TRAFFIC SAFETY TOOLBOX

Project Partners: Executive Office of Transportation, Massachusetts Highway Department and Federal Highway Administration

The Massachusetts Highway Safety Toolbox enables 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 includes a compilation of national and Massachusetts highway safety crash data, issue descriptions, approximate costs and potential highway safety improvement strategies. UMassSafe developed 13 toolbox fact sheets on topics including speed limits, pavement markings, advanced warning signs, crosswalks, sight distance, stop signs, and others. To view the Toolbox visit http://www.mhd.state.ma.us:80/safetytoolbox/.

LANE DEPARTURE DATA ANALYSIS

Project Partners:  Massachusetts Highway Department and Federal Highway Administration

Massachusetts is a lead state in the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) initiative to reduce the frequency and severity of lane departure crashes.  At the outset of Massachusetts work, UMassSAFE conducted a data analysis of crash and fatality data examining run-off-road and head on collisions.  Subsequently, UMassSAFE worked with MassHighway to conduct additional analyses and prepare a lane departure fact sheet.

Evaluation of the Impact of Congestion on Crash Frequency, Severity, and Crash Characteristics

An analysis of Massachusetts citation data for 2001-2003 was conducted to understand the differences in both crash and non-crash behavior between older drivers and other