Traffic Records Assessments
The traffic records assessment is a NHTSA-supported independent peer review of a State’s traffic records system covering the collection, management, and analysis of the six core data systems: crash, driver, vehicle, roadway, citation and adjudication, and injury surveillance. When this information is timely, accurate, complete, uniform, integrated, and accessible, it helps policy-makers and program managers determine the who, what, where, when, why, and how of motor vehicle crashes and design interventions that reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities.
A leading factor in electing to undertake a traffic records assessment is eligibility requirement under MAP-21 for §405 traffic data improvement grant funds. These funds can help pay for improving traffic data collection and management systems in order to better analyze data and save lives. States should also look to the assessment to uncover areas for programmatic improvement. This information is critical to States as they update their strategic plans and work to efficiently allocate resources.
NHTSA has introduced several critical changes to the assessment that increases its utility and diminishes its cost to the States. The Traffic Records Program Assessment Advisory (DOT HS 811 644), the backbone of the assessment process, was given a thorough update. Over the course of a lengthy consultative process, the Advisory’s description of the ‘ideal’ traffic records system and related assessment questions was adapted to better address current programmatic, management, and technological issues impacting traffic records.
Assessment Process
The assessment process itself has also been redeveloped significantly. In the past, the assessment was conducted on-site, with assessors and State representatives compressing data collection and analysis into a short—often too short—week-long window. Under the new system, the work of an assessment will be spread of a longer period of time to enable more thoughtful responses and analyses. The new process will take place over three months, though the work for all involved will remain about the same.
In addition, the greater portion of each assessment will now be conducted remotely using a web-based interface designed to streamline and simplify the process, reduce stress, and save valuable time and resources. There will still be an on-site kick-off meeting with the assessment facilitator, State officials, and NHTSA representatives held at the beginning of each assessment.
The assessment IT system will enable State respondents to answer their assigned questions and provide supporting documentation without leaving their offices. Once questions have been answered, a group of qualified, independent subject matter experts will examine a State’s responses against the ‘ideal’ in their assessment of the characteristics and capabilities of the State’s traffic records system. The assessment process includes three iterations of this answer/examine dynamic, with the State able to provide clarifications or additional information twice following their initial response.
Once final determinations have been reached, the subject matter experts and assessment facilitator will add brief recommendations to their findings and present them via webinar. Upon completion of the assessment, States may then wish to avail themselves of additional training or technical assistance programs offered by NHTSA.
Requesting and Preparing for a Traffic Records Assessment
To initiate a traffic records assessment, the State’s Governor’s Representative for Highway Safety must send a formal request to the appropriate NHTSA Regional Administrator. As the assessment process takes place over a three-month period, States are strongly advised not to wait till the very end of their five-year period of §405 grant eligibility to initiate the assessment process.
Determining who will be the State assessment coordinator—the individual responsible for overseeing the State’s participation in the assessment—is up to the State. Generally, however, it is the State’s TRCC coordinator or member of the State Highway Safety Office. Once a State requests an assessment, NHTSA will send the coordinator a copy of the Advisory and procedures manual to review.
When an assessment start date has been agreed upon, NHTSA will secure the facilitator and assign assessors from a pool of qualified subject matter experts identified by the Association of Traffic Safety Information Professionals (ATSIP).
More detailed information and training on the IT system will be made available to the State assessment coordinator once the assessment request has been received.
For more, please contact the NHTSA TR Team at TrafficRecordsTeam@dot.gov.