Expanding Development of the Oregon Traffic Safety Data Archive

Christopher Monsere, Portland State University

Summary:

This report describes the preliminary work to develop the Oregon Traffic Safety Data Archive (OrTSDA). The mission of OrTSDA is to “build the knowledge base of traffic safety data in Oregon.” It is hoped the archive will become a valuable traffic safety data resource with researchers, practitioners and community supporters. As envisioned, the archive will provide current and historical versions of related data, encompass complete documentation, and contain an online interface to a variety of traffic safety-related data. Working with partner state agencies, the archive contains reported motor vehicle crashes statewide, population data, estimates of vehicle miles traveled, traffic crime, and information on driving under the influence measures. These data have been loaded in an online, web-based archive for users to query and analyze. The archive produces safety performance metrics for statewide, county and city aggregations. Users can also access a set of pre-built queries which they can filter for crash type, month, time and severity. Experienced users are given a one-step feature to obtain raw crash data. One key feature of the archive is a Google map-based tool that allows users to select crash data for analysis by drawing a selection boundary on the map. The report also includes a brief review of other online highway safety data portals. This review highlights that interactive crash portals are restricted to a handful of states agencies or research university partners. Concerns of liability most likely contribute to a reluctance to share collision data more broadly. Of those states providing direct access to the crash data, there is a common theme of maps, data filters and crash summaries.

Project Details

Project Type:
Research
Project Status:
Completed
End Date:
December 30,2008
UTC Grant Cycle:
OTREC 2008
UTC Funding:
$20,000