OHS, UK - Quality of Ped and Bike Crash Data

Abstract OHS, Improving the Quality of Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Data through Narrative Mining Pedestrian and cyclist crashes, along with associated fatalities, have shown an upward trend in recent years in Kentucky. Recognizing the critical need to address the safety of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, the Kentucky 2020-2024 Strategic Highway Safety Plan has identified this as one of its six emphasis areas. While past studies predominantly relied on standard tabular data from the crash database to analyze pedestrian and bicycle involved crashes, the utilization of crash narratives has been lacking. In this study, we will conduct a comprehensive review of crash narratives, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of occurrences of these crashes. Goals and Objectives To review narratives of the crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists in 2019-2023. To design a method that categorizes the causes of these crashes based on narrative review and integrate them into crash database to improve safety analysis. Strategies and Activities The KTC team will collect crash data, including crash narratives, involving pedestrians and cyclists in 2019-2023, as well as roadway and intersection data. The team will conduct a thorough review of crash narratives and group the review results into different categories that provide more context for each crash. The team will then evaluate and select an effective method, whether it be rule-based flagging or machine learning based classification, to automate the categorization process.