A recent federal award of $13.2 million over five years — yet to be distributed — would enable the state to move forward in its march to zero traffic fatalities, the state said earlier this month.
The state is among 19 recipients to divide $171 million in crash data system grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as part of the State Electronic Data Collection program. It is part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
In the news release, the state named three agencies — the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), Maryland State Police and the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems — as having secured the grant funding, to refresh the existing state crash reporting system and smooth data exchange.
The state updated its crash report on Jan. 1, 2024, it said, but lacked the resources to modernize its electronic data transfer process. The grant funds will, generally, go toward enhancing its data collection and management.
“With accurate and timely data, transportation planners can provide better informed analysis to support our emergency responders, law enforcement partners and communities.” MDOT Motor Vehicle Administrator Chrissy Nizer said in a statement.
Specific project areas where the funds may enhance existing processes include improving electronic data transfer, doing a large-scale traffic record inventory focused on all vehicle crash data sets, and hiring staff across the state to train local law enforcement on collecting crash data. The money may also support automating sharing of emergency medical services data with police crash reports, and aligning with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC).
Developed in the 1990s, the MMUCC was last updated in 2024. It is meant to help guide what data gets reported locally to enable interoperability and multistate analysis.
“This federal grant will streamline the data and help the department make better-informed decisions of where safety improvements are most needed,” Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld said in a statement.
The federal award, announced last month, also included American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.
