2018 Data Visualization Project Award Winner

Proactive Network Analysis to Improve Horizontal Curve Safety – abley

Abstract:  Crashes on horizontal curves remain a key road safety challenge for road safety agencies across the globe. Statistics from the United States show that around 25 percent of fatal and serious crashes occur on horizontal curves. Traditional methods of detecting safety issues tend to involve geospatial analysis of crash data to highlight blackspots and reveal crash trends. Whilst these approaches enable horizontal curves with an established safety problem to be identified, they miss curves with an inherently high level of risk where few crashes have occurred in the past. This presentation introduces a geospatial risk prediction methodology that assesses the safety risk of horizontal curves based on curve approach speed and curve radii. Analysis is completed at a network level using Esri GIS software and allows all curves to be assessed quickly and at a fraction of the cost of manual assessments. The only data inputs required are a high-quality road center-line and speed limit information. Time consuming and expensive data collection is not required. The analysis utilizes several smart geospatial workflows to segment the network, identify curves, calculate curve radii, predict vehicle operating speeds along road corridors, and assess curve risk. The analytical method has thus far been applied to more than 70,000 miles of state and local roads. Validation of the results against crash data shows that injury crash rates on curves classified as high-risk are 100% higher than horizontal curves where modeled approach speed is consistent with curve design speed. These findings demonstrate that the horizontal curve risk assessment methodology is a strong indicator of underlying safety risk. As the methodology assesses risk independent of crash information, road agencies can now proactively target interventions at high-risk locations and have confidence that improved safety outcomes are an achievable outcome regardless of whether the location has an established crash problem or not. The methodology effectively bridges the gap between an awareness of a major safety issue on high-speed roads (crashes at horizontal curves) and detailed strategies to reduce the likelihood and consequence of crashes on horizontal curves. The results of the analysis are being used by road agencies to prioritize corridors for mass-action curve improvement programs, to provide an evidential basis for investment decisions, and to evaluate the benefit of speed management interventions in rural environments. This presentation will be of interest to everyone involved in the use of data, traffic records and new analytical techniques to improve safety outcomes on rural roads.

 

Carl O’Neil – Co-authored presentation with New Zealand Police Sergeant Dan Harker. Carl is a Senior Transportation Engineer at Abley Transportation Consultants. He has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand with First Class Honors in Civil Engineering. Carl has a strong analytical background and has particular expertise in the integration of data manipulation and GIS technologies to solve transportation and logistics problems. He has applied these skills to an ever-growing number of safety projects in New Zealand and Australia, bridging the gap between emerging analytical and technological methods and road safety applications.

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Stacey Manware

As Deputy Director of Centralized Court Services for the State of Connecticut’s Judicial Branch, Stacey Manware directs the development and implementation of electronic citation and adjudication systems Statewide. A long-standing member of the Connecticut Traffic Records Coordinating Committee, she is the judicial champion of an award winning comprehensive paperless platform for motor vehicle infractions from issuance to placement on the driver history record. Attorney Manware is an adjunct professor of legal research and writing at Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Fordham University (Bronx, NY) and Juris Doctor from New England Law School (Boston, MA).

Tara Powell Casanova

Tara Casanova Powell is the Principal of Casanova Powell Consulting, an independent traffic safety research consulting firm and the current CEO for the Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals (ATSIP). Tara is the former Program Coordinator for the Annual Lifesavers National Conference on Roadway Safety Priorities and a Research Consultant for Acusensus and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). Tara also serves as a faculty staff member for Impaired Driving Solutions, formerly the National Center for DWI Courts (NCDC), under “All Rise”. With over 25 years of experience in the field of road safety, Tara’s career has spanned several niches within this community.

Tara has been engaged with the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine for several years where she currently serves as the Chair for the Impairment in Transportation Committee and was the Chair of the 2021 TRB Drug-Impaired Driving Conference Planning Committee. Tara also founded and Chairs the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS) Impaired Driving Behavioral Intervention Working Group (IDBIIIG) and has recently been elected to the ICADTS Board of Directors as an At Large Member.

In 2023, Tara co-authored the Impact of Compliance-Based Removal Laws on Alcohol-Impaired Driving Recidivism for GHSA, and “Rideshare Volume and DUI Incidents in Boston, Worcester, and Northampton, Massachusetts”, a collaborative project between Lyft and Uber developed for the National Association of District Attorneys (NDAA). Prior reports include “Rideshare Volume and DUI Incidents in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; and Fort Worth, Texas” and “Rideshare Volume and DUI Incidents in Target California Communities” in collaboration with Lyft and also developed for NDAA. Through Tara’s judicial experience, she authored “A GUIDE TO DUI PRETRIAL SERVICES Key Components & Best Practice Recommendations” prepared for the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility illustrating Pretrial Services Early Intervention Programs for DWI Offenders.

Tara has also conducted extensive research on distracted driving including several studies with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Preusser Research Group in NY, CT, Northern Virgina, and Maryland and served on the Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program (BTSCRP) expert panel for the completed project “Examining the Implications of Legislation and Enforcement on Electronic Device Use While Driving”.

Tara’s professional experience and network span several roadway safety priorities, with expertise in impaired driving, distracted driving, speed, occupant protection, and traffic records that transcend barriers that often exist within the silos of the transportation profession. Tara is very passionate about her role in transportation safety and has worked to connect traffic safety professionals including research scientist; federal, state, and local practitioners; law enforcement; and traffic records data professionals to work together to work towards ZERO deaths and to provide equitable transportation for all road users.  

Cory Hutchinson

Cory Hutchinson currently serves as the Director for the Center for Analytics and Research in Transportation Safety (CARTS) at Louisiana State University.  He earned a MS in Quantitative Business Analysis, a MBA, and a PhD in Human Resource Education and Workforce Development from LSU.  Within CARTS, Cory oversees all IT related projects including business analytics, web site design, data quality analysis, electronic crash data collection, data reporting, disaster recovery, graphical information systems, business intelligence, and crash data integration.  Cory also teaches graduate level Business Intelligence courses within the College of Business at LSU.

Membership Profile

 Ms. Andrea Bill is the Director of the Wisconsin Local Technical Assistance Program and Associate Director of the Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory and Eastern Tribal Technical Assistance Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With these roles, she has been bringing research to technology transfer through in person and virtual webinars throughout Wisconsin and the U.S.  She is a passionate advocate for making research tangible to practitioners and to foster implementation and widespread adoption. 

Ryan Klitzsch, a certified Road Safety Professional (RSP), has more than 15 years of experience in transportation safety planning, including eight years as the Administrator the Indiana Highway Safety Office. Currently, Mr. Klitzsch is as a Senior Associate of Cambridge Systematics working in the areas of transportation safety policy, traffic records data, and planning. In this position, he has leveraged his practical highway safety office expertise in data and performance management with states to develop and implement countermeasures to move our roadways closer Toward Zero Deaths. Mr. Klitzsch has developed planning strategies for emerging technologies, Strategic Highway Safety Plans, Highway Safety Plans, Bicycle and Pedestrian plans, and Traffic Records Strategic Plans for more than a dozen states.