CRASH MODIFICATION FACTORS CLEARINGHOUSE

CMF Update, Winter 2012

Free CMF Clearinghouse webinar - register today!

Steering through the data: Understanding and using the CMF Clearinghouse
Thursday, Dec. 13
2-3:30 p.m. Eastern
Register here

The CMF Clearinghouse’s free webinar is just around the corner. If you haven’t yet reserved your spot, don’t forget to register today!
 
Karen Scurry, transportation specialist at FHWA’s Office of Safety Programs, and Daniel Carter, senior engineering research associate at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center and manager of the CMF Clearinghouse, will lead a discussion to explore the database and its functions designed to help you identify the most appropriate countermeasure and CMF for your needs. In addition, Shawn Troy, safety engineer at the North Carolina Department of Transportation will share how North Carolina uses the Clearinghouse and how he selects CMFs to use throughout his state.

The webinar will include:

• finding information in the Clearinghouse
• performing a search for a CMF
• selecting the most appropriate CMF from returned results
• understanding the CMF star quality rating system
• a live demonstration of the Clearinghouse in use (based on participant questions submitted prior to the session)

Continuing education: Attendees will be eligible to receive a certificate of completion for 1.5 hours that can be applied toward Professional Development Hours (PDH) credit, per State requirements. This event has also been submitted for American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) credits.

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Focus groups identify potential improvements to CMF Clearinghouse

A series of four focus groups were conducted in summer 2012 to better understand how the CMF Clearinghouse is used in road safety and design decisions, how the Clearinghouse and its supporting database can be improved to meet these needs, and what modifications can be implemented to make the Clearinghouse more useful.

At the conclusion of this series of focus groups, it was clear that current users of the CMF Clearinghouse value the information available and that many potential users could become users in the future. There was generally positive feedback about the site’s usability and clarity. Several suggestions were made – including improvements to the Clearinghouse’s search function, the development of search tips, and the creation of webinars and tutorials to familiarize new users with the database. We will use these suggestions to identify and prioritize future enhancements to the CMF Clearinghouse.

Thank you to the dozens of volunteers who participated in these focus groups. Your candid discussions and feedback will help the CMF Clearinghouse grow and improve. If you were not part of the focus groups and have suggestions or other feedback about the CMF Clearinghouse, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Karen Scurry at karen.scurry@dot.gov

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Featured CMFs

The CMF Clearinghouse is continually updated with new CMFs. Below are CMFs recently added to the Clearinghouse database.

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Featured FAQ:
How are states using the CMF Clearinghouse?

Many states refer to the CMF Clearinghouse for information on CMFs, traditional and new countermeasures, and other resources related to using CMFs. Although CMFs have been typically used for prioritizing safety projects and developing estimates in cost-benefit analysis, some states are beginning to use CMFs in other situations, such as design exceptions and alternatives analysis.

Oregon DOT has created a website for their staff that demonstrates how they use the Clearinghouse in their agency. Click here to visit their website about the Clearinghouse.

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CMFs in Practice

FHWA has an initiative underway to illustrate how CMFs can be applied in safety management, road safety audits, design exceptions, alternatives analysis and value engineering through step-by-step technical processes and case studies. The results of this initiative, the CMFs in Practice series, will be available in early 2013 on the CMF Clearinghouse website.

This site is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
and maintained by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center

For more information, contact Sarah Weissman Pascual at sarah.pascual@dot.gov