Utilization of Crash and Medical Data to Reduce Motor Vehicle Crash Severity

One way Massachusetts develops and improves policies and procedures for expanding traffic safety is through comprehensive analysis of accurate and complete crash data. Though a significant portion of crash data is sourced from police crash reporting, there have been substantial limits to the completeness and quality of these data. Furthermore, crash outcomes, including the medical consequences of such crashes, are not well known. As a result, UMassSafe investigated improved data linkage processes and strategies for linking highway safety data — crash, emergency medical services (EMS), roadway inventory, and citation — in order to improve the completeness as well as accessibility, integration, accuracy, and uniformity of Massachusetts crash data. The project was funded by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security/Office of Grants and Research/Highway Safety Division, and its Traffic Records Coordinating Committee, with Section 405-c funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).