Highway Safety Manual Case Study 2: 

Implementing a New Roadway Safety Management 

Process with SafetyAnalyst in Ohio

HSM Reference

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed SafetyAnalyst under a pooled fund 

study in cooperation with participating state and local agencies. SafetyAnalyst is a software tool 

designed to implement analysis methods presented in the American Association of State 

Highway and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO’s) Highway Safety Manual (HSM) Part BRoadway Safety Management Process, Chapters 4 through 9. As such, SafetyAnalyst contains 

tools to perform Network Screening, Diagnosis, Countermeasure Selection, Economic 

Appraisal, Priority Ranking, and Countermeasure Evaluation. This software also uses the crash 

modification factors (CMFs) contained in Part D of the HSM to assist with countermeasure 

selection and economic evaluation. SafetyAnalyst also has the flexibility to allow user-defined 

CMFs or allow state-specific CMFs to expand or override the CMFs found in the HSM Part D.

Discussion

Ohio is one of the states

leading the way in the

integration of SafetyAnalyst

into state safety programs.

The Ohio Department of 

Transportation (ODOT) is 

using SafetyAnalyst to assist 

with all steps of their safety 

management system, 

including: network screening, 

diagnosis, countermeasure 

selection, economic appraisal, 

prioritization, and 

countermeasure evaluation. 

To assist with visualization of 

the screening methods, 

ODOT is integrating the 

output data into a geographic 

information system (GIS) to 

display and compare the 

results.

SafetyAnalyst relies on linked 

crash, traffic volume, and 

Figure 1: GIS Display of Expected and Excess Crashes for Highway 

Segments
HSM Part B Case Study: SafetyAnalyst 

2

geometric (road, intersection and ramp) 

databases. ODOT catalogs much of these data 

for other uses; however, SafetyAnalyst requires

using DOT data that must be properly formatted 

before running the software. ODOT 

programmers developed tools to automate the 

data mapping transformation. Following the 

data transformation, ODOT staff found it very 

efficient to extract the data from SafetyAnalyst 

and use a freeware version of DbVisualizer to perform data quality checks. For example, ODOT 

performed a data quality check using the DbVisualizer software to query the number of 

roundabouts in the database and compared the results to what SafetyAnalyst reports. The 

comparison also included the known number of roundabouts on the system.

Much of the ODOT’s data is already maintained in-house; however, they undertook several 

significant efforts to obtain additional data and improve data quality. The extensive data

gathering effort increased output reliability, so that safety funds can be directed to locations 

where transportation improvements have the greatest potential to reduce severe (fatal and 

injury) crashes and save lives.

Process improvements were implemented to obtain traffic volume and intersection 

characteristics for local cross streets of state-maintained facilities. Innovative techniques to 

obtain the data initially included coordinating with the traffic monitoring group to estimate 

local road volumes where actual counts were unavailable. This was done through use of travel 

demand models and development of county-specific volumes by functional classification for 

roads not in the travel demand model. As a long-term solution, ODOT is increasing their count 

program to collect traffic volumes at an additional 8,400 locations on a 6-year cycle. Other 

examples of data gathering efforts include cataloging ramp volumes; intersection traffic control;

and on-street parking location and type. Much of this data gathering was accomplished using 

GIS tools, on-line aerial photography or DOT-maintained video logs.

While many people and agencies were noted for their efforts for the successful deployment of 

SafetyAnalyst, ODOT’s Information Technology (IT) department stood out. Working with IT 

staff was crucial to ensure hardware and software needs were met in all offices. ODOT IT staff 

also provided crucial services in developing and testing the tools used to map or transform 

DOT database information to SafetyAnalyst requirements. Having these in-house tools 

simplifies the routine update of information into SafetyAnalyst. IT support also included 

deployment of the software, software maintenance and upgrades, and communications with the 

software developer while troubleshooting.

ODOT is planning to make SafetyAnalyst available to staff in the Central and District Offices. 

This will give Districts direct access to the SafetyAnalyst database and analysis tools. Many of 

the planned efforts also focus on building partnerships with local agencies to ensure the 

SafetyAnalyst database will have coverage of both state and local roads. This will allow the 

network screening and project identification processes to be extended to address severe crashes 

that occur on the local system.

“Ohio DOT is excited about the 

opportunities that SA provides the 

highway safety engineering community 

by allowing the end users to easily 

perform network screenings and 

countermeasure evaluations with a high 

level of statistical rigor.”

— Jonathan Hughes, ODOT
HSM Part B Case Study: SafetyAnalyst 

3

Specific hurdles ODOT overcame during the deployment of SafetyAnalyst include:

1) developing a systematic process to aggregate and integrate all of the required data elements 

into SafetyAnalyst; 2) addressing the logistics and cost to make the software available in all the 

District offices; 3) creating a process to address data consistency and use between offices as 

database updates occur; and 4) meeting the need for more training so District personnel can 

apply the software correctly and interpret the results. Going forward, expected challenges 

include data availability and data quality, especially as it relates to extending the program to 

cover local roads.

Training Needs

As part of the SafetyAnalyst development process, ODOT hosted a 3-day training session for the 

pooled fund partners. Additionally, ODOT hosted an additional 2-day training session to 

ensure all of their staff were properly trained. ODOT has also developed module-specific Help 

Sheets to guide their staff through the software. (NOTE: The Help Sheets are typically generic 

enough that other agencies may find them useful. For more information about Ohio DOT’s 

Help Sheets, refer to the Ohio DOT contact.)

Benefits

ODOT quickly discovered that a big advantage of SafetyAnalyst – in comparison to the previous 

mainframe process – is the ability to quickly apply the more sophisticated screening methods 

within the HSM. ODOT is now able to easily analyze locations based on specific site subtypes,

and test and compare multiple screening methods.

In Ohio, one of the benefits of applying various HSM screening methods was identifying ways

to overcome some of the limitations of existing practices. For example, the previous mainframe 

methodology typically over-emphasized urban “sites of promise” – locations identified for 

further investigation and potential countermeasure implementation. These locations were 

usually in the largest urban areas, often with a high frequency of crashes that were low in 

severity. Now, several screening methods can be used in the network screening process

resulting in greater identification of rural corridors and projects. This identification enables the 

Ohio’s safety program to address more factors contributing to fatal and injury crashes across 

the state, instead of being limited to high-crash locations in urban areas, where crashes often 

result in minor or no injuries.

Contact

Jonathan Hughes, P.E.

Ohio Department of Transportation

(614) 466-4019

Jonathan.Hughes@dot.state.oh.us