The Comprehensive Community-based Traffic Safety Program: Phase I, Problem Identification for District 2 and District 7

About the report:

This report contains the initial Problem Identification for the Comprehensive Community-Based Traffic Safety Program (CCBP). Two DMV districts, District 2 and District 7, have been selected as the pilot areas for the CCBP, and because both districts are slated to have their own support staff, they are treated as separate entities. That is, problem areas were considered and ranked only within a district, rather than across the two districts. The bulk of this report deals with ranking the localities within each district according to which have the most pronounced crash problems in general and among several specific problem areas. Five years of the baseline crash data, 1980 to 1984, were subjected to linear regression analysis, with projections being made for the year 1985. These projections, either for general or specific crash problem areas, were ranked among the localities within each problem area. Separate ranks were calculated for the absolute number of crashes and another measure which normalizes the absolute number relative to the size of a locality. These two ranks were then added together to produce ranks relative to both the absolute number and the normalized measure. The localities were also grouped according to natural clustering (i.e., localities which have relatively similar crash problem ranks) to form priority target areas. Further, for each locality, the times of the days during the week which had the greatest numbers of crashes were noted. For counties, the routes and road segments with high numbers of crashes and high crash rates were also noted. In general, the data show that Botetourt County, Danville, Lynchburg, and Roanoke City were projected to have the most pronounced crash problems in District 2. Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach were projected to have the most pronounced problems in District 7. Alcohol-related crashes, crashes involving excessive speed, and pedestrian crashes were found to contribute significantly to the crash problems experienced in both of the pilot districts. It is recommended that the CCBP initially concentrate on developing countermeasures for these problems, along with developing occupant protection programs, citizen advisory committees, and a traffic hot line to encourage public input and involvement in the CCBP.

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