From its inception, TIA has employed a professional traffic engineer (P.E.), who analyzes crash data at 1,400 intersections and 4,500 road segments for most TIA communities and the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC).
TIA conducts traffic evaluations (speed, volume, gap, pedestrian, traffic control warrants, etc.) at the request of member community officials. We also conduct school evaluations to reduce congestion and improve safety.
For over 40 years, engineering improvement projects have been initiated after analyzing crash data. These individual changes over this time period contributed to a reduction of traffic fatalities and severe crashes.
Currently, TIA has up-to-date and accurate traffic crash data on its web page for its stakeholders to analyze. With the implementation of the Traffic Crash Analysis Tool (TCAT), TIA is able to provide another important tool for the local communities to use in their efforts to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
For the past 10 years, TIA has been active with ITS technologies and has participated as a board member of ITS Michigan and executive director of this statewide organization. With the positive safety impact of the FAST-TRAC traffic signal system, and working on education projects with MDOT and the automobile companies, TIA feels strongly that technology will play a significant role in reducing traffic crashes.
EDUCATION
For over 40 years, TIA has provided the community with numerous educational programs to support traffic safety. These programs include:
- Informational meetings, known as "Early Birds," held at least three times per year
- Marketing materials for safety belts and alcohol programs
- Special programs for schools and the public
- Education programs to help improve the collection of traffic crash data by law enforcement
- Information on new “sobriety courts,” etc.
TIA developed one of the first safety belt marketing campaigns, which was used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 1969. "It’s lock it to me time” safety belt campaign was very successful.
TIA played a strong role at the state level to assist with getting the primary safety belt and 0.08 BAC laws enacted. In 2007, Michigan reached a 94% safety belt use rate, and Oakland County played a significant role in this achievement.
With a NHTSA grant in 1988, TIA developed a comprehensive 2 ½ day workshop that allows older drivers to self-evaluate their mental, physical, and driving skills. These workshops have been recognized as a national model for re-training mature drivers. TIA was also the chair of the North American Conference of Elderly Mobility in Detroit in September of 2004. Seven countries and seventeen states participated in discussing “best practices” from around the world. For more information on TIA's Mature Driver Workshops, please CLICK HERE.
ENFORCEMENT
The law enforcement community has always been a key partner in Oakland County’s traffic improvement.
From TIA’s crash data, specific locations, time of day, and day of week analyses reveal where and when to focus selective enforcement. TIA currently manages over $300,000 annually of overtime patrol-focused enforcement campaigns supported by NHTSA grants. Over 20 agencies participate in our safety belt and alcohol campaigns.
To ensure uniformity in enforcement, TIA developed the nation’s first model set of police traffic policies and procedures. Traffic court operations were supported through a series of seminars for judges, prosecutors and attorneys.
As a non-profit organization, TIA also offers an “independent” viewpoint of traffic safety issues that help law enforcement when residents complain of traffic safety concerns. TIA currently is on 13 traffic safety communities in Oakland County.
In 1980, TIA received a NHTSA grant to begin a pilot project of Alcohol Enforcement Teams (AET) that addressed issues of drinking and driving. We believe this grant is the longest acting NHTSA grant still in operation in the US. Currently this program is fully funded by the County of Oakland for its Sheriff’s department because of its continued positive impact on our communities. The Sheriff’s AET team, which does nothing but focus on drunk drivers, just registered its 11,000th drunk driver.
EMERGENCY SERVICES
Emergency Services is the emerging 4th E of traffic safety. TIA will plans to pilot a program with OnStar by GM and the Emergency Room Staff at Beaumont Hospital. The program is designed to provide patient condition information to the emergency staff from the crash site or on the way to the hospital.
OTHER TRAFFIC SAFETY EFFORTS
For over 10 years, TIA has successfully helped the Country of Poland develop a national traffic safety program working with the Minister of Infrastructure and the Technical University of Gdansk.