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FARS Auxiliary Datasets Analytical User’s Manual
This manual is the latest version of the FARS coding manual for the period 1982 to 2018, covering auxiliary datasets.
Category: Analysis & Data
2018 Crash Facts
Safety is paramount in the work we do at the Alabama Department of Transportation. It begins with our pre-construction process, where we plan and design the safest roads and bridges possible. Whether it’s planning for new construction, replacing functionally obsolete or structurally deficient bridges, or widening shoulders scored with rumble strips on rural resurfacing projects, […]
New Study of Weather Effects
The purpose of this report is to update the quantitative relationships between wet weather (and resulting wet pavement) on crash frequency and severity that were original reported in a Power Point presentation in 2014. The objective of this second update is to determine the degree to which the dramatic increase in fatal crashes in CY2016 […]
Preliminary Data Shows Traffic Fatalities Declined Last Year
Traffic fatalities in 2018 declined 1.0 percent from 2017, to an estimated 36,750 people, according to preliminary data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). As American motorists’ total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) increased by 0.4 percent in 2018, the fatality rate declined to an estimated 1.14 per 100 million VMT, a drop from […]
New Directions for Data-Driven Transport Safety
This report explores how seamless data collection, analysis and sharing can unlock innovations in transport safety. The rise of smartphones, sensors and connected objects is relentlessly producing more data. Progress in computing power, data science and artificial intelligence make it possible to interpret them. This presents an opportunity for the transport sector in general and […]
Development of Safety Performance Functions for Network Screening or Roadway Departure Crashes in Virginia
Roadway departure (RD) is recognized as one of the eight emphasis areas in the Virginia 2017-2021 Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP), and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) currently uses counts of RD crashes to identify locations for RD safety improvement. However, identifying locations based on crash counts is subject to bias and inaccuracy, leading […]
Addressing Alabama’s Transportation Infrastructure: Roads and Bridges
In the year 2040, Alabamians will take stock of their transportation network and how it provides for economic growth and quality of life. They will look back on decisions made in 2019 by Alabama’s citizens, business community and Legislature. Exotic and disruptive innovations such as automated and autonomous vehicles, networked ridesharing, and cars and trucks […]
The Road to Zero: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050
Imagine yourself in 2050, the first year in which not a single person in America died in a traffic crash. How can that be? The United States’ population has exceeded 400 million. The demand for mobility has increased with the population and improved access to transportation, especially for groups that previously had limited mobility options. […]
Estimating Traffic Crash Counts Using Crowdsourced Data
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is leading a Safety Data Initiative (SDI), to enhance the analysis and visualization that informs safety policy decisions. In support of the SDI, Volpe applied machine learning techniques to assess the potential for crowd-sourced roadway data such as Waze alerts to serve as a reliable indicator of police-reportable crashes. […]
Medication Use in Older Adult Drivers
This research brief utilized data from the AAA Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) study to examine the amount and types of medications used by older drivers. Many medications – such as antihistamines, narcotic analgesics, central nervous system (CNS) drugs, muscle relaxants and tricyclic antidepressants – have been associated with increased crash risk. 1,2 We […]