Creating Safer Roads With Improved Data

Michael Pawlovich Shares Why Accurate Crash Data Is Imperative for Shaping Life-Saving Transportation Solutions

In the latest from HDR’s Experts Talk interview series, Senior Traffic Safety Engineer Michael Pawlovich, P.E., draws on his more than 25 years of traffic safety, traffic engineering, crash data analysis, and research experience to demonstrate how accurate crash data can transform road safety and save lives.

Pawlovich reviews the challenges of traditional crash data collection methods, and he details the improvements agencies can make through deficiency assessments, streamlined on-scene documentation and modernized statewide databases. He notes that showing first responders the real-life impacts of their reports on local safety efforts can motivate more accurate data collection, ultimately leading to safer roads.

“While crash data is fundamental to roadway safety analysis, reports are only as good as what gets recorded at the scene,” Pawlovich said. “Incomplete or inaccurate data makes analysis and interpretation less certain and thus makes finding the best countermeasures more difficult.”

Pawlovich further shares how transportation agencies can employ technology — such as electronic reporting systems, GIS mapping and emerging intelligence tools — to improve data analysis and accessibility.

HDR’s Experts Talk interview series shines a light on various aspects of transportation infrastructure design and delivery. Each subject matter expert offers unique expertise and insights about new and ongoing trends, emerging technologies and the human side of infrastructure.

Read the full interview with Pawlovich about how better data can transform road safety.