OHS: Improving Aggressive and Distracted Driving Crash Records

OHS, Improving Aggressive and Distracted Driving Crash Records 10/01/2022-09/30/2023 According to the most recent Strategic Highway Safety Plan, Kentucky’s fatal crash rate for distracted driving is more than three times higher than the national average and the fatal crash rate for aggressive driving is higher than the majority of surrounding states. Although these two behaviors contribute to thousands of crashes each year and a large proportion of fatal and serious injury crashes, safety analysis is difficult because of uncertainty in the crash records. Even considering the inherent subjectivity of crash reporting, the prevalence of distracted and aggressive driving is likely to be under-reported in the crash data. As such, an investigation of Kentucky’s citation data would likely provide more insight into the magnitude of these behavioral risks on our roadways. Along with integration of crash data and citation data, this project proposes a detailed review of other states’ definitions of distracted and aggressive crashes, the proportion of crashes other states have identified as distracted or aggressive, and an analysis of legislation to mitigate these crash types. The findings of the efforts listed above would be disseminated to police agencies through officer trainings provided by the project team. These efforts would improve the accuracy and completeness of Kentucky’s crash database going forward. Goals and Objectives: 1. To develop definitions – in terms of crash data codes and narrative keywords – of distracted driving and aggressive driving consistent with other states 2. To integrate citation data into the safety analysis performed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and its partners 3. To provide 6 police trainings targeted toward improved reporting of distracted and aggressive behaviors as crash factors as well as an overview of other crash reporting issues found in previous studies (e.g. secondary crashes).