The goal of this study is to examine the effective usage of First HarmfulEvent (FHE) and Most Harmful Event (MHE) data in transportation safety management by developing safety strategies to prevent traffic crashes as well as to reduce injury severities. FHE and MHE data collected from Michigan, North Carolina and Idaho were analyzed. The analytic procedure consists of adjusting the events data sets from the three states to create a common forum for comparison, and to explore patterns or lack thereof in the information collected between different types of crashes and between these states. Overall, the authors found some patterns or trends in the events data sets, in spite of the geographic differences between the three states.Based upon these patterns, a set of guidelines are presented on the interpretation of the event data. The authors conclude that FHE data can revealvaluable information on roadway features causing crashes, while MHE data can be useful in the design of countermeasures against fatalities or serious injuries. Thus, proper analysis of FHE and MHE data may lead to more informed decisions on safety management strategies by engineers, enforcementpersonnel and policy makers.
Samenvatting