University of Massachusetts

Traffic Safety Research Program

What's New At UMassSAFE

CMV Crash Location Mapping

The Massachusetts Commercial Motor Vehicle Crash Map is an interactive tool that allows users to identify trends and pinpoint crash information involving commercial motor vehicles (CMV) across the state. A colored marker representing each CMV crash can be clicked to display detailed information on the crash, the vehicle, and the quality of the data for that particular case. This mapping tool will enable police officers to pinpoint locations with a high incidence of CMV crashes so they will be able to better target law enforcement efforts in these areas. In addition, it provides information concerning crash report timeliness, which allows the Massachusetts State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section (MSP CVES) to identify police departments with inconsistent report submittal timeliness and then guide or train departments to properly complete the truck and bus section of the crash report. This will grant MSP the ability to improve CMV crash data quality while targeting high-incidence CMV crash locations.

To read the CMV Crash Location Mapping Report, click here.

Road Safety Audits to Address Lane Departure Crashes as Part of Strategic Highway Safety Plan

UMassSafe has received funding from the Massachusetts Highway Department to provide assistance on Road Safety Audits being conducted at 20 Massachusetts locations in an effort to reduce lane departure crashes. One of the strategies identified under the Massachusetts Strategic Highway Safety Plan is to work at the local and regional levels to develop and implement location-specific strategies to mitigate safety deficiencies related to lane departure crashes. These Road Safety Audits bring together representatives from federal, state, and local government, as well as residents and other interested parties to discuss the problem location and identify potential countermeasures.

To learn more about UMassSafe’s work on Road Safety Audits, click here.

Traffic Safety Toolbox to Provide Resources for Practitioners

The Massachusetts Highway Safety Toolbox will enable practitioners, including State Agencies such as the Executive Office of Transportation, as well as local cities and towns, to effectively review engineering, education and enforcement countermeasures to prevent and/or alleviate identified crash problems or change undesired motorists and/or pedestrian behaviors. It will include a comprehensive compilation of national and Massachusetts highway safety crash data, issue descriptions, approximate costs and potential highway safety improvement strategies.

UMassSafe is developing 10 toolbox fact sheets on topics including speed limits, pavement markings, advanced warning signs, crosswalks, sight distance, stop signs, and others.

Click here to learn more about the toolbox.

UMassSafe Initiates Police Outreach Survey on Crash Reporting

UMassSafe is working with and for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security's (EOPSS) Highway Safety Division (HSD) and the Executive Office of Transportation's (EOT) Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) to improve the way crash data are collected and used in Massachusetts. The mission is to streamline crash data collection and improve the timeliness, accuracy, completeness of police-collected crash data. This survey was designed to determine the challenges associated with current crash report data-collection procedures and to identify potential opportunities to modifying this system. The information gathered will be used to guide statewide improvements in the crash data collection and submission process. UMassSafe will provide a summary of the survey results to the RMV and HSD as well as invite respondents to a meeting to discuss the findings.

Click here to see the survey results (pdf format)

UMassSafe Called On by State Agencies

for Crash Data Quality Projects

UMassSafe is taking a lead role on crash data quality work in Massachusetts. Along with continued participation on the Massachusetts Traffic Records Coordinating Committee (TRCC), two new projects are now underway. "Improving Crash Data Quality in Massachusetts", funded by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation's Cooperative Research Program, will focus on an audit process to identify and detail data quality issues in the Massachusetts Crash Data system. Subsequently, as part of this project, a data quality improvement plan will be developed to guide the Commonwealth's efforts on improving crash data. Additionally, UMassSafe will undertake a police training project, funded by the Governor's Highway Safety Bureau through the use of 408 funds, that will identify areas for improvement in terms of police collection of data. A web-based police training module, designed to address the problems identified, will be designed and pilot-tested. For more information on the crash data quality projects, click here.

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