The Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM) Crash Prediction Module (CPM): Application in Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA)

Instructors: Ehsan Dadvar, Mike Dimauita, and Dave Petrucci

Earlier this year, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released a new "how-to" publication providing guidance on the incorporation of data-driven safety analysis (DDSA) into traditional transportation impact analyses and related studies. This guidance document is intended to assist practitioners who are interested in deploying available methods and tools in quantitative safety analysis within typically-operations-oriented traffic impact analysis. This guidance document can be downloaded here.

Traditional crash and roadway analysis methods mostly rely on subjective or limited quantitative measures of safety performance. This dependence makes it challenging to calculate safety impacts alongside other criteria when planning projects. Data-Driven Safety Analysis (DDSA) employs newer, evidence-based models that provide State and local agencies with the means to quantify safety impacts similar to the way they do other impacts such as environmental effects, traffic operations, and pavement condition. DDSA provides reliable estimates of an existing or proposed roadway’s current and future safety performance and helps agencies make more informed decisions, better target investments, and reduce crashes occurring on their roadways. This workshop summarizes this FHWA guidance document and demonstrates capabilities of the IHSDM Crash Prediction Module (CPM) in traffic impact analysis.