WTI

SHRP II: S02 Proposal: Integration of Analysis Methods and Development of Analysis Plan

Primary Investigator Contact Information

External Project Contact(s)

Report(s)

There are no reports associated with this project.

Project Objective

The objective of the S02 project is to integrate the results of the prior SHRP 2 safety projects and to produce prioritization of research questions and an analysis plan for the data collected from the in-vehicle naturalistic field studies. This project will identify analytical methods necessary to address a set of research questions and delineate the steps involved in obtaining appropriate measures of effectiveness, evaluation factors, and sampling designs of large naturalistic driving data sets.

Project Abstract

The overall goal of the SHRP 2 is to prevent or reduce the severity of crashes by understanding driver behavior. Integrating the tasks outlined in this research project will result in advanced knowledge of driver behavior, enabling those in the field to enhance both current in-vehicle telematics and roadway infrastructure. Ultimately, this will lead to reduced severity and numbers of vehicular crashes. We begin by examining the interaction between data captured from the roadway environment, driver, and the vehicle. Each influences the other, with the output informing exposure and risk, as well as crash surrogates. Traditional regression techniques are often used to predict crash likelihood. To fully examine the complex dimensions of crash risk, however, requires advanced statistical techniques to discover factors that are similar to crashes, to examine crash surrogates using appropriate exposure measures, and to describe crashes using dynamic modeling techniques. A complex array of factors contributes to crashes, which this team will address with a systems-based approach. A clear set of research questions and objectives will guide the data collection process and provide the framework for the analytical method. This analytic framework may include exposure-based risk estimates within each naturalistic data collection option (i.e., in-vehicle, or site-based). A well-defined set of explanatory and dependent measures will structure the research approach to assess risk. There is a vital need not only to clearly define driver performance measures for naturalistic driving, but also to assist practitioners in understanding how complex data can be used to help formulate sound, evidenced-based policies. Clear research questions and an analysis plan that captures the core issues of driving safety utilizing similarity discovery, spatial and temporal analyses, and dynamic modeling will be developed.

Task Descriptions

1. Review Products of Current SHRP 2 Safety Projects
   1. The team will closely monitor and review the results of the S01, S05, and S09 projects. This will allow us to become familiar with, and to extract relevant information from, the previous research questions, planned data collection, data architecture, data access, and analysis plans.
2. Participation in 3rd SHRP 2 Safety Research Symposium
   1. Team members will be active participants in the symposium and will observe how the S05 and TRB organizers structure and manage the meeting. This experience will help the UI team in its long-term preparations for the 2009 meeting. Participants from all active SHRP 2 safety projects will take part in the 2008 meeting and will share relevant experience. Information will be gleaned from the participant groups so that research questions can be iterated and integrated with the S01 project. This will help further formulate an analysis plan.
3. Frame and Prioritize Specific Research Questions
   1. The goal of this task is to extend and refine the contractors prioritized research questions to ultimately produce accurate risk estimates. Success depends on: framing the questions within a systems perspective, refining the questions through consideration of potential safety interventions, assessing the feasibility of addressing the questions with the available data, and prioritizing the questions with input from the traffic safety community. These issues will be addressed through tasks centered around a systems-based framework.
4. Phase I Report
   1. A final report will be prepared that describes the results of the research conducted in the first three tasks. The report will contain a revised and prioritized list of research questions iterated during Phase I. The report will recommend any changes in the plan for the SHRP 2 in-vehicle driving study. This will ensure that the whole plan is feasible in its implementation.
5. Develop an Analysis Plan for SHRP 2 In-Vehicle Field Study
   1. Researchers will develop a series of work plans that provide the steps and motivation to quantitatively examine the priority research questions defined in the Phase I report. Each work plan will address a portion of the overall research question and connect it to the appropriate analytical method. The plans will include key elements of the research including, as appropriate, problem formulation, hypotheses to be tested, measures of effectiveness (and dependent variables), evaluation factors (and explanatory variables), data requirements, sampling approaches, data reduction methods, recommended database structure, model formulation, statistical analysis, model validation, and documentation of results.
6. Identify Potential Analytic Applications for the Site-Based Data
   1. Researchers will identify and recommend analytical methods that benefit from site-based data.
7. 4th SHRP 2 Safety Research Symposium—Summer 2009
   1. The research team will be the principle presenter at the two-day meeting and will present and discuss the analysis plans developed throughout this project. The symposium will be structured to include generous discussion time. A moderator will be in charge of each session so as to focus discussion on the goals of the project and the symposium, and a detailed record will summarize the outcome of each discussion. The proceedings of the meetings will be well documented. In addition to each of the presentations and other appropriate materials from the proceeding tasks, discussion notes will be posted on the SHRP 2 website and on the driving wiki website (a web-based document that anyone may edit; www.drivingwiki.org), allowing the broader driving safety community to enhance and expand the discussion.
8. Final Report
   1. The project deliverables will be consolidated into a single draft final report and will include all work plans developed in Task 5.

Milestones, Dates, Schedule

Student Involvement

False

Relationship to Other Research Projects

True

Technology Transfer Activities

False

Transportation Research Board Keywords

Traffic safety; naturalistic study; analysis methods

Partners

University of Iowa, Iowa State University, University of Minnesota