New tool identifies, analyzes crash problem areas
Local organizations have a powerful new tool to help identify safety problem areas in their jurisdictions. MN-CMAT—the Crash Mapping and Analysis Tool—allows users to easily access, comprehend, and display data about automobile, bicycle, and pedestrian crashes. It is a GIS-based tool customized with 10 years of Minnesota’s crash data.
The tool was developed by Iowa State University’s Center for Transportation Research and Education in partnership with the Minnesota Local Road Research Board’s Research Implementation Committee (LRRB-RIC). Mn/DOT’s State Aid Division also provided funding.
A technical advisory panel chaired by Sue Miller of Freeborn County guided the project. Other members on the TAP included Minnesota LTAP director Jim Grothaus and representatives of a number of counties and Mn/DOT offices.
With this software, users will be able to analyze crashes based on a number of crash attributes, including county, city, and township coordinates, milepost, node, intersection (road-road, road-rail, road-river), DOT case number, and local law enforcement case number. The tool also lets users produce charts or maps to graphically view crash data and crash locations. Charts can be created by various crash attributes, including crashes by county, month, day of the month, day of the week, major cause, crash severity, manner of crash, surface conditions, and type of roadway. The software produces a color map with plotted crash sites, a series of charts based on crash attribute, and automated reports based on selected attributes of crashes.
Minnesota LTAP helped coordinate 10 free training sessions in May and June for county engineers and other county engineering staff around the state. “By using the tool,” says Grothaus, “county professionals will be able to more efficiently reduce the number and severity of crashes within these areas.”
So how can you use MN-CMAT? The Minnesota County Engineer Association’s Web site—www.mncountyengineers.org—identifies potential applications.
For more information about this tool, check out Mn/DOT’s State Aid Web site at www.dot.state.mn.us/stateaid/res_crash_map_tool.html.