FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 13, 2000
Contact: David Smallen
Tel: 202-366-5568
BTS 12-00
Secretary Slater Releases BTS Plan
To Improve Transportation Safety Data
U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today
released
Safety in Numbers: Using Statistics to Make the Transportation System
Safer, establishing the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) as the lead
agency for improving the quality of transportation safety data, which will
help
raise the level of transportation safety.
"The actions to be taken based on the BTS Safety Data
Action
Plan are an important step toward improving safety--the top priority of the
U.S. Department of Transportation and the top transportation priority for
President Clinton and Vice President Gore," Secretary Slater said.
"Accurate and timely data will give the entire
transportation
community the information to raise the level of safety by identifying,
evaluating and reducing problem areas."
"By implementing this plan, we will provide the DOT and
other
transportation decision-makers with a new level of data quality," said Dr.
Ashish Sen, BTS director. "Fact-based management of transportation safety
programs can reduce the deaths and injuries that are a major cost in
transportation."
Under the five-part plan:
BTS will be the lead agency for the DOT to improve
safety
data in coordination with the DOT Safety Council, which is an ongoing forum
of DOT modal administrators and senior officials of the Office of the
Secretary providing coordination and leadership on safety issues, as well as
with data experts from each modal administration; an Intermodal
transportation Data Base (ITDB) will be created to organize safety data; BTS
will develop data quality standards; the National Transportation Library will
be
expanded to provide more resources for transportation research; and DOT
will conduct 10 research projects to focus on addressing specific
shortcomings in transportation safety data.
BTS will continue to work with the transportation
community on
improving data quality through an implementation team of 20 stakeholders
which will meet four times a year and issue progress reports on key issues,
as well as conduct a conference every two years, with four regional
conferences during the intervening years.
The final version of the Safety Data Action plan followed
the
"Safety in Numbers" conference earlier this year involving more than 2,000 of
the nation's key transportation stakeholders. Four Safety Data Workshops
held in 1999 with about 200 stakeholders helped formulate the initial Action
Plan. This plan was developed in response to Secretary Slater's 1999
National Transportation Safety Conference where stakeholders identified
better data collection and reporting across all jurisdictions as one of the
top
priorities for improving safety. Also, BTS in 1998 issued "Transportation
Statistics Beyond ISTEA: Critical Gaps and Strategic Responses," citing the
need for better quality safety data.
The full Safety Data Action Plan, Safety in Numbers: Using
Statistics to Make the Transportation System Safer, can be found at the
BTS website: www.bts.gov.
