Fatal-crash stories along Interstate 95 were almost becoming routine. During a six-month period last year, 12 people were killed in 11 separate accidents on Brevard County's 73-mile stretch of Interstate 95. One New York family, who lost their parents in a March crash, wrote FLORIDA TODAY and pleaded with reporters and editors to take the coverage beyond spot-news stories. They wanted to know the reasons why their parents and many others were dying on I-95. They wanted the newspaper to illustrate the human toll. We, too, saw the potential of the story. But first we had to determine just how dangerous the interstate, one of two main arteries in Florida, really is. A team of reporters and editors began culling and analyzing state data from nearly 30,000 crashes over five years along Florida's 382 miles of I-95. In an initial 10-page report on Dec. 3, 2000, we delivered the news that the number of people killed on the Florida highway had doubled over five years.
Gathering data for I-95 required working with four state transportation districts and compiling data from each district into one database.
The data were startling enough, but the process also was revealing and newsworthy. We learned that money was the biggest culprit impeding enhancements to the road. But we also learned that while state transportation officials collect crash data, an aging computer system does not allow those officials to thoroughly analyze the information to identify the causes of crashes.
In the 10-page report (called "I-95, More Dangerous Than Ever") and the dozens of stories, editorials, reader letters and a public forum that followed, enough urgency was raised to compel state and local officials to take action. It was impossible to ignore the findings of the report, including:
In 1996, there was a sudden and dramatic increase in the number of fatal crashes on I-95. That was the year the speed limit was raised to 70 mph from 65 mph.
The death rate per I-95 mile driven in Brevard County, home to FLORIDA TODAY, is more than twice the national average for interstate highways.
Almost a third of the fatal crashes in Brevard County occur when vehicles veer out of control across grass medians and into oncoming traffic. Those "crossovers" lead to more multiple-death crashes than any other type of accident. They could be prevented by erecting median barriers in high-accident locations - a fairly simple, low-cost solution.
Comparisons
One thing the project did not do was compare I-95 to another road. We did gather fatality rates for U.S. interstates and Florida interstates and we compared those to I-95. But we did not, for example, look specifically at Interstate 75 in Florida.
We chose to compare I-95 to itself because it is Florida's eastern gateway and the most heavily traveled road in the state. However, taking the time to compare it to I-75, Florida's other major highway, would have added depth and perspective to our report.
Gathering data for I-95 required working with four state transportation districts and compiling data from each district into one database. Because each district is independent of the other, no one at the state level can effortlessly answer basic questions - such as the number of people killed in any given year - about I-95, I-75 or any other road that runs through multiple transportation districts.
State transportation officials said a new central computer system, expected to be in place by July, would give them a better and quicker understanding of state-maintained roads.
While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tracks all fatal wrecks in its Fatal Accident Reporting System database, the agency essentially relies on police reports for the information. Those reports often list multiple names of one road and NHTSA's database does not take that into account. In other words, you would have to know every possible name that law enforcement might use for a road in order to properly crunch the numbers.
Analysis
Anthony DeBarros, a database editor for USA TODAY, cleaned up the data, compiled it into one database and assisted with the number crunching. We used Microsoft Access. The database was 13 megabytes. We also used Microsoft Excel for some import work. The data was supplied to us at no cost.
State transportation officials said a new central computer system, expected to be in place by July, would give them a better and quicker understanding of state-maintained roads.
"The data was in fixed-width text files, but we discovered that one of the state zones was missing a couple of years of data, so we had to get that data and add it to our database" DeBarros said.
"In terms of cleaning, all the data was presented in code, and I spent considerable hours going through and converting those codes into meaningful text that the reporter could understand. Also, we had to figure out how to piece together (separate data from four districts) so we could get a picture from end to end."
The CAR work took about two months to complete as a side job. The project took about four months to complete.
DeBarros mentioned that while we did compile traffic data for I-95, using it to determine fatality rates, reporters who do similar projects should keep in mind that traffic volume must be figured into the equation before a stretch of road can be labeled the "deadliest."
Reaction
Reaction to the coverage has been swift and substantive. Here's what has resulted so far:
Brevard County legislators pledged that I-95 safety would be their top priority during the 2001 legislative session. They backed that pledge by setting a meeting in January with the state secretary of transportation to push for median barriers along I-95 in Brevard County. The transportation secretary hired a traffic engineering company to analyze Brevard County's 73-mile stretch of I-95. The company is expected to examine 10 years of crash records. The Metropolitan Planning Organization, the chief transportation planning agency in Brevard, said it would use our report to build a public awareness campaign to improve safety on Brevard's stretch of I-95. In South Florida, Broward County officials initiated a public awareness campaign to alert drivers to the dangers of I-95 in that county. Transportation officials in Broward are continuing to study I-95 crash records in an area the newspaper identified as the stretch with the most fatal wrecks and the most traffic. And state highway patrol officials are using the newspaper's finding to lobby vigorously for more high-visibility enforcement along the entire interstate, including more marked and unmarked cars, increased DUI enforcement and aircraft speed-enforcement details.
Tony Manolatos can be reached by e-mail at tmanolat@flatoday.net
THE FLORIDA TODAY story, "I-95: More Dangerous Than Ever," is available from the IRE Resource Center, story 17007. To order, call (573) 882-3364.
Data: Accident reports from four Florida transportation districts Software: Microsoft Access and Excel