TRAFFIC SAFETY ANALYSIS: A DATA MINING APPROACH

The authors created a Traffic Safety Economic Index (TSEI) for Alabama Counties. This index seeks to compare the total economic impact of vehicular crashes between counties for the three types of crashes: property damage, injury, and fatality. The Traffic Safety Economic Index helps summarize large crash databases to facilitate more-informed decisions. This concise information will help policy and decision makers better allocate resources to decrease the economic loss due to crashes. Traffic safety educators will also have more evidence as to where they need to focus their energies. In addition, the TSEI will highlight counties with traffic safety problems, spurring further investigation into a specific county's characteristics.