The Power of Data Integration

“Building a Quality Crash Record through Data Collaboration, Coordination and Integration”

2014 Traffic Records ForumOctober 28, 2014 – St. Louis, Missouri

Warren StanleyCrash Data and ReportingSystems Project Manager

Nadine JobeCrash Data and Reporting

Branch Manager

Cam GilmourDeputy Secretary

Lynn PetersonSecretary

“Collect Data Once, Share With Many..”

In 2003, the Washington State Traffic Records Committee (WSTRC), a statewide stakeholder forum that shared a vision of “collecting data once and sharing it with many” launched the Electronic Traffic Records Information Processing initiative known as eTRIP.

The initiatives goals were to:• Replace paper-based data collection with an electronic data

collection and submittal tool• Develop a statewide network for exchanging data; reducing

redundant data entry• Improve the timeliness, utility, and accessibility of data• Improve data quality

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Achieving a Shared Vision. . .• Multiple agencies require collision and ticket data to conduct business functions

• Collision reports and tickets contain common data

• A ticket is often written as a result of a collision

W a s h i n g t o n S t a t e D e p a r t m e n t o f T r a n s p o r t a t i o n

Over 1 million paper tickets and 160,000 collision reports were being manually entered by multiple agencies.

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Prioritizing and Coordinating Projects. . .Department of Licensing• Complete multi-year project to bar-

code driver’s licenses and car registrations

• Modify systems to intake electronic data

Administrative Office of the Courts• Change RCWs and WACs enabling

the courts’ acceptance of electronic records and signatures

• Modify systems to intake electronic data

• On-board local courts

Department of Transportation• Modify systems to intake and process

both paper and electronic collision records

Department of Enterprise Services• Build statewide message broker

Traffic Safety Commission/TRCC• Maintain Strategic Plan• Assist with funding• Provide law enforcement incentives in

the form of field equipment

State Patrol• Establish infrastructure and staffing to

maintain electronic data collection system

eTRIP Team• Work with contractor to develop

Statewide Electronic Collision and Ticket On Line Records System

• Provide governance and coordination of agency projects and readiness

• Provide outreach and training to law enforcement

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Statewide Electronic Collision and Ticket Online Records (SECTOR) comes online

The first electronic reports are sent and receivedMarch 4, 2007

SECTOR creates electronic citations & collision reports• Captures and populates personal

information from barcoded driver’s license and vehicle registrations (minimize data entry and improve data quality)

• Supports data edits and business rules (improves data quality)

• Supports supervisor review of collision report (officer performance and data quality)

• Maintains ticket inventory (accountability)

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140.00%

10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

100.00%

Percent Paper vs. Electronic by Year

Percent Paper Percent Electronic

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State Administrative Office of the Courts:

• Receives citation and creates a record

• Sends citation disposition to DOL

State Department of Licensing:

• Receives collision report number from transportation

• Receives collision record from SECTOR

• Receives dispositions from court

State Department of Transportation:

• Receives collision report, validates data and assigns electronic collision report number

• Sends numbered collision report to Licensing and SECTOR

Message BrokerSends/Receives collisions, tickets and dispositions

Statewide Law Enforcement Officer:

• Receives software updates

• Creates ticket and/or collision report

Law Enforcement Supervisor:

Reviews collision report

Shared Vision Realized. . .“Collect Data Once, Share with Many”

SECTOR Software and Database

• Sends SECTOR software to law enforcement laptops

• Receives collisions and citations from law enforcement

• Sends completed collision/citation to message broker

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eTRIP Benefits. . .Law Enforcement Officer • SECTOR utilizes barcoded driver

licenses and vehicle registrations eliminating hand entry of data, allowing officers to clear the scene and complete the report in a safer environment

• SECTOR populates common data on collision and ticket

• SECTOR provides an integrated diagramming tool

• SECTOR has built in data edits and applies business rules

• SECTOR shortens the amount of time an officer is exposed to traffic

• Electronic signatures reduce contact with offender

Law Enforcement Officer cont.• The time to create a ticket reduced from

10 minutes to 3• The time to create a collision report

reduced from 30 minutes to 10

Law Enforcement Supervisors • SECTOR notifies a supervisor of

pending collision reports for review

Administrative Office of the Courts • 75% of citations come in electronically• Reduced number of errors on tickets• Electronic infractions and citations can

be processed 80% faster than paper

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eTRIP Benefits Cont. . .Department of Transportation • Receives electronic reports within one

work day vs. as much as three weeks by mail

• 75% of collision reports are electronic• Eliminated redundant data entry and the

possibility of data entry errors• Electronic record data is more legible• Diagram is more legible • Eliminated data entry allowing staff to

focus on their analysis function, substantially decreased processing time

• Reduced the number of records being returned to officers for data corrections or clarification from 10% to less than 1%

Department of Licensing • 98% of electronic dispositions

automatically posted to driver database• 69% of collisions electronically posted to

driver record, error rate less than 2%• 66% of tickets electronically posted to

driver record, error rate less than 3%• Electronic records supported automation

of sending over 10,124 claims for damages forms to victims in 2013

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eTRIP Enhancements“Collect Data Once, Share with Many”

2010 - Prosecutors’ Offices subscribe to eTRIP Message Broker:• Receives citations from law enforcement for

review and recommendation on charges

2012 - Local Jurisdiction Records Management Systems subscribe to eTRIP Message Broker:• Receives jurisdictional collisions and

citations from transportation and the courts

New Tool, Vehicle Related Violations, subscribes to eTRIP Message Broker: • Sends parking ticket and red light camera

violations from law enforcement to courts

2014 - SECTOR Enhancement• Add Vehicle Impound Forms

FUTURE - SECTOR Enhancements• Add Marine Vessel Inspection Form• Coast Guard Collision Form

New Tool, Electronic Warrants, subscribing to eTRIP Message Broker:• Sends warrants from law enforcement to

courts

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The Evolution from a Law Enforcement Collision Record to a Safety Crash Record

• In Washington State, law enforcement submits data about a collision on the Police Traffic Collision Report (PTCR).

• Prior to the eTRIP Initiative in 2003, WSDOT received only the PTCRs that occurred on state routes, performed data analysis and provided data reports, primarily to WSDOT engineers and safety research analysts.

• With implementation of the eTRIP systems, WSDOT became the statewide repository for all crashes.

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 • The content of the Crash record is driven by different initiatives,

such as: customer data needs, funding requirements, performance measures, legislative actions, etc.

• Consequently, the records stored in the WSDOT data stores are initiated by WSDOT’s receipt of a law enforcement submitted PTCR and, through the analysis done by our Crash Data Analysts, includes additional data elements defined or required by:

• The Minimum Model Uniform Collision Criteria (MMUCC)• MAP-21’s data-driven performance measures• Target Zero (Washington’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan)

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Location Information

added to Crash Record by WSDOT

• Location references based on the linear referencing methodology used by the jurisdiction the collision occurred in (e.g., state route milepost, county road log number and milepost, and city addressing)

• Mapped-based tribal jurisdiction, city and county boundaries and geospatial coordinates (x,y)

• Lane placement (e.g., lane 1 being most right lane)• Impact locations (e.g., off the roadway vs. off the travel way)• Relationship to intersections (e.g., at intersection but not related)• Type of intersection (e.g., 2-leg, 4-leg, Y-conn)

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Other information added to Crash Record by WSDOT

• Collision Type (e.g., rear-end one vehicle moving and one not, head-on, strikes fixed object)

• Object Struck (e.g., guardrail, cable median barrier, utility pole, utility box)

• Sequence of Events (e.g., collision involving pedestrian, collision involving animal, down-hill runaway)

• Driver Miscellaneous Actions (e.g., avoiding other object in roadway, slowing prior to making a turn, avoiding another vehicle

• Vehicle Type (e.g., passenger car, truck and trailer, farm equipment)

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Collision vs. Crash Data

Collision Data is data submitted by Law Enforcement Officers on the Police Traffic Collision Report (PTCR). Collision data and copies of PTCRs are available through law enforcement’s public disclosure process.

Crash Data contains collision data submitted by law enforcement on the PTCR and data linked from other systems or derived from analysis of the record by the WSDOT Crash Analyst.

The crash record added or derived data provides valuable information used in research and to determine highway safety improvement projects. This data is protected by Federal law 23 USC § 409. Crash data is available through WSDOT’s public disclosure process.

Federal law 23 USC § 409 prohibits the discovery or admission into evidence of “reports, surveys, schedules, lists or data” compiled or collected for the purpose of highway safety improvement and projects that might qualify for federal safety improvement funding.

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Becoming a “Crash” Record

CLAS Transactional Database

Message Broker

Enforcement DB (Collision Data

from PTCR)

Edit record and assigns report

number

WSDOT Analysis adds additional and derived data

Data Entry

Law Enforcement Web-Based Access to PTCR Data for Emphasis Patrol and Audits

CrashData Mart*

Access to Crash Data

*Crash Data Mart does not contain personal information.

SECTOR Electronic

PTCR

PaperPTCR

Citizen Web-Based Collision Report Access

Indexes and Images of PTCR

WSDOT TECHNICALINFRASTRUCTUREINSIDE BLUE DOTTED LINE

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“The only thing worse than having a process or system that fails is one that succeeds!”

Nothing stays the same and change has subtle to profound impacts to data, people, processes and systems.

• Laws change• Policies change• Leadership changes• Technology changes• Budgets change• Customer needs change• Performance measures change• Staff changes• Knowledge workers change• Decision makers change

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Knowledge Integration . . .. . . before

Data Integration

Knowledge integration is a process of understanding a given subject from different perspectives and incorporating new information into existing knowledge with an interdisciplinary approach:

• How does the new information and the existing knowledge interact?

• How should existing knowledge be modified to accommodate the new information?

• How should the new information be modified in light of the existing knowledge?

Do not start budgeting, changing and integrating changes in a process or system without actively investigating the consequences of new or outdated information:

• Include the right people• Identify the need and what success

looks like• Resolve knowledge conflicts and gaps• Acquire knowledge beyond the content

of the new information• Explore options and consequences

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Leveraging Data Integration to Improve Data Access and Timeliness

Recovering Damages: Regional Maintenance and Operations offices work closely with Enterprise Risk Management to recover the cost of damages to state appurtenances.

The maintenance engineers use their Highway Activity Tracking System (HATS) to identify, cost and schedule maintenance activities.

In 2013, web services were developed allowing HATS to read the crash transactional database by location and date range to identify any crashes within the entered location and date range that reported damage to a state appurtenance.

“This is important because traditionally, the quicker the collision damage information can be turned over to the recovery specialists, the more likely we are to recover on this damage.”

Streator Johnson, WSDOT Administrative Risk Manager 

The integration of HATS and the crash database connects a collision to damages within 48 hours of an electronically submitted crash record and within three weeks of a paper submitted crash record

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Leveraging Data Integration to Improve Data Access and Timeliness

Recovering Medicaid Costs: Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) accesses and integrates crash data in order to recover the costs paid to a Medicaid recipient that has been reimbursed by insurance for medical costs incurred as a result of a crash.

Timing is very important. The ability to recover costs diminish when the insurance dollars are disbursed and a match has not been identified before the disbursal.

Typically, these are not catastrophic injuries but an accumulation of costs averaging around $5,000 for doctor’s appointments, x-rays, lab work, etc.

October 2014 - HCA had 193 open files with total claims of $971,589 or an average of $5,000 per case.

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Improving Crash Location Data

WSDOT Analysts read reports submitted by law enforcement and used paper or computer-based map products to establish jurisdiction and a general location for a collision. The final crash record contained minimal location information and could vary depending upon the tools used by the analyst.

Nearly 9% of the yearly reports, or 9,000 reports per year, had to be returned to the officer to add or clarify location information.

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Integration of a Standardized Map-Based Incident Location Tool

In 2012, a WSDOT developed Incident Location Tool was integrated into the crash analysis process. The tool is a geographic information system that presents Washington State spatial data to assist the crash analyst in identifying higher quality location information for crashes.

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Integration of a Standardized Map-Based Incident Location Tool

• The crash analyst uses the Incident Location Tool, the location information provided by law enforcement (including the diagram of the crash and the narrative), and orthophotos (aerial photography that has been geometrically corrected) to establish an accurate location of the crash including x,y coordinates.

• The tool automatically integrates data into the crash record, such as, the jurisdiction, whether or not the crash occurred on tribal lands, etc.

• Other fields are entered by the analyst, such as lane placement, Impact locations, junction relationship and type of intersection.

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Enhancements to the Incident Location Tool

With integration of the ortho layer from WSDOT’s Geo Portal, the Crash Analyst can visually see the actual interchange.

Crash Analyst places crash at desired location using a base map.

VS.

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Enhancements to the Incident Location Tool

Adding more WSDOT Linear Referencing System information allows Crash Analyst to visually see the characteristics of theroadway.

Crash Analyst places crash at desired location automatically populating the crash record.

VS.

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Enhancements to the Incident Location Tool

• Integration of WSDOT’s Interchange Viewer

• Increased search capabilities• Easily assign Primary and Secondary Traffic

Way• Integration of County Road Administration

Board maintained linear referencing layer• Integrated the Census and BIA Tribal layer

All Service Available

Non-Critical Services Errors

Critical Services Errors

• Integration of systems status

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The integration of a tribal lands layer resulted in a 38% increase in capturing crashes on tribal lands.

Future Enhancements to the Incident Location Tool

• Integration of Federal Functional Class Layer

• Integration of WSDOT’s Future Unique Intersection Identifier Database

• Ability to Identify Ancillary Location• Ability to Identify Related Intersection• Integration ILT with County Road Location

Web Page• Interface with WSDOT’s Roadside Feature

Repositories• Feasibility of interfacing with WSDOT’s

Work Zone Database

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WSDOT Data Customers

Over the past year, WSDOT has experienced a 70% increase in crash data requests.

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WSDOT Crash Data Partners

WEEKLY DATA FEEDS

MONTHLY DATA FEEDS

DAILY DATA FEEDS

ANNUAL DATA FEEDS

WSP Commercial Vehicle Division

Department ofLicensing

National Automobile Sampling System

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Crash Data Mart

Department of Social and Health

Department of Licensing

Carfax

Experian Automotive

Cities

Counties

County Road Admin. Board

WSP Public Disclosure System

Department of Health

Highway Safety Information System

Data and Image of PTCR

Data Only

Law Enforcement Database

Safety Analyst

WSDOT GIS Work Bench

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Other Data Access Methods

• WSDOT Work Bench

• Collision Image Viewer – images of PTCR

• Oracle Search Tool – images of PTCR

• Highway Activity Tracking System (HATS)

• Law Enforcement Database – PTCR data

• Annual Collision Summary (multi-agency)

• WSDOT Engineering Reports

• Crash Data Portal Project – Coming in September 2015

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WSDOT Contact Information

Nadine Jobe, ManagerCrash Data and Reporting Branch

Washington State Department of Transportation

PO Box 47380, Olympia, WA 98504-7380JobeN@wsdot.wa.gov360-570-2398

Warren Stanley, Crash Systems PMCrash Data and Reporting Branch

Washington State Department of Transportation

PO Box 47380, Olympia, WA 98504-7380StanleW@wsdot.wa.gov360-570-2497

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