With the debut of ITE’s Safety Roadmap and Action Plan this year, I’m dedicating this month’s ITE Journal message to exploring the vital connection between data—the topic of this month’s issue—and their roles in advancing transportation safety. Our profession is being called to elevate our approach to safety, and the goal is clear: eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways. But the path to that goal demands a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of crashes. And that understanding begins with data. Not just any data, but the kind that only a multidisciplinary crash response team can uncover.
For decades, transportation engineers and planners have relied on crash reports and aggregated statistics to guide safety improvements. These sources are valuable, but they often lack the nuance needed to prevent future severe crashes. A police report may document the basic facts of a collision, but it rarely captures the full context—roadway design, human behavior, vehicle dynamics, emergency response, and environmental conditions—all of which play a role in crash severity.
This is where multidisciplinary crash response teams become essential. By bringing together experts from transportation engineering, law enforcement, emergency medical services, public health, behavioral science, and even community advocacy, these teams can conduct in-depth investigations that go far beyond surface-level data. They ask the hard questions: What design elements contributed to the crash? Were there systemic failures in response time or access? Did social or behavioral factors play a role? Was this crash part of a larger pattern?
Each discipline contributes a unique perspective, and together they create a richer, more actionable dataset. For example, engineers may identify geometric design flaws, while EMS professionals can highlight delays in life-saving care due to poor roadway access. Public health experts might reveal trends in injury severity linked to vulnerable populations, and law enforcement can provide insight into driver behavior and enforcement gaps. When these insights are combined, they form a comprehensive picture that can guide targeted interventions.
This kind of data enables us to design with empathy and precision, understanding not just how crashes happen, but how they affect real people and communities. Moreover, multidisciplinary crash response teams foster collaboration across sectors that often operate in silos. They build trust, encourage data sharing, and create a shared language around safety. This collaboration is critical for implementing the Safety Roadmap and Action Plan, which calls for integrated, data-driven solutions that span disciplines.
Of course, establishing these teams requires investment—in training, protocols, and infrastructure. It also requires a cultural shift, recognizing that crash investigation is not solely the domain of law enforcement or engineering, but a shared responsibility. But the return on that investment could be profound.
As transportation professionals, we must champion the collection and use of comprehensive crash data through multidisciplinary response teams. Every crash holds critical lessons, and we must use that data to understand contributing factors and prevent recurrence. Without rich, contextual data, our efforts to reach zero traffic deaths will fall short. Let’s ensure we’re gathering the right kind of data that drive meaningful change.