Web-Based Bus Accident Reporting, Tracking and Analysis System

Project Title: Web-Based Bus Accident Reporting, Tracking and Analysis System

To undertake the development of a web-based bus accident and security incident reporting system of bus transit accidents and security incidents at Florida’s public transit systems. This project will enable transit systems to easily track driver training, track security incidents, report and analyze types of accidents, identify common trends in accident data over time and increase driver preventability of accidents. The goal of the project is to develop a web-based reporting and tracking system to enable better tracking and analysis of accident data and security incidents at both the agency and state level.

II. Project Abstract

The safe operation of public transit vehicles is of utmost importance to the transit agency, its’employees and passengers. Most transit agencies have hundreds of accidents per year. While each accident may be reviewed carefully as an individual incident, at many Florida transit systems there has been very little formal analysis of all accidents on an aggregate basis. The FDOT Research Ideas project on System Safety Plans and Accident Tracking Analysis completed in 1999, recommended that all Florida transit systems begin collecting a core set of accident characteristics monitored and analyzed on a statewide basis. This project will continue development to enhance the analytical tool developed as part of the scope of work for FDOT NCTR Project 527-11 “Analysis of Florida Transit Bus Accidents.”

The proposed scope of services for this project consists of the following tasks.

In this task, CUTR will do a peer review of Accident and Incident software developed by State Public Transportation Office and public transit agencies. CUTR will do an analysis of the TrIP software development by the North Carolina Department of Transportation Public Transportation Division to track transit incident, driver training and vehicle information.

In this task, CUTR will work with the Florida DOT Public Transportation Office to develop a web-based Bus Accident and Security Incident Reporting System. CUTR, working with Florida DOT Public Transportation Office, will continue development of the analytical tool developed as part of the scope of work for FDOT NCTR Project 527-11 (“Analysis of Florida Transit Bus Accidents”) to identify additional data fields associated with accident and security incident reporting.

CUTR will develop using MS Access, template(s), data field and drop-down menus. Analytical tool(s) used for tracking and analyzing the data will be created in a user-friendly process for transit systems to readily and easily track their accident data along with tools to submit their data to CUTR for analysis. An instructional manual will also be developed to guide the use of the Bus Accident and Security Incident Reporting System.

In this task, CUTR will collect and analyze data submitted by State Transit Agencies. CUTR will then analysis accident and security incidents on a statewide basis and by transit agency.

In this task, CUTR will work with Dovetail Consulting, FDOT’s consultant working on the Rail Safety Oversight web site. Dovetail Consulting is tasked with supporting FDOT in implementing a state safety oversight web site (presumably launched as part of FDOT’s global web site). CUTR will work with Dovetail Consulting and FDOT to develop the Web site for Bus Accident and Security Reporting System compatible with the design of the Rail Safety Oversight web site.

There will be four deliverables for this project. The first three deliverables will be progress reports for Tasks 1, 2, 3 and 4. The fourth deliverable will be an Executive Summary of the report and CD-ROM of Bus Accident and Security Reporting System website.

Task/Month

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

Task 5

Progress Reports & Website

A. SALARIES:	% Time	Period Covered	-
Principal Investigator: Deborah Sapper	32%	18 months	$36,752
Co- Principal Investigator: Holly Carapella	7%	18 months	$ 6,221

USPS Personnel	0%	18 months	$
Total Salaries			$ 42,973
B. OTHER PERSONNEL SERVICES (OPS):
Graduate Students (1)			$ 10,000
Undergraduate Students (0)			0
Total OPS			$ 10,000
C. FRINGE BENEFITS			-
Total Fringe Benefits			$ 15,956
Total Salaries, OPS & Fringe Benefits			$ 68,929
D. TOTAL PERMANENT EQUIPMENT			-
OCO			0
E. TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES
Reports			$ 100
Office Supplies (telephone, postage, etc.)			$ 600
Rentals			0
Tuition			0
In-state Travel			$ 1,800
# of Trips: (4)			-
Destination: (Tallahassee, Sarasota, Daytona, Fort Myers)			-
# of persons traveling: (1-2)			-
Duration: (1)			-
Out-of-state Travel
# of Trips:			-
Destination:			-
# of persons traveling:			-
Duration:			-
Consultants (0)			0
TOTAL EXPENSES			$ 2,500
F. TOTAL DIRECT COSTS			$ 71,429
G. TOTAL INDIRECT COSTS			$ 3,571
H. TOTAL BUDGET			$ 75,000

Notes: This budget does not reflect any federal participation. The project team will include faculty, students, and secretarial and other support staff who will work directly on the project and whose costs are reflected in the direct costs of the project as listed above. Budget requests includes salaries for clerical and administrative staff, postage, telephone calls, office supplies, general purpose software, subscriptions, and/or memberships.

This research project is intended to be a web-based bus accident and security incident reporting system of bus transit accidents and security incidents for Florida’s public transit systems.

Graduate students will be used to compile and enter data and assist in the data analysis.

A similar analysis on one selected system was conducted as part of a FY 1997 Florida Department of Transportation Research Idea project entitled System Safety Program and Accident Tracking Analysis” as well as the NCTR Accident Tracking project completed in FY 2001. This project follows-up on work from NCTR Project 527-11 “Analysis of Florida Transit Bus Accidents.”

The results of this analysis will be provided to the FDOT through a series of technical memoranda and a final report. Copies of the final report will be provided to the Research Office, the State Public Transportation Administrator, the Manager of the Transit Office and the transit systems that participated in the analyses.

The benefits of the project include the continued development and use of a standardized set of accident data to be collected by Florida transit properties for the purpose of reducing transit bus accidents. This information can then be used to compare trends and the effectiveness of training, capital improvement programs, and driver operating conditions between Florida transit systems. Transit systems statewide can than use this information to change operating procedures, capital improvement programs, and training programs at their systems to aid in reducing transit bus accidents statewide.