Transportation Safety Analysis is a critical component of transportation engineering. Implementing the correct method of statistical transportation safety analysis is critical. Our team understand the limitations of Crash Frequency, Crash Rate, and other measures that do not account for Regression to the Mean (RTM) bias; therefore, we utilize the current state-of-the-art techniques when analyzing transportation safety.
Our team has implemented Substantive Safety Analysis in numerous engineering projects. We have built more than 100 location-specific Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) and have successfully utilized them in performing systematic transportation engineering analyses.
In the process of helping government entities to implement systematic safety analysis, Dr. Kwasniak and the rest of our team developed the Safety Performance Function (SPF) Tool (spftool.com).
Our systematic safety tool, the SPF Tool, was built with the user in mind. The SPF Tool incorporates an aesthetic, minimalist design to accommodate every user. The built-in data visualization tool allows for the presentation of advanced analysis results in an easy and understandable way. The software provides an intuitive step-by-step analysis wizard to facilitate comfortable and user-friendly analysis. Having all the information available in one place allows users to perform transportation management tasks quickly and more efficiently. The SPF Tool was designed to incorporate the most advanced state-of-the-art statistical techniques and to conduct efficient transportation safety analyses. The SPF Tool is a cloud-based application and does not have the typical limitations of desktop software packages (e.g., typical software packages are closed systems with limited computing power and require a per-computer installation). The SPF Tool is supported across multiple platforms including devices such as laptops, PCs, tablets, and smartphones.
The main components of the SPF Tool are as follows:
- Network Screening for locations with the highest potential for improvement (utilizing Substantive Safety Analysis – Safety Performance Function)
- Abnormal Crash Pattern Evaluation
- Diagnostics and Suggestions for Improvement
- Economic Analysis
- Effectiveness Evaluation
The SPF Tool features are as follows:
- Advanced network screening powered by Safety Performance Functions
- Employment of advanced ranking techniques
- Support for existing SPF databases
- Support for jurisdiction-specific SPFs
- Flexible entry formats for jurisdiction-specific SPFs
- Automatic evaluation of crash data using selected SPFs
- Customization of data formats
- Automatic data verification process
- Built-in data visualization tool allows customization of data and of network screening results in the form of interactive 2D and 3D graphs, as well as maps
- Diagnostic process
- Abnormal crash pattern search tool
- Evaluation of suitability of available crash modification factors in local conditions
- Creation of jurisdiction-specific crash modification factors (EB before and after analysis)
- Full economic analysis at project or individual site levels
- Customization of reports
- Optimization of calculation times
Learn more about the SPF Tool at SPFTool.com