The objective of this research program is to provide the best quality state data for National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) use in analysis which examine the statistical relationships between vehicle design characteristics, crash involvement, and propensity.

Since the early 1980's, NHTSA has been obtaining, from various states, computer data files coded from data recorded on the police crash reports. A police crash report completed by police officers at a motor vehicle crash scene. The information varies from state to state because the data collected and recorded from the police reports differ for each state. The National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) took responsibility for requesting, maintaining, and analyzing these data in 1986. The data are received on computer tapes and are converted to SAS databases and made available to NCSA and analyst from other program offices.

The General Estimates System (GES) and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) limited size make it hard to identify rare events, but the State Data large database size can easily identify those rare events.

Annually, crash data from seventeen states have been obtained, documented, and converted into SAS format databases. From these SAS databases, analyses are conducted. The seventeen states are: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington,

• To provide technical assistance to states to improve their highway safety-related data bases and to improve state analytical capability.

• To provide state data with analytical support for the agency's programs.

• Produced a first time multi-year state data report summarizing the motor vehicle traffic crash experience in each of the seventeen states, September 1997.

• Review state data issues of interest to NHTSA's program offices. Continue to conduct analyses based on the state data issues and produce research notes, 1998.

• "Rural and Urban Crashes: A Comparative Analysis", (DOT HS 808 450), August 1996
• "Estimating the Injury-Reducing Benefits of Ejection-Mitgrating Glazing, (DOT HS 808 369), February 1996.
• "Statistical Analysis of Vehicle Rollover Propensity and Vehicle Stability, Auto & Traffic Safety", (DOT HS 808 114), May 1994.
• "Rail-Highway Crossing Safety, Fatal Crash and Demographic Descriptors", (DOT HS 808 196), November 1994.
• "Safety Impact of Permitting Right Turn On Red", Report to Congress, August 1994.

PROJECT TASKS