The American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) has announced an open forum to explore crash data analysis/infrastructure safety connectivity with a goal of moving toward zero deaths on the nation’s roadways.
The Highway Safety Improvement Program serves as the primary catalyst for roadway safety infrastructure investments in the U.S. Under that program, state departments of transportation are authorized to allocate nearly $12 billion in new spending for infrastructure safety improvements over the next five years. How and where these funds are invested will largely be determined through the development of “data-driven” strategic highway safety plans.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Safety recently completed two rulemaking processes designed to implement new data provisions. By improving the accuracy of crash location and casual data combined with more detailed geometric analytical tools, the result will be a better understanding of the behavioral and infrastructure factors that cause accidents. This increased understanding will also provide additional insights into which safety countermeasures provide the best opportunity to reduce crashes and save lives.
Currently, the road safety data industry has no official forum that combines the joint disciplines of behavioral and infrastructure safety data analytics. This forum seeks to fill that gap, discussing agency needs and exchanging information with private sector providers. This is a significant effort to reduce fatalities and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways. As a result, ATSSA’s Board of Directors has approved this meeting to explore the need for a structured “open forum” for data-driven decision-making for those companies, agencies and organizations involved in the collection, organization and analysis of roadway safety data. The forum is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, in conjunction with ATSSA’s Annual Convention and Traffic Expo in Phoenix, Ariz.
