K-State engineers receive grant to develop vehicle crash count predictive tool
Friday, Nov. 17, 2023
MANHATTAN — A Kansas State University engineering team is developing a crash count predictive tool to help law enforcement agencies better allocate resources and increase safety on public roadways.
The team has received a nearly $350,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a high-resolution geospatial crash count prediction tool to categorize crash data by severity in each region of interest while aiding law enforcement agencies and traffic safety professionals with allocating limited resources.
Husain Aziz, assistant professor of civil engineering, will lead the two-year project, "Predicting Commercial Motor Vehicle Crash Counts at High Spatiotemporal Resolution Accounting for Weather and Special Events," alongside co-principal investigators Eric Fitzsimmons, associate professor of civil engineering, and Doina Caragea, professor of computer science.
"With continuous ingestion of traffic crash data, our models will predict the crash occurrence probability to assist in near-real-time resource allocation decisions, such as where the highway patrol should be stationed in the next hour," Aziz said. "The models will be integrated into a web-based tool for stakeholders, primarily law-enforcement entities and traffic safety professionals."
The project reinforces the Department of Transportation's "safe system approach." It also supports the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's mission in the high-priority area of technology to improve commercial motor vehicle safety through enforcement, public awareness and education.
