agency for improving the quality of transportation safety data, which will help raise the level of transportation safety.

"The actions to be taken based on the BTS Safety Data Action Plan are an important step toward improving safety--the top priority of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the top transportation priority for President Clinton and Vice President Gore," Secretary Slater said. "Accurate and timely data will give the entire transportation community the information to raise the level of safety by identifying, evaluating and reducing problem areas."

"By implementing this plan, we will provide the DOT and other transportation decision-makers with a new level of data quality," said Dr. Ashish Sen, BTS director. "Fact-based management of transportation safety programs can reduce the deaths and injuries that are a major cost in transportation."

Under the five-part plan:

• BTS will be the lead agency for the DOT to improve safety data in coordination with the DOT Safety Council, which is an ongoing forum of DOT modal administrators and senior officials of the Office of the Secretary providing coordination and leadership on safety issues, as well as with data experts from each modal administration;
• an Intermodal Transportation Data Base (ITDB) will be created to organize safety data;
• BTS will develop data quality standards;
• the National Transportation Library will be expanded to provide more resources for transportation research; and
• DOT will conduct 10 research projects to focus on addressing specific shortcomings in transportation safety data.

BTS will continue to work with the transportation community on improving data quality through an implementation team of 20 stakeholders which will meet four times a year and issue progress reports on key issues, as well as conduct a conference every two years, with four regional conferences during the intervening years.

The final version of the Safety Data Action plan followed the "Safety in Numbers" conference earlier this year involving more than 2,000 of the nation's key transportation stakeholders. Four Safety Data Workshops held in 1999 with about 200 stakeholders helped formulate the initial Action Plan. This plan was developed in response to Secretary Slater's 1999 National Transportation Safety Conference where stakeholders identified better data collection and reporting across all jurisdictions as one of the top priorities for improving safety. Also, BTS in 1998 issued "Transportation Statistics Beyond ISTEA: Critical Gaps and Strategic Responses," citing the need for better quality safety data.

The full Safety Data Action Plan, Safety in Numbers: Using Statistics to Make the Transportation System Safer, can be found at the BTS website: www.bts.gov.