Traffic safety grant to study crashes in Alabama

Gov. Bob Riley has awarded grants totaling $634,001 to implement a new data system that tracks vehicle crashes and to fund ongoing traffic safety data collection and research.

        The grants will enable the University of Alabama CARE Research and Development Laboratory to implement an electronic crash reporting system called “eCrash.” Officers responding to a vehicle crash will be able to submit their reports electronically from their patrol cars to the Alabama Department of Public Safety. By eliminating manual data entry from handwritten paper copies, crash information can be added to the database quicker and more accurately. The eCrash program also contains a tool that will make it easier for officers to draw crash diagrams.

The crash reporting system builds upon a similar program, eCitation, previously developed and implemented by CARE and currently used by many Alabama law enforcement agencies. The eCitation system permits officers to scan a driver license and transmit traffic citation data electronically to the courts.

        CARE will use a portion of the funding to continue an ongoing program that gathers and analyzes traffic safety statistics. The data are used by law enforcement agencies to plan more effective enforcement efforts to reduce crashes and save lives.

        The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grants which Riley awarded from funds made available to the state by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Riley notified Cynthia Hope, director of sponsored programs for the University of Alabama, that the grants had been approved.