• April 14, 2016

    Washington Traffic Safety Commission Visits PacTrans STAR Lab

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    We were privileged to be paid a visit by Dr. Staci Hoff and her group of researchers and program managers from Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) on April 13.  This was another opportunity for PacTrans STAR Lab and WTSC to collaborate on ongoing research, workforce development, and technology transfer activities.  Director Yinhai Wang and our graduate students introduced the folks to our Digital Roadway Interactive Visualization and Evaluation Network (DRIVENet) which is an on-line transportation platform aimed at data sharing, integration, visualization and analysis.

    The presentation generated great interest on PacTrans research and also in working together on traffic data, crash data, sensing technology and systems. WTSC shared a summary of projects for the coming year namely:

    • Annual Seat Belt Use Observation Survey – conducted every year in July, report released in February/March 2017
    • Colville Reservation Seat Belt Use Observation Survey – Applying the annual SB methodology to derive belt use estimates on the Colville reservation within the four districts of the reservation. Data collection in August 2016, report expected March/April 2017
    • Cell Phone Use Observation Survey – Cell phone use and general distraction captured at intersections, sampled in order to also derive county-level estimates. Data Collection in May 2016, Report expected by end of 2016. In 2017 we are applying this method to all road types (not just intersections).
    • Update Fatal Crash THC extracts to include 2015 data and possibly 2008-2009 data – perform time series analysis in Joinpoint, updated marijuana report expected by end of 2016
    • Spokane DUI court process evaluation, outcomes evaluation, and cost analysis – the formal evaluations are being conducted by WSU, however the WTSC will issue a recommendations report to the court on how to improve operations and outcomes.
    • Traffic Records Data Integration – Link Crash with Toxicology, Crash with Health (Trauma, Inpatient), Link Crash with Licensing

    This is just a start as we join networking and collaboration efforts on planned events for the 2016 Fall and Winter Quarter.