Skip to main content

New Guideline helps states better collect crash data

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) in the US has announced that the 4th Edition of the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC) Guideline has been posted online at www.mmucc.us. The voluntary guideline helps states determine what data to collect at the scene of a motor vehicle crash. The Guideline will, among other things, help states better capture data for emerging issues such as distracted driving, secondary crashes and incidents on private property as well as determine the level of seri
July 3, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The 4948 Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) in the US has announced that the 4th Edition of the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC) Guideline has been posted online at %$Linker: External 0 0 0 oLinkExternal www.MMUCC.us Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria website false http://www.mmucc.us/ false false%>.

The voluntary guideline helps states determine what data to collect at the scene of a motor vehicle crash. The Guideline will, among other things, help states better capture data for emerging issues such as distracted driving, secondary crashes and incidents on private property as well as determine the level of serious injury from motor vehicle crashes. States will be able to use federal funding authorised under the new surface transportation MAP-21 legislation to make improvements in their crash and other related data systems and come into compliance with the new MMUCC Guideline.

"Accurate data is essential for states in planning their highway safety programmes and selecting counter-measures that will have the most impact in reducing crashes, serious injuries and fatalities," said Barbara Harsha, GHSA executive director. "States use their crash data to better assess where to invest their limited resources.“

The new distracted driving data element is more descriptive and includes attributes such as manually operating an electronic communications device; talking on hands-free electronic device; talking on hand-held electronic device; other activity; electronic device; passenger; other inside the vehicle (eating, personal hygiene, etc.) and outside the vehicle.

"The intent is for law enforcement to capture a wider range of information about drivers in crashes who were obviously distracted," said Harsha.

MMUCC also includes a better definition of serious injuries by breaking injuries into five logical categories and providing clear definitions for each category. The five categories include: fatal, suspected serious injury, suspected minor injury, possible injury and no apparent injury.

A MMUCC Expert Panel consisting of state and local law enforcement officials, state traffic records coordinators, state department of transportation representatives, state health officials, members of the research community and officials from five federal agencies helped the GHSA and the 834 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration oversee the effort to update the 3rd Edition of MMUCC to make this resource the best it can be for safety stakeholders across the United States.

Related Content

  • Vehicle data translator for road weather monitoring
    February 1, 2012
    Sheldon Drobot, Michael Chapman and Amanda Anderson, NCAR, and Paul Pisano, FHWA, detail latest results of testing of a vehicle data translator for road weather monitoring and information applications. The use of vehicle sensor data to improve weather and road condition products, envisioned as part of the US Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration's (RITA's) IntelliDriveSM initiative, could revolutionise the provision of road weather information to transportation syste
  • Boeing and Kitty Hawk partner on air urban mobility
    July 10, 2019
    Boeing has joined forces with California-based Kitty Hawk with the aim of advancing air urban mobility. Steve Nordlund, vice president and general manager of Boeing Next, a subsidiary focusing on exploring urban air mobility, says the partners will focus on "safely advancing the future of mobility". Kitty Hawk's range of electric transportation solutions includes Cora, a two-seated air taxi, and Flyer, a vehicle for personalised flight. In January, Boeing completed a test flight of its autonomous
  • Registration now open for fourth eCall testfest
    September 25, 2015
    The fourth eCall testfest event, organised by Ertico-ITS Europe and ETSI, will be held in Ostrava, Czech Republic, from 9 to 13 November, hosted by Vítkovice IT Solutions in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Interior, Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic and Vodafone. The testfest will offer the participants opportunity to carry out interoperability tests under more realistic conditions using the eCall flag over the local mobile network operators. During one day, calling the lo
  • JPO: to host webinar on Wyoming Connected data accessibility
    January 8, 2018
    Ariel Gold, the ITS Joint Program Office's data program manager will host a webinar on the 25 January 2018 to discuss the preliminary data from the Wyoming Pilot site available for free via the ITS Public Data Hub. The improved accessibility of the data aims to encourage the transportation industry to discover new and innovative ways to make roadways safer and more efficient. These data sets include Basic Safety Messages (BSMs) and Traveller Information Messages. It is being generated before the full