Traffic & Safety Page

TRAFFIC & SAFETY

Traffic & Safety researchers draw on fieldwork and advanced geospatial analysis to devise strategies that will reduce crash frequencies and severities and lead to the construction and operation of safer roads. The group collaborates with federal, state, and local agencies, including the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). They have been pioneers in applying Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to traffic safety issues, and have provided guidance to the FHWA on best practices for using GIS to advance highway safety. Leveraging its multidisciplinary expertise, the group investigates a wide range of topics, from commercial vehicle safety and seatbelt usage rates, to improving traffic signage and conducting driver simulation studies. Each year, Traffic & Safety compiles annual crash data reports for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and they have been a key player in collecting data and performing analysis for the FHWA’s Highway Safety Improvement Program.

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Traffic & Safety Developed Tools

Crash Data Analysis (CDAT) Tool

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) worked with KTC to develop an advanced crash and roadway analysis tool known as the Crash Data Analysis Tool (CDAT). CDAT is a compliment to KYTC’s “KYOPS” tool which is KYTC and the Kentucky State Police’s repository for traffic collision, crime, and citation reports. KYOPS is updated regularly, where CDAT’s data is updated with a snapshot of crash data annually making it static and reducing variability. This allows for more reliable analysis as crash data as analysis may be replicated with a static snapshot of data.

This tool was developed primarily to advance the state of art of safety analysis. The tool also integrates crash and roadway data. In addition, it includes post-processed corrections to crash locations to better match to the roadway geometrics. CDAT includes advanced crash flags, HSM-based analysis, allows users to compare similar roads and regions, and has basic and advanced mapping functionality.

Click on the crashtool website to watch a short introductory video, or access the query tool, import tool, or QC tool.

Safety Performance Function (SPF-R) Tool

Transportation agencies use safety performance functions (SPFs) to develop crash predictions. Several resources are available to facilitate SPF development, including the Highway Safety Manual and the FHWA’s Safety Toolbox. The latter now contains a free and customizable tool — SPF-R — which KTC developed in RStudio. SPF-R is more flexible and provides better analysis than similar tools, but the user interface can be challenging to navigate for those without a background in programming. To solve this problem, KTC is developing a graphical user interface (GUI) to interact with RStudio’s code so that users can interact with the program through controls such as dropdown lists and radio button controls. State transportation agencies in Kentucky, Iowa, New York, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington state have expressed interest in the GUI as they are beginning to develop SPF for their roadways and intersections. The GUI will open up SPF development to agency staff without traditional programming knowledge. Click here to visit the web version of SPF-R, where you can develop safety performance functions (SPFs).

SignProx

SignProx is an inventory and management system for highway signs created by transportation engineers for agencies that maintain traffic control devices. SignProx will provide insight into current sign needs and utilization, as well as drive optimizations in sign maintenance and safety.

SignProx provides easy methods to collect sign data, including GPS integration. All data is stored and maintained in a database that can be accessed by popular GIS tools. SignProx also provides reporting capabilities to allow quick determination of what signs are in compliance with policies, what signs need to be repaired or replaced.

Best of all? SignProx is now being freely offered through the Traffic and Safety Program at the Kentucky Transportation Center. Click here to learn more or download SignProx.

Research In Progress