Establishing Crash Modification Factors and Their Use

A critical component in the Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO) Highway Safety Manual (HSM) safety management process is the Crash Modification Factor (CMF). It is used to estimate the change in the expected (average) number of crashes at a site when a specific countermeasure is implemented. This project responds to a request from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to help integrate the use of CMFs into the existing safety management process. The objectives of this project were to assemble a list of CMFs that are consistent with the HSM and are appropriate for use in Pennsylvania, and provide guidelines for their use. Two products were created to help achieve these objectives. The first product is a guidebook that describes the proper implementation procedures for CMFs and contains a complete list of CMFs that are appropriate for use in Pennsylvania. This guidebook is the Pennsylvania CMF Guide. The second product is a training presentation for PennDOT entitled "What are CMFs and how do you use them?" This presentation will be used to introduce engineers to CMFs, describe how to implement them, and provide guidance for how to use the Pennsylvania CMF Guide. This presentation is geared toward both internal and external training workshops. This report also provides details on the development of these two products, which are included as appendices.

• Record URL:
  http://www.mautc.psu.edu/docs/PSU-2014-01.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Pennsylvania State University, University Park

  Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute
  Research Office Building
  University Park, PA  United States  16802-4710

  Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center

  Pennsylvania State University
  201 Transportation Research Building
  University Park, PA  United States  16802-4710

  Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

  Bureau of Planning and Research
  400 North Street, 6th Floor
  Harrisburg, PA  United States  17120-0064

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Gayah, Vikash V
  • Donnell, Eric T
• Publication Date: 2014-8-25

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 181p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Countermeasures; Crash modification factors; Highway safety; Implementation; Traffic crashes; Training
• Identifier Terms: Highway Safety Manual; Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
• Geographic Terms: Pennsylvania
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01538288
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-PA-2014-005-PSU WO 6, LTI 2015-02
• Contract Numbers: 4400008014, PSU 006
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 25 2014 8:59AM