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Search the Noteworthy Practices database Governor's Office of Highway Safety Adds Epidemiologist to Strengthen Crash Analysis CapabilitiesOriginal publication: SHSP Implementation Process Model, Supplement Number 1 – Case Studies; FHWA-SA-10-025; 2010 (PDF, 1MB)Publication Year: 2010Key Accomplishments
To thoroughly investigate the behavioral aspects of highway safety, a number of datasets must be merged. In Georgia, the DOT provides location-specific crash data to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) in raw database format. Other agencies provide injury, trauma, licensing, and citation data to the GOHS separately. All data must be integrated to perform comprehensive safety analysis. The GOHS realized it needed to improve its analytic capabilities to incorporate data analyses into grant applications. A 2004 Traffic Records Assessment recommended the GOHS hire an epidemiologist to strengthen safety data analysis. Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, including injuries from car crashes. Therefore, the GOHS hired an epidemiologist to provide data analysis support. Rather than collecting and analyzing crash and injury data separately, the epidemiologist looks at factors that contribute to both crashes and injuries. The epidemiologist works closely with GDOT to manage data needs for the SHSP. ResultsThe addition of an epidemiologist to GOHS staff has greatly strengthened SHSO crash analysis capabilities. The epidemiologist analyzes the clearinghouse of safety data available and creates queries specific to the GOHS’s data needs. These data runs are readily accessible to staff for grant applications and other needs. Contact: Publication Year: 2010 |