Integrating CRASH, Hospital, and Roadway Data to Investigate the Effect of Cable Median Barriers on Injury Severity: Fid-Bau Portal

Integrating CRASH, Hospital, and Roadway Data to Investigate the Effect of Cable Median Barriers on Injury Severity

M. Singleton / E. Green / W. Staats / I. Chen

Kentucky annually integrates roadway and crash data so that roadway geometric information can be linked with crash details. This helps the state determine what engineering solutions might be warranted. Moreover, this roadway information can inform regression models that help predict crashes. Most of Kentucky’s roadway data are contained in the Highway Information System (HIS). This includes lane widths, crosswalks, curvature, and other roadway features. Many of these features have been analyzed for their relationship to crash occurrence — but only using the police reported KABCO injury severity scale. Crashes are also annually linked to hospital and emergency department records to understand more about injuries associated with crashes. The Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) has been very successful in making this linkage for many years across the nation. It allows for much more detailed injury information, including physician diagnoses, medical procedures performed, and charges billed for treatment. Moreover, Kentucky has recently started maintaining other roadway information databases, such as the intersection database and a database the houses the location of safety improvements. By integrating CRASH, roadway, and injury databases, for example, the intersection database could be used to analyze detailed injury outcomes among different intersection configurations (3-legs vs. 4-leg; signalized vs. non-signalized). Similarly, the effectiveness of roadway safety features, such as cable barriers, rumble strips, and high friction surfaces, at reducing nonfatal injury severity and preventing specific injury types could be analyzed. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the utility of integrated CRASH, roadway, and injury databases for improving traffic safety.