The Future of Traffic Records as envisioned by… Carol Flannagan, Ph.D. Interim Director, UMTRI October 27, 2015 Traffic Records Forum
Traffic Records and Automation Crash records Individually, crash records serve as a police record of an event for insurance, legal, and other purposes Collectively, crash data are surveillance data -How many? -What outcomes (e.g., fatality, serious injury)? -Who? -How are patterns changing? -How should we focus resources to improve things?
Traffic Records Now Crash VIN Registration Location Roadway ?? Medical DL# Licensing DL# Citation
Traffic Records Future What does the future of traffic records look like? Look at airline industry –Highly automated (not 100%) –Extremely safe –Crash records populated by case studies—in depth, detailed, few –Black box data are critical, along with time-series records of position/heading and other data When do we switch from statistics to case studies?
Traffic Records Future
Crash data systems lack good pre-crash information As vehicles become increasingly automated, pre-crash and crash context will become increasingly important to understand what happened and how automated systems need to be improved Over time, driving data (e.g., traffic/congestion/vehicle movements) will become increasingly important for understanding and monitoring safety as well as congestion, and mobility Current federated data systems need to become part of the same larger data system
Traffic Records Future
V2X VIN Registration Sensor data Location RoadwayTollingTrafficWeather Person ID Medical Crash (EDR) DL# Licensing
Traffic Records Future What data will need to be obtained purposefully and what will come naturally (if accessed)? –V2X –EDR –Sensors on vehicle –Sensors on road (e.g., tolling, etc.) –Crash (case studies) –Licensing –Registration
Traffic Records Future Who will need access? –Government –Research & Development –Industry –Public
Traffic Records Future Key Issues 1.How can we handle the volume of data at reasonable cost? -Long-term stored data (e.g., surveillance, research, development, regulation) -Short-term processed data (e.g., traffic management)
Traffic Records Future Key Issues 2.How do we assign data as public vs. private? -Event Data Recorder (EDR) as part of crash record (currently not)? -Cell phone data currently aggregated and sold by private industry to provide traffic and congestion information; can this model also serve the public good?
Traffic Records Future Key Issues 3.How do we build towards highly interconnected data systems from where we are? -Linkage must be prioritized now!
Thanks for your attention. University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)