Guest Commentary :
SAMS: Making Mississippi’s roads safer”
BY DICK HALL
As a Transportation Commissioner and a driver, I am extremely concerned about the number of deaths resulting from motor vehicle crashes across the nation and especially in Mississippi. We emphasize work zone safety in highway construction areas but we care about all crashes that cause injury or result in the loss of life and property.
To do its part in addressing this issue, the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) is developing a long-range, high tech Safety Analysis Management System (SAMS) which will be the backbone of the Hazard Elimination Program.
SAMS will retrieve data to identify hazardous locations across the state; perform analysis of the data from these sites and surrounding conditions; and address potential problem areas so crashes can be reduced or eliminated.
Work being completed before SAMS becomes a reality is the revision and implementation of a new Mississippi Uniform Crash Report (MUCR) currently underway. The importance of this is that data collected and entered by officers at the scene of crashes becomes the basis on which SAMS can perform its job.
MDOT purchased 3,000 Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers for 398 law enforcement agencies throughout the state and trained 800 officers who will train their in-house personnel on GPS use. Utilizing the GPS units to pinpoint the exact locations of motor vehicle crashes is the heart of SAMS capability of producing accurate and meaningful data.
A long-range goal is for SAMS to be linked to the database into which information is entered from citations issued by law enforcement personnel in Mississippi. Having the capability of retrieving this type data will allow sheriffs, police chiefs and the Mississippi Highway Patrol to step up enforcement efforts in areas where the highest number of speeding, reckless driving, DUI and other citations are being written. For SAMS to perform this task would require that GPS coordinates be entered on citation data to clearly define where the tickets are being issued. The information is currently not being captured on citations.
Like I said, we emphasize work zone safety but we are vigorously working to decrease the number of injury-producing and fatal motor vehicle crashes. In addition to developing a state-of-the-art analysis system, MDOT is making physical modifications in its construction work to increase motorists’ safety by installing continuous shoulder rumble strips on the entire interstate system, as well as on the state highways that have fully paved shoulders. Also, we are providing a minimum of two-foot paved shoulders on all new construction and rehabilitation projects and installing raised pavement markers as well as new rumble strips with illuminating stripes to increase visibility at night and in times of rain.
While we are taking every possible step to provide both an efficient and safe transportation system for the motoring public, we cannot do it alone. We need your help. Please help make our highways safe by heeding the messages on our signs, encouraging the use of seat belts and child restraint seats, and maintaining a safe driving speed. Together, we can make a difference. DBJ
(Dick Hall of Jackson is the Central Commissioner for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.)
