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Title:

Getting Started with SafetyAnalyst: Georgia’s Triumph

Accession Number:

01333479

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

The identification and prioritization of sites with potential for safety improvement (PSI) is an initial step in the roadway safety management process. This step could be performed by traditional methods (crash frequency, crash rate, safety indices etc) and advanced methods (using Empirical Bayes or Full Bayes approach). Understanding that the traditional methods are fraught with limitations, biases and false assumptions, recent research has opened doors to new and advanced methodologies in the form of SafetyAnalyst and Highway Safety Manual. Unlike basic methods, Empirical Bayes approach used in these tools involves rigorous calculations and requires safety performance functions (SPFs), a relation between crashes and exposure, in addition to roadway characteristics, traffic volume and crash information. The notion of automation of such rigorous tools led to the creation of “SafetyAnalyst”. SafetyAnalyst is a set of software tools used for highway safety management that integrates all parts of the Safety Management System. Using data from Georgia DOT, import files for SafetyAnalyst were generated for roadway segments and network screening was performed to prioritize sites with potential for safety improvement. The intent of this paper is to document various problems that arose in the process of getting started with SafetyAnalyst and present some recommendations for reducing the learning curve for states wishing to adopt the software. Additionally, the network screening tool was used to compare top ranked sites identified by SafetyAnalyst with those identified by traditional methods. These results portray the major differences in rankings by method and further support need for using more advanced methods.

Monograph Accession #:

01329018

Report/Paper Numbers:

11-3691

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Ogle, Jennifer Harper
Alluri, Priyanka

Pagination:

17p

Publication Date:

2011

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2011-1-23 to 2011-1-27
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

DVD

Features:

Figures (2) ; References (9) ; Tables (9)

Identifier Terms:

SafetyAnalyst (Software)

Subject Areas:

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I81: Accident Statistics; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2011 Paper #11-3691

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Feb 17 2011 6:36PM