A Word From Our Director

Dr. Eric D. Jackson, CTSRC Director

If there was a common theme for 2016 it would be GROWTH. This year, the CTSRC saw dramatic growth in funding, projects, staffing and data. The center kicked off two major grants with the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CT DOT). The first grant was to assist the CT DOT in updating their safety analysis system to align with the methods outlined in the Highway Safety Manual. This effort required expansion of the CTSRC to include six new staff members. Through the hiring of computer programmers, safety engineers, a statistician, and a geographic information system specialist, the CTSRC embarked on a new venture to create a Connecticut specific safety analysis system. The second major grant reauthorized the crash data repository and the safety data team for a five year period. This included the addition of an epidemiologist to the CTSRC staff to lead research initiatives with respect to driver and non-motorist risk taking activities. The goal is to have the resulting human factors research lead into the development of behavior modifications strategies to improve transportation safety.

As we look ahead to 2017, there is a great deal of optimism that the recent commitments and partnerships will continue to mature and new innovative programs being developed in Connecticut will have a positive and substantial impact on safety in our state.

Sincerely,

Eric D. Jackson, PhD

Director

Click here to view the CTSRC’s 2016 Annual Report!