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TPO staff report shows crash patterns, time‑of‑day risks and contexts for serious injuries
Summary
A TPO presentation reviewed fatal and serious‑injury crash trends (2020–2024), geographic clusters, time‑of‑day patterns and mode breakdowns; staff proposed more targeted, surgical analyses to identify treatments with positive cost‑benefit for grant applications and TIP prioritization.
TPO staff presented detailed safety analysis requested by the board, covering crash trends, geographic screening, mode breakdowns and recommendations for more targeted project evaluation.
Connor Trejos McDonald told the board the analysis used crash and citation data from 2020 through 2024, noting 411 speed‑related fatal or serious‑injury crashes in that period and 36,000 speed citations countywide. McDonald identified several one‑mile areas with disproportionate crash counts, including a Ruskin area near East Shellpoint Road and a segment of U.S. 301 near Bonita Drive. He said Friday is the most frequent day for fatal or serious crashes (about 17 percent) and that peak times cluster around 4–5 p.m.
Staff used FDOT context classification to compare crashes per mile across facility types and reported that suburban commercial areas had the highest percent of total crashes and the highest total fatalities. McDonald gave examples of corridors identified by signal‑for network screening, such as Old Bend Road, I‑275 between Cypress and MacDill, Lamona Road and Lincoln Road.
Board members asked for more surgical evaluation of treatments. Mayor Ross and others urged that staff move beyond counts per mile to identify crash types and causal factors (for example, access management or left‑turn conflicts) so the TPO can prioritize treatments that show positive cost‑benefit when seeking grants. McDonald and staff agreed that a more rigorous approach—identifying common crash types, the improvements that address them, and cost‑benefit analysis—would be pursued to inform next year’s priorities.
Commissioner Boles asked whether the fatal/serious‑injury totals included pedestrian crashes; staff said 14 percent of the fatal/serious crashes were pedestrian‑related, 16 percent motorcycle and 7 percent bicycle, and offered to research cluster locations for those modes. Council member Clinton asked whether left‑turn crashes were a driver of suburban commercial totals; staff said access management studies are a standard tool and that higher speeds plus multiple access points often create a “perfect storm” for serious crashes.
Staff recommended programming before/after evaluations for infrastructure projects and using more sophisticated analyses for grant applications and TIP/LRP prioritizations. The board encouraged focusing on surgical, actionable analyses (for example, corridor‑level before/after evaluations like Fletcher Avenue) to guide investment decisions and to identify treatments that demonstrably reduce fatalities and serious injuries.
Staff said vehicle miles traveled declined in 2020 and rose to the highest levels in 2024, and the rate of fatal crashes peaked in 2021 and decreased toward 2024. McDonald said impairment‑related crashes have decreased since 2021, with 1.7 percent in 2024, and that staff will pursue further research into crash causation and treatment effectiveness.
