Presented by: Camelia Ravanbakht, PhD Presented to: Safety Data Analysis Tools workshop TRB Keck Center Washington, D.C. March 28, 2006

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Local Data Collection and Analysis
Strategies Hampton Roads, Virginia
Presented by Camelia Ravanbakht, PhD Presented
to Safety Data Analysis Tools workshop TRB
Keck Center Washington, D.C.March 28, 2006

www.hrpdc.org
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The Hampton Roads Region

• Located in SE Virginia with over 1.6 million
  residents
• Region includes 10 cities, 6 counties, and 2
  transit agencies
• Economy driven by the military, ports and tourism
• Diverse transportation system connected with
  tunnels, bridges, and ferries

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Regional Safety Study

• In 2001, HRPDC initiated the task of producing a
  Regional Safety Study
• Safety study objectives
• Collect, organize, and create a regional crash
  database with GIS capabilities
• Analyze and identify high-crash locations for the
  region
• Develop and examine solutions to address safety
  problems
• Recommend safety projects for inclusion in the
  Transportation Improvement Program
• Few other MPOs were publicly involved with safety
  planning at that point

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Data Collection State Level

• General Crash Data
• Virginia Traffic Crash Facts

• Released yearly by Virginia DMV
• Contains general crash data ( of crashes,
  injuries, and fatalities) for each locality in
  Virginia

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Data Collection State Level

• Detailed Crash Data
• Virginia DOT maintains a database of all traffic
  crashes statewide with either a fatality, at
  least one injury or property damage of least
  1,000
• Only records for crashes in counties and on the
  interstate system contain location information

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Data Collection Local Level

• Due to limitations of statewide crash data,
  detailed crash data needed to be collected from
  each city in the region
• Each major city maintained a database of citywide
  crash data
• Departments maintaining databases vary among
  cities from local police department to traffic
  engineering and public works

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Regional Database

• Created regional crash databases for all
  interstate segments and major at-grade
  intersections included in the CMS network
• There were many difficulties developing the
  regional crash database
• Different methodologies from city to city
• Different database formats from city to city
• Not every city had crash data for all three years

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Data Analysis

• Interstate segments and intersections were
  analyzed ranked using both crash frequency and
  Equivalent Property Damage Only (EPDO) crash
  rates
• Used EPDO crash rate per million VMT for
  interstates
• Used EPDO crash rate per million entering
  vehicles for intersections

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The Report

• The Hampton Roads Regional Safety Study is broken
  into three parts
• Part I General Crash Data and Trends
• Part II Interstate and Intersection Crash
  Findings
• Part III Crash Analysis and Countermeasures
• Report available at http//www.hrpdc.org/publicat
  ions/techreports/transportation.html

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Rural Safety

• HRPDC recently completed a study examining
  roadway safety in the rural areas of the region
• Includes those areas not included in the Regional
  Safety Study
• Jurisdictional crash data and trends
• Crash locations and countermeasures

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Data Issues MPO Perspective

• Statewide crash data does not include locations
  of crashes within the non-Interstate roadways in
  the Cities.
• Crash data is obtained in CD form, which is not
  available until many months into the following
  year
• No GIS-related connection available

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Data Issues VA Perspective

• Not all downstream information is captured
  (citation info, medical results)
• The process of collecting crash reports is
  cumbersome, with substantial manual effort
  necessary to enter and correct information
• Data entry is handled by several departments
  within multiple agencies
• There is a significant backlog of reports
• Data is not directly accessible by all
  stakeholders

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Safety Improvement Efforts

• The Virginia Safety Management System (SMS)
  Committee was established as a result of ISTEA in
  early 1990s.
• The purpose of this committee was to integrate
  and coordinate all transportation safety-related
  programs.
• One goal of the SMS Committee is to create and
  maintain a high-quality, integrated data system
  for evaluation and analysis.
• New Charter created the Surface Transportation
  Safety Executive Committee in 2005 as a result of
  SAFETEA-LU

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Safety Improvement Efforts

• Surface Transportation Safety Committee
  membership
• DMV
• VDOT
• VSP
• Commission of the VA Alcohol Safety Action
  Program
• Department of Health (EMS)
• NHTSA
• FHWA
• Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
  (FMCSA)
• Department of Education
• Virginia Transportation Research Council
• Department for the Aging
• Department of Rail and Public Transportation
• Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (MPO)

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Safety Improvement Efforts

• Traffic Records Assessment conducted by NHTSA in
  July 2005
• HRPDC and City of Norfolk participated
• Key findings
• Improve roadway data to capture incident location
  for all jurisdictions
• Improve capture and input efficiency of crash
  data
• Create full driver and vehicle history files
• Improve EMS and trauma data systems and
  integration
• Link citation data create a DUI tracking system
• Strengthen the role of the Traffic Record
  Coordinating Committee (TRCC)
• Prepare and implement a traffic records strategic
  plan

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Safety Improvement Efforts

• The Virginia Strategic Highway Safety Plan is a
  statewide coordinated plan to meet current safety
  challenges in the following emphasis areas
• Driver Behavior
• Special Users
• Safety Conscious Planning
• Roadway Departures
• Intersection Safety
• Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety
• Work Zone Safety
• Traffic Records
• The five-year comprehensive, data-driven plan
  will integrate the four Es engineering,
  education, enforcement, and emergency medical
  services.

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Safety Improvement Efforts

• Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES)
• Effort to link existing statewide traffic records
  with injury outcome and charge data to support
  highway safety decision-making at the local,
  regional and state levels.
• Cooperative agreement between the Virginia
  DMV/Governors Highway Safety Office and the
  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
  (NHTSA).

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Safety Improvement Efforts

• The Traffic Records Electronic Data System
  (TREDS) is being created to address a variety of
  safety data issues
• TREDS planning and oversight is done by the
  Traffic Records Coordinating Committee, which
  includes a wide range of stakeholders
• DMV
• VDOT
• FHWA
• Medical Community
• Funding is being provided by DMV VDOT

• State and Local Police
• VCU and UVA
• HRPDC

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TREDS Benefits

• Streamline and simplify data collection for law
  enforcement
• Increase the efficiency and data quality by the
  use of automated edit checks
• Provide the ability to process police reports
  electronically including automated submission to
  DMV
• Eliminate data entry by multiple state agencies
  of the same crash report

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TREDS Benefits

• Have data in a flexible architecture to address
  different analysis and report needs
• Enable all stakeholders to easily access the data
  and crash reports via the Internet
• Ability to link crash data with downstream data
  (e.g. medical and citation data)
• Eliminate manual data entry backlogs

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TREDS Timeline

• Currently completing the functional requirements
  portion of the process
• Solutions review will commence this month
• TREDS is expected to be partially functional
  sometime in 2008, with full implementation in
  2009

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For More InformationCamelia RavanbakhtKeith
NicholsHampton Roads Planning District
Commission723 Woodlake DriveChesapeake, VA
23320757.420.8300email cravan_at_hrpdc.org or
knichols_at_hrpdc.orgwebsite www.hrpdc.org