Connecticut’s 5,000 vehicular crashes per month have created an analytical bottleneck of paperwork, so Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, State Department of Transportation Commissioner Jim Redeker and UConn Provost Mun Choi announced today that the six-month-old Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center at UConn in Storrs will become an important new resource, replacing the paper chase. The DOT has committed $600,000 in federal funds for the first year of the center, which will provide public information on collisions.
“The Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center will certainly distinguish Connecticut as a national leader in transportation safety research and analysis—but more importantly, it will help us make our highways safer and will save taxpayer dollars in the process,” Malloy said. “The system modernizes crash reporting—law enforcement can file reports faster, first responders can clear crash scenes more quickly, and traffic flow will be restored sooner.” The backlog in crash report analysis, on traditional paper, will be replaced by an electronic record of crash information, including “the number of crashes in a town by location, date, street, injury type, and collision type. The data is analyzed to identify hazardous areas, crash patterns, and trends. The new electronic system will save taxpayer dollars through reduced use of resources and labor, and will result in a more efficient highway safety program. ”
“The Safety Research Center will assist us in creating an ‘E-Crash’ data collection system designed to dramatically improve the way information for the state’s car crash data is collected and processed,” said Commissioner Redeker. “The ‘E-Crash’ system will allow for 100 percent electronic filing of state crash reports and easier analysis of the data.”
The center opened last fall in association with Connecticut Transportation Institute at UConn.
“Highway safety and the public health of our citizens is important to all us and the University of Connecticut is proud to partner with the DOT in creating this new Research Center dedicated to making Connecticut’s roads and highways safe for everyone,” said UConn Provost Mun Choi. “The Transportation Safety Research Center will provide an important service to the people of Connecticut and UConn is proud to part of that effort.”