The way traffic accidents are reported is being revolutionized in the state of Louisiana thanks to a new software program, LACRASH, developed by the Highway Safety Research Group (HSRG) at LSU through a grant from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.
This new software was developed by programmers at the HSRG around the original paper form which was established by the state Traffic Records Committee. The program was initially rolled out in December 2004 for testing, and agencies came online January 1, 2005. Just last year, the software garnered an award given by the Association of Traffic Safety Information Professionals for the Best Practices Competition.
- Traffic records and traffic safety data form the decision-making basis for the setting of policy and the selection of projects and programs to improve the safety of our state’s roadways.
- The State of Louisiana uses these data in developing the Highway Safety Plan, pass new laws to improve traffic safety, the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission (LHSC) approves grants based on the data and the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) uses this data to identify high crash intersections or road segments and develop multi-million dollar safety projects. Law enforcement officials use this data to deploy enforcement personnel. Vehicle design engineers study crash dynamics from the information gleaned from police reports. The U.S. Congress uses traffic records and traffic safety data to appropriate billions of dollars in highway safety and construction funding.
- Traffic records and traffic safety data are important! The support of gathering, processing, and reporting all data pertaining to the traffic safety activities in an accurate and timely fashion is a primary objective of the HSRG at LSU.
To learn more about the LACRASH application, visit the LACRASH website at lacrash.lsu.edu . |
