Geographic information system for traffic crash data management

Geographic information system (GIS) is a technology with considerable potential for important applications in traffic safety. This research was focused on the use of the GIS tool to help analyze traffic crash data in the city of Springdale, Arkansas.; A number of unexpected constraints were encountered during this project. This project began with the expectation that the city of Springdale would create and furnish a GIS-based street network, but this did not happen. Therefore, the network had to be built and the crash data imported and geocoded by hand. For this reason, it was decided to use only two years of crash data (1997 and 1998). Due to errors in the location of crashes in the 1997 crash database, only 1998 crash data was used. In addition, traffic counts were not available for many needed locations.; The GIS technology was used to manage the data in order to (a) calculate crash rates for different facilities, (b) identify high crash locations, and (c) determine the relationship between geometric characteristics and crash occurrence. The analysis of crash rates did not produce satisfactory correlation or patterns between geometric characteristics and crash occurrence. The prediction modeling process produced better relationships. The variables which were found to be statistically significant in the occurrence of crashes included the traffic volume, the number of driveways per mile, the presence of two-way left turn lanes, and the presence of left turn lanes at intersections.; It is important to note that the actual findings have very limited application, due to the limitations with the available data. However, the procedures employed could be used as a guide for future crash research.